December 12 was Rajinikanth’s 73rd birthday. And with Rajinikanth's birthday comes a slew of Rajinikanth jokes that bestow superhero powers on Kollywood’s biggest superstar. Outside the south, Rajinikanth is something of a myth – a man whose name typifies a larger-than-life brand of cinema that defies any logic. But his fans know that the superstar is more than this caricature that he’s often reduced to by those who haven’t followed his intriguing career. Here’s a look at 16 Rajinikanth films across decades that demonstrate his versatility as a performer, and why the audience still isn’t tired of him.
Apoorva Raagangal (1975): Rajinikanth’s debut feature film, this K Balachander romantic drama is about unlikely couples – a young man falls in love with an older woman, and a young woman falls in love with a man old enough to be her father. Everything is complicated by the fact that the two women are mother-daughter and the two men are father-son. Rajinikanth plays a small role in this film – that of Pandiyan, a cancer patient who is the older woman’s ex-lover.
Balachander chanced upon the actor at the Madras Film Institute, and was struck by his appearance. At the time, Rajinikanth did not know Tamil well (he was a Maharashtrian who spoke Kannada fluently), but he promised to learn the language for the film.
Rajinikanth's first shot in Apoorva Raagangal is of him pushing open a gate. The shot is replicated in Karthik Subbaraj’s Petta (2019), which pays tribute to Rajinikanth’s filmography. Kamal Haasan, who was already a star back in the day, was the male lead of Apoorva Ragangal. Still, Rajinikanth made an impression as a tragic figure. A man who is riddled with guilt and has his days numbered.
16 Vayathinile (1977): What’s better than Rajinikanth playing the hero? Rajinikanth playing the villain. Bharathirajaa’s romantic drama is about Mayil, a rural teenage girl (Sridevi) who falls for a sophisticated doctor from the city, only to have her dreams dashed to the ground. Kamal Haasan plays Chappani, a naive orphan who loves Mayil but is rebuffed by her.
Rajinikanth’s role as Parattai is a comparatively small one, but he was right on the money as a lecher who spends all his time indulging in nefarious activities. His wicked “Idhu eppadi iruku” (How is this?) line from the film is still a part of common parlance in Tamil Nadu.
Mullum Malarum (1978): Director Pa Ranjith made no bones about the fact that Rajinikanth’s character in Kabali (2016) was inspired by Kali, the protagonist of J Mahendran’s drama film about a brother and sister. Kabali came at a time when Rajinikanth had suffered back-to-back flops with Kochadaiiyaan (2014) and Lingaa (2014), and naysayers were writing him off at the box office. Ranjith promised to bring back the actor in Rajinikanth who’d been drowned out by his superstar image. In Mullum Malarum, Rajinikanth plays a rebel who has a soft corner for the downtrodden, but his ego and love for his sister lead him down a self-destructive path. His dialogue from the film – “Ketta payyan sir indha Kali” (Kali is a bad boy, sir) – still has amazing recall value.
Billa (1980): A remake of Amitabh Bachchan’s Don (1978), this was Rajinikanth’s first film where he played dual roles. The action thriller established him as a major star in the Tamil film industry. Here, Rajinikanth plays a gang leader and a simple man raising two adoptive children. If he’s all machismo as Billa, he’s a paan-chewing bumpkin as Rajappa. The R. Krishnamoorthy film became Rajinikanth’s biggest hit up until that point, kicking off the trend of glorifying gangsters on screen. Such was the influence of Billa on Tamil cinema that in 2007, the film was remade with the same title with Ajith playing the lead. Rajinikanth went on to star in several Hindi to Tamil remakes, reprising the Angry Young Man roles that Amitabh Bachchan immortalised in Bollywood.
Johnny (1980): Mahendran’s crime thriller saw Rajinikanth play dual roles once again after Billa that same year – a con artist with a love for music, and a barber who becomes a killer. Both the characters have negative shades to them, and it’s interesting how Mahendran draws their respective arcs. Johnny cheats people for a living, but when he realises that his look-alike Vidyasagar is paying the price for it, he protects him. He is attracted to singer Archana (Sridevi), but hesitates to pursue a relationship with her because of his criminal background. Vidyasagar, on the other hand, is initially kind-hearted, but he commits two murders out of jealousy and later tries to foist the case on Johnny. Rajinikanth establishes the contrast between the two characters with subtle shifts in body language and dialogue delivery. Those who only know the superstar for his flamboyance should watch the scene when Archana proposes to Johnny, and he struggles to come up with a response.
Thillu Mullu (1981): K Balachander’s comedy, a remake of Gol Maal (1979), has Rajinikanth playing a man who pretends to have a look-alike brother to appease his boss. As Chandran, he’s the picture of virtue while as Indran, he’s his true self – with enough vices and indulgences. There are several laugh-out-loud moments in this comedy as Chandran tries to maintain the facade. Rajinikanth exaggerated mannerisms and dialogue delivery are hilarious all through. Thengai Sreenivasan plays Chandran’s boss in the film, and the comic timing in their scenes together ensures that this remains one of Tamil cinema’s most loved comedies of all time.
Padikkadavan (1985): Rajasekhar’s action drama is about a brother who sacrifices everything for his younger sibling, only to have the latter kick him in the gut. Rajinikanth plays Raja, an uneducated man whose lack of sophistication becomes an embarrassment for his brother who is quickly climbing up the social ladder. Raja’s role is full of pathos, but there’s plenty of entertainment too. Watch the scene when Raja goes to his brother’s college for a play and gets irritated by a woman speaking to him in English.
There’s also the bond with his taxi whom he calls ‘Lakshmi’ – a car with superior morals that won’t allow any illegal activity inside it. A vast section of the audience closely identified with such roles that Rajinikanth played – that of a poor, good-hearted man who is looked down upon by the rich, and finally gets his justice. The emotions of love, subsequent betrayal and resurgence were lapped up by viewers who bought into these stories whole-heartedly.
Thalapathi (1991): Mani Ratnam’s contemporary take on the Mahabharata has Rajinikanth play the role of Karnan – abandoned by his mother, rejected in love for his caste, embraced by a friend who is regarded as villain, and a battle with his own blood. Karnan is perhaps the most conflicted character in the epic, and Rajinikanth brought all those nuances to the screen. Be it the scene when he explains to a child the story of his birth or his iconic exchanges with Mammootty (who plays Deva/Duryodhana), Rajinikanth lived the role of Karnan with sobering style.
Annamalai (1992): A remake of Khudgarz, this is once again a film that pits the poor against the rich. Annamalai is a poor milkman who enjoys a great friendship with Ashok (Sarath Babu), a hotelier. But circumstances and meddling family create a rift between them, with Ashok humiliating his friend. Annamalai then challenges Ashok that he too will become rich – and does so. What could be more satisfying to the delighted audience?
Watch the scene when Annamalai upstages Ashok as the president of the hotelier association. Annamalai strides into the room, cigarette in his mouth, and takes the chair while blowing smoke rings at Ashok. If the audience today is going crazy over Rajinikanth lighting up in Jailer (2023), it’s because they remember his swag from this moment in Annamalai.
Baashha (1995): “Ayya, yen peru Manickam, enakku innoru peru irukku” (Sir, my name is Manickam, I have another name) – this dialogue from Suresh Krissna’s gangster drama has since inspired the plot of several Tamil films, including Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Leo (2023). That is, the story of a seemingly ordinary man with a violent, hidden past.
If he was a milkman in Annamalai, Rajinikanth played an auto driver in Baashha (both films have songs that celebrate the respective professions). Manickam shies away from violence, but when he’s pushed by enemies, his real self comes out – that of a fearsome gangster. Raghuvaran plays Antony, the chief antagonist. The face-off between Baashha and Antony makes one nostalgic for a time when Tamil cinema had sound villains, and the hero’s victory felt deserved.
Muthu (1995): The film that made Rajinikanth a crowd-favourite in Japan, this masala film directed by K.S. Ravikumar has everything in it – romance, comedy, fights and melodrama. And of course, great music by A.R. Rahman that made the Japanese hail Rajinikanth as the ‘dancing Maharaja’.
Rajinikanth plays charioteer to a rich zamindar, only to find out later that he too comes from a distinguished lineage. The superstar’s rags-to-riches stories always found resonance with the audience because they were aspirational.
Rajinikanth also plays a brief dual role in the film as his character’s father – a nomad who has renounced his wealth.
Padayappa (1999): At the cusp of the new millennium, Rajinikanth was still at the top of the Tamil Nadu box office. This K.S. Ravikumar directorial saw the superstar pitted opposite one of his best ever villains – Ramya Krishna as Neelambari. Vicious, beautiful and spiteful, Neelambari’s love for Padayappa turns into hate when he spurns her in favour of a demure maidservant (Soundarya). Every on-screen misogynistic trope you can think of is written into the Madonna-whore binary of the two women, but Ramya and Rajinikanth’s on screen sparring is so entertaining that the film survives the valid criticism against it. This is one of the few films where a female character received the same importance as Rajinikanth.
Enthiran and 2.0 (2010 and 2018): Shankar’s science fiction films were a break away from the kind of movies that Rajinikanth was making at the time. After Baba (2002) flopped badly, Rajinikanth gave two major hits – Chandramukhi (2005) and Sivaji: The Boss (2007). He played a cameo in his next film, Kuselan (2008), but since it was sold to fans as a Rajinikanth film, it ended up becoming a disaster at the box office.
Enthiran, where Rajinikanth plays a scientist and his invention, a robot, brought back the actor within him. He is both villain and hero in this extravagantly mounted film where Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is the female lead. That evil “mehhh” that robot Rajinikanth makes when hunting his prey (also Rajinikanth) is unforgettable. The sequel, 2.0, was even more lavish in scale, roping in Bollywood star Akshay Kumar as the antagonist. The female lead was played by Amy Jackson. The film is considered to be the top grossing Tamil film of all time, raking in about Rs 700 crore.
Kabali (2016): Pa Ranjith has been vocal about asserting his identity as a Dalit filmmaker, and what bigger vehicle in Tamil cinema than Rajinikanth? The trailer of the film set expectations soaring, and it was amply clear that this was as much Ranjith’s film as it was Rajinikanth’s.
From the name of the character to the literature he reads and the politics he espouses, Kabali was a refreshing turn in Rajinikanth’s career. In the film, Rajinikanth plays a Tamil don in Malaysia who is released from prison. He plays his age for most of the film, pulling off the grey hair and beard with aplomb. His mature romance with Kumudhavalli (Radhika Apte) is among the film’s highlights.
Kaala (2018): In real life, Rajinikanth is associated with right-wing politics. But in Pa Ranjith’s next, he played a Dharavi-based Tamil don who questions saffron politics. He is clearly identified as Dalit in the film, and is pitted against Nana Patekar’s Hari Dada. The film is on the land rights of Dalits, among other things, and Ranjith presents the idea that saffron politics can be defeated with the coming together of three ideologies – Dravidian, Communist and Ambedkarite. This was Rajinikanth’s most political film yet, and the actor surprisingly went with the film’s layered script despite the potential risks. Kaala was an interesting rewrite of the Ramayana, shifting the perspective from Ram to Raavan, and locating the story within contemporary politics.
Jailer (2023): Nelson Dilipkumar’s crime comedy has Rajinikanth playing a retired jailer and a grandfather. The actor seems to be settling into playing his age on screen, and his fans aren’t complaining. The film presents him in an understated avatar – a calm old man (he’s even referred to as a dinosaur) who comes back to the game when a gang of criminals abducts his son. Vinayakan plays the eccentric villain and superstars Mohanlal and Shivrajkumar make impactful cameos that turned the film into an instant favourite with audiences across the south. The dubbed version of Jailer also did quite well in the Hindi belt, despite not releasing in national multiplex chains.
At 73 and with several health problems, it’s easy to believe that the Rajinikanth era is over. But the superstar’s significant command over the box office says otherwise. Hero or villain, he still has plenty to give, and as long as he continues to experiment, he will stay relevant.
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