It doesn't get bigger than Rajinikanth

That Rajinikanth is the only real superstar in Kollywood is like saying grass is green. It's an undisputed, inviolable truth. The man has been ruling the Tamil box-office for the last 23 years, a world record in itself.

It is said that Rajinikanth doesn't need to act or change his look from movie to movie. Distributors say that all he needs to do is stand in front of the camera, and people will flock to the theatres to see him do just that. In most of the 153-odd movies he has done in a career spanning 33 years, Rajinikanth does no more than play himself. He reaches out to the masses with his electrifying screen presence mixed with heroism, peppy songs and famous punch line dialogues, which in time become part of the common man's lingo.

What attracts today's Generation Next-audiences (some of them were not even born when he became a superstar) to the phenomenon called Rajinikanth, who turned 57 last December? Most of the young people interviewed by a marketing agency who carried a survey on the superstar say that the man's appeal largely revolved around his on-screen image.

Says Dorairaj, an 18-year-old student, "I'm crazy about Boss (nickname of one of his characters in Sivaji ). He has a unique style and comes across as a down-to-earth person without any star trappings." The young man says the first thing he learnt when he went to school were Rajini's punch lines!

Some of the more famous Rajinikanth one-liners that he spouts in his movies either to the villain, arrogant heroine or his side-kick are later rattled off by everyone, from an autorickshaw driver to an up-market IT professional. You can hear people quote his most famous dialogues and punch lines like " En vazhi, thani vazhi " (My way is a separate way), " Naan oru thadavu sonna, nooru thadava sonna mathiri (If I say it once, it is like saying it a hundred times), " Andavan solran, Arunachalam seyiran " (God orders, I do it). All this has become a part of Tamil folklore, adding to the mystique of the Rajnikanth persona.

Rajinikanth has never experimented with his screen image, and is very particular about doing only mass masala fantasies. The 2007 super-hit Sivaji opened new vistas for Tamil cinema at the worldwide box-office. The film said to be made at a cost of Rs 60 crore including the star's fees — an astronomical Rs 20 crore — is reported to have made around Rs 100 crore from theatrical and other rights.

Courtesy: timesofIndia.com