Venkat Raman
Auckland, October 25, 2021
Rajinikanth speaking at the Awards Ceremony (left) after receiving the Dadasaheb Phalke Award from Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu (right) in Delhi on October 25, 2021 (PTI Picture)
When Superstar Rajinikanth received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award (for 2019) from Vice President of India Venkaiah Naidu in New Delhi on October 25, 2021, he brought pride and honour not only to the film world and his family, but also to several friends like us who have known him for almost 50 years.
Humility personified
He showed his true trait of humility and gratitude by dedicating the highest film award in India to many of those who helped him during his early struggles, including the late Producer, Director and Writer K Balachander who introduced him in his Tamil 1975 film ‘Apoorva Raagangal’ and to his old colleague Raj Bahadur.
Known as ‘Thalaiva’ (Chief), Septuagenarian Rajinikanth has been an disputed King of the Indian Cinema for well over 50 years and is recognised as the Superstar of India. His early portrayal in agnostic and anti-hero roles with his improvised styles earned him fame across the film industry in India and overseas. He is stated to be among the most favoured actors in Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Hong Kong.
Except perhaps M G Ramachandran, megastar of the Tamil Cinema who reigned supreme for more than 40 years until he became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in 1977, Rajinikanth holds the record for the largest fan-following with millions of admirers with more than 85,000 fan clubs in all countries with resident Tamil population.
Receiving the Award, Rajinikanth expressed his gratitude to the federal government, his family, mentors and fans.
‘Apporva Raagangal’ in Tamil (1975) launched Rajinikanth’s career
Award to the people
“I dedicate this Award to my friend and bus driver Raj Bahadur, who discovered my acting talent and encouraged me, my elder brother Sathyanarayana Rao Gaekwad, who sacrificed a lot to make me an actor while struggling with poverty, my guru K Balachander, who created this Rajinikanth. I dedicate this Award also to producers, directors, technicians, distributors, theatre owners, media and the Tamil people who have given me my life, and my fans across the world. I thank the Indian government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for conferring him the Indian cinema’s highest honour,” he said.
Rajinikanth is the third Tamil film personality to receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, after Shivaji Ganesan and K Balachander. Among the other South Indian film stars who received the Award were Dr Rajkumar (Kannada) and Dr Akkineni Nageshwara Rao (Telugu).
Upon his nomination on April 1, 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi acknowledged Rajinikanth as Thalaiva and tweeted, “Popular across generations, a body of work few can boast of, diverse roles and an endearing personality, that is Shri @Rajinikanth Ji for you. It is a matter of immense joy that Thalaiva has been conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Congratulations to him.”
His agnostic roles and idiosyncrasies such as the one in ‘Netrikann’ earned a unique status for Rajinikanth in the film industry (Screen Grab)
About Dadasaheb Phalke Award
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India’s highest award in cinema. It is presented annually at the National Film Awards ceremony by the Directorate of Film Festivals, an organisation set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The recipient is honoured for their “Outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema” and is selected by a Committee consisting of eminent personalities from the Indian film industry.
The Award carries a Golden Lotus (Swarna Kamal) Medallion, a Shawl and ₹1,000,000 (about $19,528) as cash prize.
The Indian government instituted the Award in 1969 to commemorate the contributions of Dadasaheb Phalke, popularly known as the Father of Indian Cinema.
The first recipient of the Award was actress Devika Rani, who was honoured at the 17th National Film Awards. Since then, more than 50 artistes have been honoured with the Award. They include Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Manoj Kumar, Pran, Narasimha Reddy, Nagi Reddy, Shashi Kapoor, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, B R Chopra and Yash Chopra.
About Rajinikanth
Born Shivaji Rao Gaekwad on December 12, 1950, he was named Rajinikanth by the man who discovered him- K Balachander for his Tamil film ‘Apoorva Raagangal,’ released in 1975. He has since acted in about 170 films, a majority of them in Tamil and almost all of them superhits.
He belongs to a Marathi family but was born and raised in Bangalore and hence speaks fluent Kannada and Tamil. He began his working life as a bus conductor and later took to theatre before entering the film industry.
From Anti-hero to Super-Hero, Rajinikanth has played a variety of roles in about 170 films, predominantly in Tamil
As well as a producer and screenwriter, Rajinikanth has won four Tamil Nadu State Film Best Actor Award, the Filmfare Best Tamil Actor Award, the Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan Award for Excellence in Indian Cinema given by Vijay TV, the Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year and the Icon of Golden Jubilee Award given at the 50th Edition of the International Film Festival of India.
The Federal Government honoured him with the Padma Bhushan (2000) and Padma Vibhushan (2016).
Rajinikanth’s popularity is attributed to his uniquely styled dialogues and idiosyncrasies in films, as well as his political statements and philanthropy.
A philanthropist, he undertook a day-long fast in 2002 to protest the Karnataka government decision not to release Kaveri River water into Tamil Nadu and donated ₹10 million (about $19,528) towards a plan to interlink Indian rivers.
Rajinikanth is the only Indian actor to be featured in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) syllabus, in a lesson titled ‘From Bus Conductor to Superstar.’
In 2015, a film about his fandom, ‘For the Love of a Man,’ premiered at the 71st Venice International Film Festival. On December 31, 2017, he announced entry into politics and confirmed his intention to contest in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections in all 234 constituencies.
But later, he withdrew from politics citing poor health.
