Happy Birthday Rajinikanth: From Working As A Coolie To Becoming ‘Thalaiva’, Here's A Glance At The Journey Of The Superstar

Rajinikanth has won many awards including ‘Padma Bhushan’ and ‘Padma Vibhushan’. Read on to know more.

Image courtesy - Rajinikanth (@rajinikanth/Instagram)

New Delhi: Popularly known by his stage name, Rajinikanth was born as Shivaji Rao Gaekwad in the year 1950 to a Marathi family in Bangalore. The superstar made his debut in the K. Balachander's 1975 Tamil drama ‘Apoorva Raagangal’. Since then, there has been no stopping for the actor as he went to star in several movies which made his mark in the film industry. Rajinikanth has won many awards including ‘Padma Bhushan’ and ‘Padma Vibhushan’. He has also won many international awards for his contribution in the field of cinema. ‘Durgamati’ Review: Bhumi Pednekar Disappoints As Protagonist, Makers Fail To ‘Think Big’ Referred to as ‘Thalaiva’ by his fans, Rajinikanth celebrates his 70^th birthday today. On the occasion of his birthday, we bring to you some of the unknown facts about the superstar.

• Before venturing into the world of cinema, Rajinikanth worked as a coolie, bus conductor and others. When he was working as a bus conductor, his salary was reportedly around Rs 750.
• His mother passed away when he was just 5 years old.
• The 1983 Bollywood film ‘Andha Kanoon’, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini was the debut Hindi film of Rajinikanth.
• Besides starring in Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu films, Rajinikanth also starred in a Bengali film named ‘Bhagya Debata’ which starred Mithun Chakraborty, Soumitra Chatterjee and others.
• Till now, Rajinikanth has acted in over 160 movies.
• Rajinikanth has also worked as a screenplay writer and producer.
• Apart from being an actor, he is also a philanthropist, spiritualist and is soon planning to start his independent political party in South India.
• He gained a huge fan following, recognition and the tag of ‘superstar’ with his 1980 movie ‘Billa', which is the Tamil remake of Amitabh Bachchan's hit movie 'Don'.
• He appeared in a Hollywood movie ‘Bloodstone’ in the year 1988, helmed by Dwight Little where he portrayed the character of an English-speaking Indian taxi driver.

We wish the superstar a very Happy Birthday!