Happy Birthday Rajinikanth! Superstar Thalaivar’s best Bollywood films for your afternoon binge
It’s officially Rajinikanth day! The OG superstar, Thalaivar, turns 74 today, December 12. Not that we need a reason to cue a Rajini original on our screens, but celebrating his mammoth, unmatched legacy on his birthday has to hit extra special. Rajinikanth embodied the pan-India spirit even before it was considered cool and in-vogue, and his reams and reams-long filmography is testament to it. So for all the Bollywood buffs, this is your sign to experience some of his gold-coded Hindi classics, if you haven’t already treated yourself to it.
Andhaa Kaanoon
The 80s is what marked Rajinikanth’s ascent into the major leagues. Doubling the impact of the same, was the veteran actor’s big Bollywood debut, Andhaa Kaanoon (1983). The T Rama Rao directorial was a superhit as soon as it hit theatres, featuring Rajinikanth along Hindi heavyweights such as Hema Malini, Pran and Reena Roy. The most remarkable detail here, is that he also shared screen space with Amitabh Bachchan, who featured in the film in an extended cameo, kickstarting their decades-long personal and professional association.
Hum
Another Thalaivar-Big B film for the books, Hum (1991) was a roaring success at the time of it’s release. With the themes of the film traversing family, brotherhood and of course some masala-packed crime, Big B and Rajinikanth’s camaraderie on-screen make for one of the highlights of the film. Incidentally, Hum features a multitude of familiar faces ranging from Govinda to Anupam Kher, making it a hearty ensemble film.
Robot
Easily the most popular on this list, S Shankar’s Robot (2010) — originally Enthiran in Tamil — was arguably the country’s first brush with what a pan-Indian film truly meant. Rajinikanth starred as the affable but steel-spirited robot Chitti, with Aishwarya Rai stepping in as his lady love. The film was an absolute riot and the fresh narration and Rajini’s commitment to playing Chitti, never fails to put a big smile on your face every time you hit play on this one.
2.0
The stand-alone sequel to Robot, 2.0 (2018), was much grimmer than its predecessor. That being said, Akshay Kumar stepping in as a parallel lead, made it yet another pan-Indian film. The updated take on the evils of technology clearly found favour among the audience, something captured in the ₹800-crore plus worldwide box office collections made by the film originally mounted on a budget of ₹570 crores.
Special mention: Ra. One
The only thing that can parallel seeing Rajinikanth and Amitabh share screen space with one another, is seeing the former join forces with Shah Rukh Khan and Anubhav Sinha’s Ra. One (2011), also starring Kareena Kapoor Khan and Arjun Rampal, achieved that. Well, almost. A brief sequence in the film sees Rajini’s Chitti (from Robot and 2.0) make an appearance, a high-point of the film. The only catch here, is that this Chitti, was computer-generated and not actually played by the birthday star.
We wish the Thalaivar a very happy birthday!
