Rajinikanth actor recently wrapped shooting for the year’s most awaited film Jailer in Chennai.
The actor played the role of Mookaiah, the loyal henchman to a zamindar, who turns against his master after his son rapes Mookaiah’s long-lost sister.
It is common for fans to bestow titles to their favourite actors. For instance, they denote Ajith Kumar as Thala and Vijay as Thalapathy or commander, but it took some nudging from far-sighted filmmakers and distributors before Rajinikanth could be referred to as a superstar of Tamil Cinema.
This has been revealed by Naman Ramachandran in his authoritative biography of the actor. It was M Bhaskar’s 1978 film Bairavi that brought Rajinikanth the title. In the film, the actor played the role of Mookaiah, the loyal henchman to a zamindar who turns against his master after his son rapes Mookaiah’s long-lost sister.
Filmmaker Kalaignanam was impressed with Rajinikanth’s acting prowess and went straight up to the actor to cast him as the lead for Bhairavi and also paid him in advance as an assurance to the Kaabili actor. Initially, Sandow MMA Chinnaooa Thevar agreed to finance the film but withdrew his decision when he got to know about the star cast. The producer had then questioned Kalaignanam for choosing Rajinikanth as the lead and Srikanth as an antagonist.
But distributor-producer S Dhanu realised that Rajinikanth was no mere box office magnet but a phenomenal actor. The producer made sure to proceed with high marketing investments with eye-catching posters and huge cut-outs of the actor at Plaza Theatre in Chennai. He also got the Rajinikanth posters with “superstar” written on them and was shown as wrestling with a snake, standing with a whip and carrying a goat on his shoulders.
It is also said that Rajinikanth had reportedly cautioned Dhanu about appropriating the superstar title, when the industry had big stars like MG Ramachandran and Sivaji Ganesan and the actor didn’t want them to come off as an upstart. Bairavi hit the cinemas on June 2, 1978, and the team Bairavi went to the theatres to see the reaction of the audience. The next day, the audience confirmed the popularity of Rajinikanth as a Superstar and the film was one of the biggest hits of the year.
Meanwhile, Rajinikanth is busy with the schedule of Aishwarya Rajinikanth’s directorial Laal Salaam. The actor also has a TJ Gnanavel directorial which is tentatively titled Thalaivar 170. According to various media reports, Rajinikanth will be sharing screen space with Amitabh Bachchan after 32 years.
The actor recently wrapped shooting for the year’s most awaited film Jailer in Chennai.