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Rajinikanth Wiki, Age, Height, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

April 8, 20240

Rajinikanth is one of the most influential actors in India. He is predominately known for his work in Tamil Cinema. The ‘Thalaiva‘ is a Padma Vibhushan and Padam Bhushan awardee and has a huge fan following across the globe. His mannerisms of delivering dialogue, his style, and his action sequences, have altogether set a mark in the film industry. Let us dive into the life of this iconic superstar of India.

Biography/Wiki

Superstar Rajinikanth was born on 12 December 1950 as Shivaji Rao Gaekwad in Bengaluru, Mysore State (now, in Karnataka), India. The 73-year-old (as of 2023) actor has been one of the most paid and successful actors of the B-town. Rajnikanth is a multitalented actor, producer, screenplay writer, and philanthropist. He has a struggle story of his own. His life boarded a flight from being a ticket collector in Bangalore Transport Service to an actor with huge mass popularity. Maratha by blood and having roots in Tamil Nadu, Rajinikanth has worked in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, English, Malayalam, and Bengali films. His contribution to Bollywood has taken the film industry to the next level. He is a very humble, simple, and down-to-earth person.

Physical Appearance

Rajinikanth has a charismatic personality. He is 5’8 tall and weighs around 75 Kgs. The actor has Dark Brown eyes and is semi-bald with Grey hair.

Family, Affair, Wife & Religion

Rajinikanth was born into a Kshatriya Maratha Family but his ancestors were also Tamilians. His father, Ramojirao Gaekwad was a police constable and his mother, Jijabai was a homemaker.

He was a very naughty kid in his childhood. When he was just 8 years old, his mother passed away, hence, Rajini was raised by his elder brothers and his father.

He has 3 siblings: 2 brothers, Satyanarayana Rao and Nageshwara Rao, and 1 sister, Aswath Balubhai.

It was when a team of girls came to take Rajini’s interview, that he fell for Latha Parthasarathy (now, his wife) and proposed to her on the very same day. They got married on 26 February 1981 in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.

The duo together is blessed with two daughters named Aishwarya Rajinikanth and Soundarya Rajinikanth.

Before he met Latha, he was in a relationship with the actress, Silk Smitha.

The founder of Integral Yoga, Swami Satchidananda, was his spiritual guru.

Career

Rajinikanth did his schooling at Acharya Paathshala in Basavanagudi, Bangalore, and Vivekananda Balaka Sangha school. Before he became an actor, he did all sorts of jobs as that of a carpenter, a coolie, to earn a livelihood. He became a bus conductor at Bangalore Transport Service. With the fund aid provided by a friend, Raj Bahadur, Rajinikanth joined the Madras Film Institute. When he was performing at a stage play at Madras Film Institute, Rajini met the director, K Balachander, who offered him a role in his Tamil film.

Rajini was not fluent in Tamil but in no time, he mastered the language. In 1975, Rajinikanth made his debut Tamil film, ‘Apoorva Raagangal‘ alongside the actor, Kamal Haasan.

He was only recognized for negative roles in the first two years of his career until in 1977, he played the pivotal role in the Telugu film, ‘Chilakamma Cheppindi.‘ In 1980, he did the film, Billa (a remake of Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘Don, 1978) which went on to become his first commercial success.

He played the role of a Hindu saint, ‘Raghavendra Swami’ in the film, ‘Sri Raghavendra‘ which was his 100th film. In 1988, Rajinikanth made an Indian-American action-adventure film, ‘Bloodstone.’

His film, ‘Raaja Chinna Roja‘ (1989) became the first animated Tamil film.

‘Thalapathi‘ (1991) was his only film that was released with a U/A certificate. Rajinikanth’s starring film, ‘Enthiran (a science fiction),’ was first offered to Kamal Hassan. In 2012, he was titled, the Most Influential Indian by Forbes India. In 2011, he made a cameo appearance in the Shah Rukh Khan starrer film, ‘Ra.One.‘ Meena is the only actress who has worked with him as a child actor and as his heroine.

Money Factor

  • He owns a marriage hall in Chennai, Raghavendra Mandapam marriage hall 
  • Cars Collection: Premier Padmini Fiat, Chevrolet Tavera, Toyota Innova, Ambassador, Honda Civic, Lamborghini Urus, BMW X7
  • Bikes Collection: Suzuki Hayabusa, Suzuki Intruder M1800 RZ
  • Salary: ₹40-45 crore/film

Awards & Honours

  • 2014: Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year
  • 2016: Padma Vibhushan
  • 2021: 51st Dadasaheb Phalke Award. After receiving the award on 25 October 2021, the actor dedicated his award to his mentor K Balachander, his brother Sathyanarayana Rao Gaikwad, and his bus driver-friend Raj Bahadur. In a short speech, he thanked the central government for the honor. He said,

    Good morning to the Honourable Vice President, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Dr L Murugan, all the dignitaries on stage and the award winners. I am extremely happy to receive this prestigious award and would like to thank the Central government for this.”

    Rajinikanth receiving the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award

Controversies

  • In 2014, for his Bollywood film, ‘Main Hoon Rajinikanth,’ he received a stay order from the Madras High Court, after which the name of his film was changed to ‘Main Hoon Part-Time Killer.’
  • In 2015, a legal notice was sent to Rajinikanth from Madras High Court on a plea from a financier to take action against the director, Kasthuri Raja, who is the father of actor Dhanush and a relative of Rajinikanth. Since Kasthuri Raja took the money from the financier using Rajini’s name without his consent, the financier wanted justice from Rajinikanth’s side.
  • Pro-Tamils protested against Rajinikanth when in 2017, Lyca Productions announced that a housing scheme would be unveiled by Rajinikanth under his charity wing, ‘Gnanam Foundation‘ for displaced Tamils in Jaffna, Sri Lanka.
  • Rajinikanth faced criticism for allegedly disrespecting house help while posing for paps at Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant‘s pre-wedding event in Jamnagar, Gujarat, in March 2024. In the viral video, he was seen asking his house help to move aside while he was posing with his family.

Favourite Things

  • His favorite dish is Masala Dosa.
  • Thalaiva’s favorite actors are Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Sylvester Stallone, whereas, his favorite actresses are Rekha, and Hema Malini.
  • Kannada film, Veera Kesari, is his favorite film.
  • Rajinikanth admires the work of musician, Ilayaraja.
  • His favorite color is Black.
  • He is an avid reader and his favorite books are Ponniyin Selvan by Kalki and Amma Vanthal by T. Janakiraman.
  • Lee Kuan Yew (Former Prime Minister of Singapore) is Rajini’s favorite politician.
  • Rajini’s favorite social activist is Anna Hazare.
  • He loves playing Cricket.

Facts

  • Rajinikanth has quit his smoking habit but he drinks alcohol.
  • During his school days, Rajinikanth wanted to join a gang but being his seniors the gang members did not accept him. To impress them, he practiced tossing his cigarette, and later on, that’s how his famous style of tossing cigarettes came into existence.
  • Since 1995, he has been going to the Himalayas after the completion of his every film.
  • He doesn’t meet people after 9 pm.
  • Rajini is known for his punctuality and reaching time at his shooting venues.
  • In South India, people worship him and consider him their God.
    In 2023, a man named Karthi constructed a temple in his home to honor the legendary actor. With great admiration for Rajinikanth, Karthi holds him in such high regard that he installed a 250 kg idol of the actor in the temple as a symbol of his deep respect and admiration.
  • Every year, his birthday (12th December) is celebrated as ‘World Style Day‘ or ‘International Style Day’ by his fans.
  • He became the highest-paid actor after Jackie Chan in Asia when he charged ₹26 crore for his film ‘Sivaji’ in 2007.
  • When his films, ‘Baba (2002)’ and ‘Kuselan (2008)’ failed miserably at the box office, Rajinikanth paid for the loss of his film distributors.
  • Rajinikanth is the first Indian actor to have worked in all 4 formats i.e. Black & White, Colour, Animation, and 3D, of filmmaking.
  • In 2023, Rajinikanth regained the title of being the highest-paid actor in India following the release of the film ‘Jailer.’ According to sources, he was given a remuneration of Rs. 210 crores by the producer Kalanithi Maran to play the lead role in the film; the remuneration included Rs. 100 crores for being part of the film.
  • In September 2023, Rajinikanth received a BMW X7 from Kalanithi Maran as a token of appreciation for the success of the film ‘Jailer.’ Kalanithi brought both a BMW X7 and a BMW i7 EV to Rajinikanth’s home and gave him the choice to select one. Rajinikanth ultimately opted for the BMW X7.

Social Work

  • Rajinikanth fasted twice in his life to protest; first in 2002 against the Karnataka Government’s decision not to release water from the river Kaveri into Tamil Nadu and the second time in 2008; demanding the Sri Lankan government to end the civil war and give Sri Lankan Tamils their rights.
  • He supported the social activist, Anna Hazare, in his anti-corruption movement and gave him his marriage hall, ‘Raghavendra Kalyana Mandapam’ so that Anna could execute all the social activities easily.