5 Must-Watch Movies of Rajinikanth

December 12, 2022, 10:01 AM
by Kawser Md Sayem

UNB News
Publish- December 12, 2022, 10:01 AM
Kawser Md Sayem
Update- December 12, 2022, 10:53 AM

Rajinikanth, The great South Indian Film Star (Photo: Twitter)

Dadasaheb Phalke and Padma Bhushan-awarded South Indian Star Rajinikanth is the most successful actor in the Indian film industry. The original name of this man from Karnataka was Shivaji Rao Gaekwad who got his acting chops through Kannada mythological plays. And it was the time when he caught the attention of Tamil film director K Balachander.

Then with the 1975 Tamil film Apoorva Ragangal directed by Balachander, Rajinikanth's film career began. And it was this Balachander who gave Rajinikanth his stage name ‘Rajinikanth’. Almost all of Rajinikanth's films have an impeccable style of punchlines.

Let's check out the most popular movies of this veteran actor on his 72nd birthday.

Top 5 Most Memorable Films of South Indian Star Rajinikanth

Billa (1980)

This R Krishnamurthy-directed action-thriller is a remake of the 1978 Hindi film Don starring Amitabh Bachchan. After this movie, Rajinikanth became the Tamil version of Bachchan in the Kollywood industry. He manages to master Bachchan's angry young man style quite well. However, Rajinikanth himself took Bachchan as his inspiration. Rajinikanth started acting in dual roles for the first time through this cinema.

This blockbuster movie was a major turning point in his acting career. Since the release of the film, a new Rajinikanth has emerged in the eyes of critics. Billa’s highest-grossing figure in 1980 established Rajinikanth as the top star of southern cinema.

This movie started the gangster hero trend in Tamil cinema. In old movies, the audience was usually shown the hero's backstory where the hero was a victim of social problems and committed crimes. Billa, on the contrary, is a complete exception to that, where the hero enjoys committing crimes. And Rajinikanth played the character flawlessly.

Chandramukhi (2005)

This commercially successful horror comedy film was written and directed by P Vasu.

The 1993 Malayalam movie Manchitrathajhu was remade by Vasu himself in Kannada in 2004 as Aptamitra. And this Chandramukhi is the Tamil version of that Aptamitra. Rajinikanth's co-artists here were Jyothika and Nayanthara.

Over 25 Toyota Qualis and 30 stunt artists were used in Rajinikanth's fight sequences in the film. It ran in theaters for 890 consecutive days, making the movie the longest-running South Indian film. The film was released in several languages, including German and Turkish. However, the entire credit behind this was due to Rajinikanth's stardom.

Rajinikanth won a Tamil Nadu State Film Award for his portrayal of Vettaiyan Raja. The film won four more awards at the Tamil Nadu State Film Festival. The movie also showcased two Filmfare Awards and four Film Fans Association Awards. The film is one of the limited numbers of South Indian films to have grossed over Rs 100 crore at the worldwide box office.

Rajinikanth (Photo: Twitter)

Shivaji: The Boss (2007)

This top to bottom action-packed film was directed by S Shankar. Since the background is about fighting against corruption, Rajinikanth is seen in quite a dynamic role here. The film brought him massive success in his acting career. With Shivaji, he completed the milestone of his 100th Tamil film.

The specialty of the film was Rajinikanth's style and dialogues, which became very popular at that time. It was the first Indian film that used Dolby Atmos surround sound technology for the first time.

The film was released in around 750 screens worldwide. The film grossed over $8.5 million outside India. It was the first Tamil cinema that enlisted in the UK Top 10 and the South African box office.

Rajinikanth was awarded the Favorite Hero Vijay Award for his performance. His remuneration for this film was more than USD 3 million. It made him the second highest-paid actor in Asia after Chinese superstar Jackie Chan.

Enthiran (2010)

Written and directed by S Shankar, this movie is best known as Robot. Rajinikanth played two roles in this film - a scientist and an android robot. Aishwarya Rai was his co-star in this expensive movie in the Indian movie industry.

It was the highest-grossing film on the eve of its release. As a South Indian film, it still holds the fourth highest-grossing position.

It has two National Film Awards, three Filmfare Awards, two Screen Awards, and seven Vijay Awards in its Hall of Fame. Following this success, its sequel 2.0 was made in 2018.

Rajinikanth's robotic character named Chitti was widely acclaimed. A 3D digital scan of his face from a 360-degree angle was used to portray the character using a Doom Light Stage. Thus the replicas of his face were installed on multiple dummies.

Rajinikanth (Photo: Twitter)

Kabali (2016)

The story of this gangster film revolves around the clash between two violent gangs. Written and directed by Pa Ranjith, the film stars Rajinikanth accompanied by Radhika Apte in the lead role. It surpassed all previous Indian films in worldwide opening weekend records. Over the weekend the film grossed USD 31 million in three days from all its versions from India alone.

Rajinikanth has been widely praised by fans and critics for his most dynamic performance in recent years. Kabali is the first Indian film that was released at Le Grand Rex in Paris- the largest cinema hall in the world with a capacity of 2000 seats.

An Airbus A320s of the Airline company AirAsia India had the film's title emblazoned with Rajinikanth as Kabaleswaran. This was the first time in the history of Indian cinema that a movie was promoted on a passenger plane.

Bottom Line

This 72-year-old maestro is one of the highest-paid actors in South Asian film history. In 2007, Rajinikanth became NDTV's Indian Entertainer of the Year at the age of 56, competing with younger dashing stars like Shah Rukh Khan.

In 2014, after opening his first official Twitter account, the number of his followers reached 210,000 within just 24 hours. And it was the fastest follower growth rate compared to any of the Indian celebrities at the time.

Above all, Rajinikanth is an all-India star who has kept his reputation intact for more than five decades. We wish this great actor a long, healthy, and successful life on his birth anniverversay.