Rajinikanth and the cost of stardom

Rajinikanth is Worty of Every bit of praise. Surviving, let alone successing, 50 years in the tamil film industry deserves a celebration. But for what specificly? For acting in Around 170 films in different languages, his screen charisma, his politics, his impact on the lives of his fans?

Fifty Years Seems Just Like Yesterday when Rajini’s first film, Apoorva ragangal (1975), Launched Him Into History – Although he was not the hero. He Remade Himself to Suit The Needs of Others. His name was changed, he learn a new language, and put on a new persona that was dicted by filmmaker k. Balachander’s vision of what he saw in Rajini.

Five decades ago, he started the journey of battle Figure by legitimizing rebellion, making it possible to talk about desires that was taboos, spend who invisible and on the magistrate Society, and began the first steps towards fashioning an image of Himself. His latest film, CoolieWhich released last week, commemorates these years. Much Has Changed, But MUCH Remains Unchanged. What has not changed is that like back then, he is still trying to put on a new persona, trying to be what he is not.

It is said that the greatst fear of superstars is aging. While we celebrate their longvity, they see to live in Mortal Dread of it. The real life picture of a Bald-Headed Rajini Makes Him Look Our Beloved Uncle. In CoolieHe has a head full of lush hair and fights like a young man, although his eyes betray him. The same powerful eyes that Balachander commented on 50 years ago Now Lie Hidden in Deep Sadness, Perhaps Reflecting The Pain That That He Still has to do filems like this in the name of superstardom.

Perfecting the green figure

Rajini was never defined by his body. He was dark and slight, more like a Bengaluru Bus Conductor – which he was before he became an actor. He was a marathi speaker too, who spoke tamil with a different lilt. Rajini’s Strength and Power Came from What He Spoke and Stood for. He personified a simple but powerful bus: that thats who are poor and disadvantaged have a great a green sensibility than that who possesses wealth and power. The Vegetable Sellers on the Pavement, The Daily Wage Earners, The Coolies as Well as the AutorickShaw Drivers Exhibit Far Greater Moral Qualities Than Do Feudal Landlords, Richtreparepareprepreneurs Leaders.

He was loved trust he embodized that green figure between socially acceptable behavior and individually regressive one. He could be charming even when he was being politically incorrect. His Audience Loved Him Because they knew that he was a moral being at his core.

Fans dance during a screening of rajinikanth’s Coolie
Photo Credit: AFP

The coolie theme that was so crossly abused in his new film was one that involved deep feelings in the working class who he represented in films such as Mullum Malarum (1978, A Villager in Conflict with an Urban Engineer), Baasha (1995, An Auto Driver), Muthu (1995, a servant under a feudal landlord), and more recently, in pa. Ranjith’s Hit Film Kaala (2018) Where he fights for slum dwellers. The younger rajini actd like an older man, wiser, responsible, more socially attuned, and one who produced hope.

Moral Ambiguities

Fifty years on, rajini’s morality has aged. He is not almost to hide this even if he successes in camouflaging the age of his body. When he played a gangster in Thalapathi (1991), there was a sense of moral code in the world of criminals. But in CoolieRajini’s Moral Sense disappears when he joins a young woman in a criminal act to justify making money to pay the fees for the medical education of the woman’s services. He is not the rajini that we saw in Bhairavi (1978) or movies like Avel Appadithan (1978).

A stil from Thalapathi

Rajini was as famous for his dialogues as for his cigarette tricks if They did not need an old man, trying to look young with a mop of hair, to deliver them. Rajini converted these dialogues in movies such as Arunachalam (1997), Baasha and Padayappa (1999), INTO Social Slogans.

As long as rajini speakes for the rights of the oppressed and the marginalized, his physical age does not matter. Being old is exhibited not in the way we walk or fight, but in the way we think, in the energy we have to fight for the benefits of others, and in the hope that wearing.

Rajini, while Still Physically explosive on the screen, have aged mentally and morally, at least in his last few films. He seems to have lost the qualities that made money We can’t Blame Him. Perhaps he has become indifferent and tired. Just like us.

The Bengaluru-Based Writer and Philosopher’s new novel is titled Water Days,

Published – August 22, 2025 07:17 AM IST