Rajnikanth who is lovingly known as ‘Thalaiva’, is one of the greatest South-Indian super and is also among the highest-earning stars in the industry. His phenomenal journey from a meer bus conductor to a ruler of the South-Indian film industry has been an inspiration for many. It is only through his unlimited dedication that despite these hardships, he could achieve the goal of being a star finally.

Rajnikanth was born on 12 December 1950 as Shivaji Rai Gaikwad. He was the younger of the siblings in his Marathi family. Rajnikanth’s father was a Police Head Constable and he lost his mother at a very young age due to which his family had to face an economic crisis. Thus, he had to work at unusual places and occupations like a carpenter and picking tice bags at one time.

Even when he was working as a bus conductor, he was famous among tourists and other bus drivers. Rajnikanth was popular specifically for his ways of giving bus tickets and whistling. He had acted in this time in several Kannada movies and always tried to enact Sivaji Ganesan and M.G Ramachandran. His constant love for movies and performance eventually turned into enthusiasm.

Rajnikanth eventually joined the Adyar Film Institute, Chennai. K.K.Balachander, a famous director spotted Rajnikanth during his performance at the institute. Rajnikanth in this time mainly played the roles of villains or supporting cast but slowly his career took off another height and turned his story into a successful one to remember.

In his life, he has starred over 190 films including Hindi, Kannada, English and many more languages. He was also awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2000 by the Indian Government. He recently ventured into politics by starting his political party but later backed off reasoning his sudden health degradation as a message from God. He is still revered as Thalaiva all across the country.