Superstar Rajinikanth aka “Thalaiva '' has turned 70 today. There is no denying the fact that he is a known face across the globe. From a small child to an old person, this legendary actor has fans across all age groups.

Born on December 12, 1950 in a Maratha family in Karnataka, Rajinikanth started out as a bus conductor, which not many people are aware of. 

© BCCL

He later went out to become one of the highest paid actors in the industry, inspiring people across the places. Rajinikanth’s fans across the world love him for his enchanting on-screen persona, his larger-than-life portrayal of characters and off-screen simplicity. In fact, many of his fans worship him too.

Now interestingly, Rajinikanth had last week announced that he will launch his long-anticipated political party in January, five months before the Tamil Nadu election in 2021. This definitely gives the actor's 70th birthday a whole new ring of excitement. 

On Saturday, Rajinikanth's fans had begun assembling before his residence in Chennai, holding banners and sporting T-shirts printed with his photographs.

© ANI

Here we have curated some of the lesser known and interesting facts about the Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan awardee:

1. Rajinikanth made his onscreen debut with director K Balachander's Apoorva Raagangal way back in 1975. The film also starred Kamal Haasan and Srividya in lead roles and hit the screens on 15th August 1975. Thalaiva, as he is fondly called now, has ruled the Tamil film industry for decades, and completed his 45 successful years in cinema on August 15 this year.

© Apoorva Raagangal

2. Not many know that Rajinikanth came from a humble background. Before entering the film industry, Rajinikanth used to work as a coolie, carpenter and a bus conductor.

© sathya movies

3. Wait, if you are a true fan you would surely know his real name! Yes, Rajinikanth isn’t his real name. The real name of Rajinikanth is Shivaji Rao Gaekwad. He was named after Chhatrapati Shivaji, the brave Maratha warrior King. He was brought up speaking Marathi and Kannada.

4. Interestingly, later on, Rajinikanth pursued diploma in acting from Madras Film Institute and also learnt Tamil during his course.

5. On the personal front, Rajini is married to Latha Rangachari who is 8 years younger than him. The two met when Latha came to interview him for her college magazine. They got married in 1981. Latha runs a Chennai-based school called 'The Ashram' now and the couple has two daughters Aishwarya and Soundarya. Aishwarya is married to Raanjhanaa actor Dhanush. 

© Twitter/@soundaryaarajni

6. Did you know he started out as a villain initially? In the first two years of the 70-year-old actor’s career, he got only negative roles to play - of an abusive husband, a rapist, a womaniser, a pornographer, an adulterer etc, but it was in 1977 when he first got to play a positive role in the movie Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri, which is an evergreen classic film.

7. Not one or two, but Rajinikanth has starred in eleven Tamil remakes of Amitabh Bachchan films like Deewar, Amar Akbar Anthony, Laawaris and Don among others which went on to become superhits.

8. Interestingly, he is also the second highest paid actor in Asia after Jackie Chan as for his blockbuster movie Shivaji, he received a whopping fee of Rs 26 crore in 2007.

© AVM Productions

9. His elder daughter Aishwarya is married to actor Dhanush. His younger daughter Soundarya is married to Vishagan Vanangamudi, an actor and businessman.

© Filmfare

10. Rajinikanth commands a huge fan following across the globe. On Twitter alone, the superstar has 5.7 million world-wide followers as of today.

In addition, Rajinikanth is a follower of Hinduism and a strong believer of spirituality. He practices yoga and meditation. Besides, on his birthdays every year, his fan clubs organise blood donation, eye donation camps and also distribute food for the poor. 

For the unversed, Rajinikanth has acted in over 170 films in his over four-decade-long journey and will be next seen in 'Annaatthe', helmed by Siruthai Siva and produced by Sun Pictures. The movie also features Keerthy Suresh, Nayanthara, Khushbu Sundar and Meena among others in pivotal roles. The filming for the movie began in December, last year.

Meanwhile, as far as the Tamil Nadu election in 2021 is concerned, the AIADMK and the DMK will be keenly watching the moves of Rajinikanth's new political outfit, which the actor said last week, will follow "spiritual secular politics" with no caste or religion.

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