This star worked as coolie, bus conductor; started as villain, was labelled 'finished', now India's highest paid actor

Rags to riches stories are plenty in the Indian film industries. Tales of stars sleeping on railway platforms and working odd jobs for a couple of hundred bucks before their debuts are all too common. But the difference is just how high these ‘strugglers’ eventually reach. Perhaps the biggest rags-to-riches story in Indian cinema is of a Marathi man from Karnataka, who started as a bus conductor before becoming a villain and eventually ruling cinema screen for decades.

Rajinikanth’s exceptional rags to riches story

Rajinikanth’s real name is Shivaji Rao Gaekwad. He was born in a Marathi family in Bangalore of the erstwhile Mysore State. Son of a police constable, Rajinikanth started doing odd jobs after finishing his schooling in the late-60s. He worked as a coolie before getting a job as a bus conductor in the Bangalore Transport Service. After Kannada playwright Topi Muniappa offered him a role in one of his plays, his acting journey began. In the 70s, against his family’s wishes, he decided to enrol in an acting course in the then-newly-formed Madras Film Institute. During his time at the institute, he was noticed by Tamil filmmaker K Balachander, who advised him to learn to speak Tamil and later offered him his first film role.

How Shivaji Rao became Rajinikanth

Rajni adopted his stage name because he wanted to avoid being confused with superstar Sivaji Ganesan, who was one of the biggest names in Tamil cinema when he was starting out. The name Rajinikanth was given to the actor by his mentor Balachander, who took it from his own 1966 film Major Chandrakantha, where AVM Rajan played a character of the same name. Rajinikanth made his debut in Balachander’s Apoorva Ragangal, where he played Srividya’s abusive husband. In his next film, he played a rapist and for the remainder of the 70s, came to be known playing negative characters in hits like Anthuleni Katha, Baalu Jenu, and Gaayathri.

When Rajinikanth proved critics wrong

Despite doing several films in lead roles in the late-70s, Rajni was not able to establish himself as a leading man. His style of flipping a cigarette and his mannerisms were popular with the masses but he was still seen as an antagonist. In 1978, when many had called his career as a hero ‘finished’, Rajni starred in Bairavi, where he played the lead hero, a man who sacrifices his love for his friend (played by Kamal Haasan). The film’s success earned him the title of superstar. Further success with Billa (a remake of Don) established him as an action star and Rajni went on to be Tamil cinema’s biggest star through the 80s and 90s. With the success of his most recent release Jailer, Rajinikanth surpassed Shah Rukh Khan and Vijay to become India’s highest-paid actor, earning Rs 210 crore for the film.