Tamil megastar Rajinikanth will be celebrating his 62nd birthday today. He started his career in films in the year 1975 and has acted in over 150 films. Seven years and 85 movies later, he started off his Bollywood career with 1982 film Andhaa Kanoon. He has, so far, acted in 29 Hindi movies.
Tamil megastar Rajinikanth is celebrating his 62nd birthday today. He debuted 1975's Tamil movie Apoorva Raagangal and has acted in over 150 films ever since. Seven years and 85 movies later, he made his Bollywood debut with 1983 film Andhaa Kanoon. He has, so far, acted in 26 Hindi movies.
Andhaa Kanoon: Co-starring Hema Malini and Amitabh Bachchan, with whom Rajinikanth would form a lifelong friendship, the Tamil actor's first Bollywood film was a saga of revenge. Rajinikanth played the role of Vijayakumar Singh, a police inspector, hunting down his parents' killers, in the superhit 1983 film.
Then came Jeet Hamaari and Meri Adaalat in the same year as Andha Kanoon. Meri Adaalat was a revenge drama featuring Rajinikanth in the lead supported by Zeenat Aman. The film did well at the box-office.
Years 1984 and 1985 made Rajinikanth's position in Bollywood sturdy. Five of his Bollywood films were released in these two years: Gangvaa, John Jani Janardhan, Mahaguru, Wafadaar, Bewafai, Geraftaar and Ek Saudagar. Gangvaa, co-starring Shabana Azmi, was a remake of his 1983 Tamil film Malaiyur Mambattiyaan.
Rajinikanth's 1986 film Bhagwan Dada was a box-office hit. Rajinikanth co-starred with Sridevi, Rakesh Roshan and Danny Denzongpa in the film. The movie also featured Hrithik Roshan, who played the role of Rajinikanth's 12-year-old adopted son. In the same year, films like Asli Naqli, Dosti Dhushman were released.
In 1987, Rajinikanth appeared in blockbusters like Insaaf Kaun Karega with Dharmendra and Jayaprada, Daku Hasina with Jackie Shroff and Zeenat Aman, and Uttar Dakshan Madhuri Dixit, Jackie Shroff and Anupam Kher.
In the next two years, Rajinikanth's Tamacha (1988), Gair Kanooni and Bhrashtachar (1989), were average films.
Then came the blockbuster movie Chaalbaaz in 1989, with Sridevi playing twin heroines separated at birth. Rajinikanth, playing smart-aleck taxi driver Jaggu, was the love interest for the quiet twin Anju.
After Chaalbaaz's huge box-office success came 1991 movie Hum. Rajinikanth played Amitabh Bachchan's younger brother. The movie also co-starred Govinda, Kimi Katkar, Danny Denzongpa, Deepa Sahi and Shilpa Shirodkar.
Movies like Farishtay, Khoon Ka Karz and Phool Bane Angaray were also released in the same year but couldn't match the box-office success of Hum.
Hum turned out to be Rajinikanth's last Bollywood hit. Tyagi and Insaniyat Ke Devta in 1992, Aatank Hi Aatank in 1995 and Bulandi in 2000 were all box-office disasters.
In 2011 came RA.One, Shah Rukh Khan's ambitious and ill-fated sci-fi superhero film. Rajinikanth, in his first screen appearance after his 2011 illness, made a cameo appearance in the film as Chitti Babu, the role he played in Enthiran/Robot.
