The term SUPERSTAR got introduced in the early 70s with the unprecedented rise of Rajesh Khanna and then was later given to Amitabh Bachchan as the ‘Angry Young Man’ took over the ‘Romantic Lover Boy’ post the mid-70s. However in the present its widely used all over the country for the one and only Rajinikanth – the man who amazingly transformed himself into an unbelievable phenomenon in the last two decades and now enjoys a humongous fan-following in India as well as in Indians living abroad beyond any close comparison.
Venturing into Hindi Cinema, Rajinikanth made a solid impression as the Hit-man dressed in all-black in ANDHA KANOON (1983), standing tall along the then Superstar Amitabh Bachchan playing an extended cameo in the film. And his inimitable style became an instant hit too with the youngsters following his way of wearing the sunglasses, moving in slow motion with the swirling hair, the fast-cut fight movements with additional sound effects and the most famous being the acrobatics played with a cigarette, lighting it up differently - even with a shot from his revolver.
Though Rajinikanth only featured in some 20 odd Hindi films in a time span of less than 15 years till the mid-90s, but his ‘style-quotient’ remained there in the minds of both the Hindi film viewers as well as the makers in the subsequent decades and many kept following the same with a strong wish to repeat the magic like the one and only Thalaiva.
Interestingly the most famous Hindi films of Superstar Rajinikanth remain the ones where he shared the screen with the other Superstar Amitabh Bachchan as ANDHA KANOON (1983), GERAFTAAR (1985) and HUM (1991).
But many miss the fact that he also featured in a film with the original Superstar Rajesh Khanna too playing a negative character in BEWAFAI released in 1985.
As a matter of fact, BEWAFAI might turn out to be a great surprise for many as here Rajinikanth plays a mysterious killer, who also is a doctor/scientist having his own weird laboratory with many birds and small animals caged for his scary experiments. So much before ROBOT/ENTHIRAN (2010), Rajini did play a doctor/scientist with negative tones and you got to see his introductory scene where he reveals his big discovery made, that turns a human into a lifeless body with only eyes working normally watching everything happening around (in a quite hilarious manner).
Coming back to the term SUPERSTAR, though not any great cinema but we thankfully do have films where these Superstars share the screen together and that’s nothing less than a rare treat to watch for their individual fans.
Cheers!
(Note: The article was also published on UC-News Mobile App in December 2017)
