Superstar Rajinikanth completed 45 years in the Indian film industry recently and it was a cause of huge celebration and pride for the Tamil film industry. Starting out in a small role in K Balachander’s film ‘Apoorva Raagangal’ in 1975, today at the age of 69, he continues to entertain people around the world. Director Suresh Krissna helmed four of his projects with Rajinikanth in the lead – ‘Annamalai’, ‘Veera’, ‘Baasha’ and ‘Baba’. ‘Annamalai’ and ‘Baasha’ were two of the biggest hits in the Superstar’s career and are still widely talked about today.
Ask director Suresh Krissna what has changed about Rajinikanth since the time of the early 90s when he started to work with him and he smiles and says, “I met Rajinikanth in 1992 when we started to work on ‘Annamalai’. We were new to each other then and we worked together for 10 years on four films. Now, I haven’t worked with him for the last decade. If you ask me about what change I see in him – to be honest, nothing! He was an easygoing person – professionally and personally – and we hit it off very well. Even when we meet now, the warmth, love and respect he has, has absolutely not changed. At least with me. I’m enjoying that space with him.”
The Superstar has a lot of style and certain mannerisms on screen that fans love and adore. Does that exist off screen as well or is he a simple man? “He’s a very down-to-earth person. From being a bus conductor to getting groomed by K Balachander, worked on so many films and created a mass audience for himself, he has put in a lot of hard work. While you see the style outside, there’s a fabulous actor inside. He kept discovering, analysing his pluses and minuses and kept experimenting with his look and style to see what worked with fans. We should give credit to his acting as well and not just his style,” explains Krissna.
Everyone talks about the Rajinikanth-Kamal Haasan rivalry today but given that both Tamil stars were at the height of their careers in the 80s early 90s, did it exist back then? Director Suresh Krissna says that it was more media created since both of them had created their own niche in the film industry and had different acting styles and choice of films.
“Rajinikanth is a director’s actor and is a cameraman and technician’s delight. He knows exactly what is expected when you explain the scene and how you are going to shoot it to him,” says Krissna talking about an experience from his film ‘Annamalai’. Though the two have not worked together for the last decade, the director reveals that ‘Rayalaseema Ramanna Chowdary’ (Telugu film) for which Rajinikanth wrote the dialogues, is one film he would like to make with the Superstar in Tamil today.
Was Rajinikanth interested in politics even then? “I’m not too interested in politics so we never used to discuss that but Cho Ramaswamy (actor and political satirist) used to visit him on sets, so perhaps they discussed,” says Krissna. As for Rajinikanth’s films today, Suresh Krissna feels that the powerful dialogues written for the Superstar earlier are missing and his stardom is not aptly translated on screen in the new age films.
“Even today – 45 years after his debut – he plays the hero and that shows Rajinikanth’s popularity and his stature as a star. He will always be the Superstar,” signs off director Suresh Krissna.
