Topic started by Srini (@ 1cust18.tnt2.sfo3.da.uu.net) on Sat Dec 13 18:05:13 EST 2003.
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The dawn of 1970’s. One of the superstars in Tamil Cinema was Sivaji Ganesan. There was no other actor with a similar sounding name and fame during the period. No one had ever heard of Shivaji Rao Gaekwad. But little did people know that this unknown young man from Bangalore who was eking out a livelihood as bus conductor in the city would create history in Tamil Cinema.
Shivaji Rao Gaekwad of Marati stock and descent was born in the then princely ‘native’ state of Mysore on December 12, 1949. Duty to family circumstances and other reasons he could not pursue a scholastic career and had to work for a living at an early age. He became a bus conductor in Bangalore and in discharge of his routine mundane duties he attracted the attention and admiration of the bus commuters with his arresting, stylish and dramatic manner in which he issued tickets and blew the whistle.
Even as a kid Shivaji Rao was bitten by the movie bug and he saw as many movies as possible, often on the sly and the dream of becoming an actor entered his psyche. In order to achieve his ambition and cherished desire he gave up his lowly job and made his way to Madras which was then the capital of South Indian Cinema where movies in the four languages Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada were actively being produced in the many studios of the city.
Life in an unfriendly city was harsh and tense and often he faced starvation and loneliness. He slept many a night on the sidewalks of the Mount Road area and to make a fistful of rupees he even worked as an unlicensed porter at the Madras City Central railway station! However he never wavered from his ambitious goals and dreams.
During that period the South Indian Film and Chamber of Commerce, Madras ran a film institute which taught only movie acting. The institute had no technical facilities like camera, and editing departments. With limited facilities and unlimited enthusiasm the institute attracted many aspiring actors who could not get admission in the state government-run film institute at Adayar due to lack of educational qualifications, or the push and pull, and political clout. Anyway this institute did produce actors of merit and two of them emerged as superstars of South Indian Cinema. One of them is Rajnikanth and the other the Telugu Cinema icon Chiranjeevi (original name, S. Varaprasada Rao)
Trying hard to get at least a toehold in cinema Rajni did small parts in some Telugu movies without receiving credit. However the famed Poona Film Institute- trained talented filmmaker, and disciple of the celebrated Telugu filmmaker B. N. Reddi, K. S. Rami Reddi saw the spark in the aspiring young man and cast him in a supporting but significant role in his Telugu film.
Years later when he had established himself as Rajnikanth, the superstar, he was shooting a Tamil film at the famous Vijaya- Vauhini Studios, when he noticed Rami Reddi walking along inside the studio. At once he made a dash and met his benefactor-director with warmth and affection. That was not all. He took him along and introduced him to the artistes, director and others of the Tamil film unit and expressed his gratitude in their presence for the opportunity Reddi had given him when he was an unknown struggling actor. This reveals the warm, friendly and humble human being inside the actor and also that fame, name and success had not erased the Old World values of life like gratitude.
Then came his debut as an actor receiving credit in the titles in Kannada Cinema. The celebrated Kannada filmmaker S. R. Puttanna Kanagal cast him in his 3-in-1 movie Katha Sangama (1975). The film consisted of three separate stories, and one of them was Munithayee. Puttanna cast the aspiring actor in the anti-hero and villainous role of a womanizing young man. The film is about a poor blind young woman (top star Aarthi) whom he seduces stealthily making his way to her home and bed. The totally unsympathetic menacing role was done by the newcomer with conviction and attracted much attention.
When Shivaji Rao met Puttanna he told him that he was a bus conductor. The famous filmmaker patted him on his back and said that he was earlier a motor mechanic in Mysore. "A bus conductor and motor mechanic working in cinema is an excellent combination!" wisecracked Puttanna.
(This writer, a good pal of Puttanna, made a TV film in Kannada on Puttanna, entitled Nenapina Dhoniyalli Puttanna Kanagal (1996) in which he had a clipping of the Rajnikanth sequence.)
At the South Indian Film Chamber Institute many filmmakers and film scholars came to take classes and also take a look at new talent. One such person was the government servant-turned trend setting filmmaker Kailasam Balachander. An excellent talent scout and star-maker, K. Balachander obviously saw the spark in Shivaji Rao and cast him in a minor but impressive role in his Apoorva Raagangal (1976).
He also re-christened the young actor as `Rajnikanth`. In this offbeat and successful film Rajini plays the role of the separated husband of the heroine (Srividya). He appears only for a few minutes towards the end of the film when he comes to meet his musician wife. He opens the gate of her bungalow and walks in. This scene proved a symbolic metaphor for the film career of Rajnikanth who pushed open the doors of Tamil Cinema and walked his way to superstardom.
The rest, as they say, is history.
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