From Dakshin With Love – Rajnikant
Yesterday Rajnikant was shot at. The funeral of the bullet will take place this evening! Did you know that Rajnikant once kicked a football? Today it’s known as Pluto! Rajnikant once ordered a plate of idli at McDonald’s… and got it! Rajni and his jokes may be flying high but gauging the man himself from my personal experience and now from your interview, he still seems pretty grounded to reality.
It is so typical of him to pose candidly for the camera in his normal avatar, totally unaffected by the adulation and hype around him.
I have had the good fortune of working with him as a producer when I made Uttar Dakshin way back in the late 80s. He seemed a tad out-of-place in his Bollywood surroundings, preferring to sit it out in the evenings with his wife in an unobtrusive corner of the hotel’s coffee shop. He was already a big star down South, but he never let anyone feel uncomfortable about his godly status.
I have so many pleasant memories of this superstar. On one occasion, I had to give him an instalment of `1,00,000 and another actor `25,000. But my production guy goofed up – he gave Rajni the latter amount and saw him off at the airport. I was aghast and took the next flight to Chennai and handed over the remaining amount to his wife. Both husband and wife were touched by my gesture and said that there was no need for me to have taken the trouble, the amount could have been settled later. But the point is, when Rajni Sir saw he had received a smaller amount, he didn’t question my production man or call me. He was too much of a gentleman to pick up the phone and ask me why I had paid him less.
And how can I forget his hotel bills? For most producers, actors’ hotel bills are a nightmare but right through Rajnikant’s stay in Mumbai, I only had to shell out for his hotel rent and one coffee, one idli per day. He paid for everything else from his pocket.
I guess the saying, good things happen to good people, really holds true here. I wish him all the best and hope the next time he kicks a football, the ball begins to rotate as a planet around Star Rajni!
–Ashok Khanna, Mumba
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