Indian Idol

If you don’t live in India or follow the Bollywood (or Hindi) movie scene, the name Rajinikanth probably doesn’t ring a bell.  But much like Ron Burgundy, this 60 year-old actor is kind of a big deal.  After leaving his job as a Bangalore bus conductor in 1973, Rajinikanth (whose real name is Shivaji Gaekwad) moved to the capital city of Chennai to pursue a career in films.  A couple of years later, he made his acting debut in a Tamil cinema production titled Apoorva Raagangal. Although he experienced moderate success, R-K didn’t become a certifiable star until around 1978, when directors started caste-ing him for the lead role in numerous projects.  Over the next ten years, he would appear in almost 80 movies (here’s his lengthy filmmography if you don’t trust my math), and soon became the highest paid Indian film star – a title which he still holds.  His popularity has not been confined to India, however, as the actor has been involved with several productions in other countries as well (including a 1988 American action/comedy titled Bloodstone).  When he was not acting, Rajinikanth also made a name for himself as a screenwriter, producer, philanthropist and successful playback singer.  What is a playback singer?  Well, I’m glad you asked, because this is actually the job that brought R-K’s illustrious career to my attention.  Milli Vanilli were essentially exposed as playback singers back in 1989; but in certain countries, actors like Rajinikanth are hired to record videos where they lip-synch songs from a movie’s soundtrack.  After watching him in the following two videos, I am really hoping this trend catches on in the U.S. film industry at some point in the future.

The title of this song translates to “Style” in English, and as you can see, R-K is not lacking in that department:

Rajinikanth channels Antonio Banderas, Neo, and Michael Jackson in the video for “Athiradee”: