50 years of Rajinikanth embracing the grey while playing a superhero

It will be 50 years on 15 August since Rajinikanth debuted on the silver screen, changing the landscape of Indian cinema forever.

15 August 1975 will forever be etched in history as the day Rajinikanth, born as Sivaji Rao Gaikwad, was first seen on the silver screen in K Balachander’s Apoorva Raagangal. Unlike the larger-than-life persona he’s known for now, his first show had him in shabby clothes and entering a gate to meet his estranged wife. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Rajinikanth, who has played everything from the slick villain to the stylish superhero in his career, in a still from Avargal.

Playing the menacing villain

While Rajinikanth’s cigarette and sunglass flipping, walk with a swagger, the way he says ‘Ardhamainda Raja’ (did you understand it?) sardonically might be his trademark today, at the beginning of his career, the actor might not have had much of a choice when he played the villain back to back in films like Avargal, 16 Vayathinile, Aadu Puli Attam and Gaayathri. He sneered, delivered punch dialogues with panache and was a menace all around.

Of course, things changed for him when he played the lead for the first time in Eranki Sharma’s Telugu film Chilakamma Cheppindi in 1977. SP Muthuraman's Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri even saw him play a heartbroken lover, earning him critical acclaim the same year. But the 1980 film Billa, a remake of Amitabh Bachchan’s Don, saw him embrace the grey, proving that Rajinikanth was a performer like none other.

Toeing the line between the hero and villain

The 1980s really established Rajinikanth not just as a performer but as a superstar in his own right. He ventured into Hindi and even Hollywood, tasting failures and success at the same time. With films like Thalapathi, Annaamalai, Baashha, Muthu, Padayappa, Baba, and Chandramukhi in the later years, Rajini got busy playing the saviour, the man who is to be worshipped, the one who always gets the girl, and the superhero who wins no matter what.

Even as he played these roles, Rajinikanth dipped his toes in playing shades of grey. In Sivaji (2007), what the titular character cannot, his alter ego Ravichandran does. And who can forget when he played the humanoid robot in Enthiran (2010), reigning chaos while a scientist (also played by Rajini) tries to get it under control. It felt like Rajinikanth embraced playing the grey as much as he did playing the superhero.

Embracing the grey, literally

And then came the 2016 film Kabali. Not only did Rajinikanth embrace the greys in his hair and beard, but he also played a Malaysian gangster who is thirsting for vengeance and redemption. He followed that up with the 2018 film Kaala, an imperfectly perfect godfather who, for once, is not infallible. In the 2019 film Petta, he played a hostel warden with a dark past.

Rajinikanth might still play the saviour with these films, but he also began playing men who weren’t afraid to admit they were wrong or flawed. The 2020 film Darbar saw him play a police officer who turns violent in his grief. In the 2024 film Vettaiyan, he’s the trigger-friendly encounter specialist who is forced to face his own mistakes. In the 2023 hit Jailer, he even plays a retired jailer who willingly lies to his family and unleashes a violent side in a bid to save his son.

Rajinikanth will now be seen in Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Coolie, which is hitting screens on 14 August. Given that the director has had alcoholic teachers (Master), repenting prisoners (Kaithi) and ageing spies in grief (Vikram) playing his leads, it wouldn’t be a surprise if his character Deva had a few quirks of his own. Nagarjuna, who plays the antagonist Simon in the film, even got Rajinikanth’s stamp of approval when he said, “I’ve played a villain many times in my career, but even I wonder if I could play Simon like him; he’s fantastic.” But who’s to say Rajinikanth himself wouldn’t get the chance to do what he loves to do best – explore the grey.