Fifty-One Years and Counting!

Superstar Rajinikanth completed a monumental 51 years in Indian cinema on August 15, and celebrated the milestone on the sets of his Dharman, along with the film’s cast and crew. His historic journey began when legendary filmmaker K. Balachander spotted a unique spark in young Shivaji Rao Gaekwad at the Madras Film Institute. He was cast in a cameo role and renamed Rajinikanth in Balachander’s 1975 National Award-winning film Apoorva Raagangal released on August 15. The ‘51 Years of Rajinism’ were saluted by team Dharman. A video shared from the location was captioned “51 YEARS. ONE NAME. ONE SUPERSTAR. Celebrating from the sets of DHARMAN.”

Fans filled the comments section with salutes to the iconic actor. “51 years THALAIVAR. 51 years superstar. 51 years style icon... God of Indian cinema, the one and only superstar,” wrote one ardent admirer. Dharman marks Rajinikanth’s 173rd film, directed by Ashwath Marimuthu and produced by Kamal Haasan and R. Mahendran under Raaj Kamal Films International and Turmeric Media. He will next return as Muthuvel Pandian in Jailer 2.