'I increased my salary so that the director won't come to me', Rajinikanth

Dec 28, 2017 JB

Superstar Rajinikanth in his fan’s interaction at the Raghavendra Kalyana Mandapam in Chennai, brought along with him veteran directors J Mahendran and Kalignanam, who had been majorly instrumental in shaping up the career of the superstar.

Rajinikanth said, “It was director Mahendran who introduced the ‘Rajini style’ with Mullum Malarum and veteran Kalaignanam who made me a hero at a time I was doing villainy acts, with his production venture Bhairavi in 1978.

“When Kalaignanam sir said he wanted to do a movie, I thought it was a villain role and informed him that my schedule was tight. But he said he wanted to produce a film with me as the hero. I was surprised, I didn’t know much about him, and I turned down the offer. But he came to me again. I was getting around Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 as my salary then. In order to avoid him, I demanded Rs 50,000 as my remuneration. I thought he wouldn’t come back. Much to my surprise, he was back in two days and paid me an advance of Rs 30,000 and agreed to my demand. If Balachander sir had introduced me in films, it was Kalaignanam who gave me a ‘hero status’ with Bhairavi. And after I became a successful hero, he has not asked me for a call sheet. I made a mistake of actually not giving him one”.