THE NAME IS RAJINIKANTH - Biography of the Super Star

The first picture is the actual front cover of the book and the second one is designed by me. I would've liked it much better this way.

I have never even dreamt of writing a review for a book, since me and books have always been poles apart. Since childhood, reading is one habit which my mom wanted me to cultivate, but for some reason I have always been devoid of books. Though I started reading so many books earlier, I have successfully completed only three books so far. If a book has to engage me, either it has to be extremely interesting or it should be about something which I am already interested at. The other books I have read so far – “The Da Vinci Code” (Controversies of any kind attract me more than anything else) and “Harvesting our souls” by Arun Shourie (Loved this book. Probably the best controversial flick one can ever read)

The third one is a biography and I wasn’t really concerned about the nature of the book since it was about the one and only SUPER STAR RAJINIKANTH. Any damn thing which is labelled “SUPER STAR RAJINIKANTH” would catch my attention and this book is no exception. Right from the day it was released, I was very keen to grab one copy as every other die hard thalaivar fan. Anyhow, it took sometime to reach me all the way from India. As soon as I got it, I started reading it and completed in two strokes. I am not a kind of person who keeps reading chapter by chapter for days together. First of all, thanks to Dr.Gayathri for putting up a great effort to bring out such a good book. It was a very good and neat compilation of incidents and facts.

Here goes my review...


Happy about

- The way Dr.Gayathri has presented this book. The book unfolds with the box office record of “Sivaji – The Boss” and thalaivar’s birth, both running parallel in alternate chapters.
- The Preface is excellent, which is the most important part of this entire book. It summarizes about the “Rajini Mania” and the intensity of his impact with all age groups. Even a stranger can understand why is this man always considered as "larger than life".
- The pain the author has taken to bring out small incidents especially during thalaivar’s childhood was clearly felt. Truly a great effort.
- The book has turned out to be a genuine biography, as the author has neither exaggerated, nor downplayed the incidents for the sake of sensationalism.
- Crisp narration. The writing style was different and good.
- Unearthing the facts about the differences thalaivar had with the politicians. For people who knew only a little about it with the light thrown by media, this book helps them to know what really happened. After reading this, one can really understand how misleading the newspapers can be at times.
- Open narration about thalaivar’s nervous breakdown and the incidents followed. Anyhow, it is a known fact that thalaivar never cares about his image and he has already spoken about it. Not everybody can talk about such things in public, especially despite being such a big star.
- Though his spiritual inclination is a known thing, this book explains it very well and also from where he got it.
- A complete 360 degree coverage around his family and also mentioned are the few things like Aishwarya Rajinikanth’s crush on Simbu, etc.,

Disappointed about

- Horrible spelling mistakes throughout the book. Quite a lot of them. Sometimes very irrirating as the movie names were also mentioned wrong in a few places.
- The pictures inside the books are good, but nothing great. Most of them already seen.
- The front cover of this book. Could have opted for a much better picture.
- Though the book has covered most of them, incidents like Manorama’s apology episode are missing.
- Most of thalaivar’s childhood episodes are interesting, but somehow fails to engage at times.
- Should have had more information about his relationship with his fans and may be a few incidents depicting them.
- Appendix 1 deals about Rajini’s important movies in his career, but a few of the movies are left out.
- Could’ve added some interesting information about what kind of relationships does he share with other leading actors like Vijayakanth, Sharath Kumar, etc.
- No information about the dropped movies (except Jaggubhai) in his career. It would've been interesting if some of those informations were given.
- No statistical information and milestones such as Rajini’s first ever color film, his first ever silver jubilee, etc.,

Overall, a worth read for every one and a must read for all thalaivar fanatics like me!