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Rajinikanth & Gayathri Srikanth
Read all about the two women in Rajini’s early love life: the woman he loved once and the fair complexioned woman who rejected him. Find out about his father’s childhood, and Rajini’s brother who died early. Learn all about the Superstar’s future aspirations outside cinema. All revealed now for the first time in this exclusive Behindwoods interview with Dr. Gayathri Srikanth, author of “The Name is Rajinikanth”, which is being released today by Kamal Hassan in Chennai.

BW: We’ll get straight to the point: what can you tell us that you have not shared with any other media about what is in your book?
Gayathri: Rajini’s early love life. I even met one of the women. She’s married now, and even her husband was present (laughs) when I interviewed her.

BW: Give us a little preview…
Gayathri: There were at least two women. One of them was when he was a bus conductor in Bangalore. He liked this woman very much.-.I have not named her, that was our ladies agreement- and was hopeful of marrying her. But it flitted away with time, the way infatuations do. The second woman was a proposal that was brought to him. Her family lived a little away from Bangalore city –possibly Somanahalli. But once he went there, the woman rejected him, saying, “he is too dark and looks like a thug.” Since then- and this is my feeling- Rajini became determined to pursue someone fair complexioned and marry her. And he did – as we all know.

BW: What did his wife say to this?
Gayathri: Nothing –because Rajinkanth made it clear to me that he and his family did not wish to participate in the interview process.

BW: As his biographer what do you feel Rajinikanth’s next step is going to be? He is 58 but still wanting to do ambitious projects like Robot, the most expensive Indian movie under production. But what is his next move as a man going to be?
Gayathri: He remains silent on it. But I spoke to some sources very close to him – I won’t reveal who- and all of them say that his desire is to live a quiet life in pursuit of spiritual things. As his biographer I feel personally that he should enter politics. He would make a tremendous difference to the system, to Tamilnadu.

BW: What impressions did you form about the way he feels about his stardom? Did you get the feeling that he felt trapped as his star-image?
Gayathri: Definitely. You can see his restlessness with playing the same role again and again. He is yearning to play the kind of roles he did in the 70s. In fact, without exception, all his fellow stars said Rajini must once again return to being the actor he once was in movies such as Aarilirnthu Aravathu Varai.

BW: What else can you tell us that most people may not know about the Superstar?
Gayathri: My book has gone deeply into not just his childhood but also his father’s childhood. How his grandfather abandoned the family, and Rajini’s father had to struggle to bring up the family. As a result he became a strict disciplinarian.

BW: What sort of approach/attitude have you taken to telling Rajinikanth’ story?
Gayathri: A balanced one. I have not adulated him. I have looked at his positive and negative side.

BW: What negative side, for instance?

 
 
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