Coolie: 50 Years of Rajinikanth, India's bus conductor turned superstar
Naman Ramachandran, author of Rajinikanth: A Definitive Biography, notes that Rajinikanth's fans range from Wall Street bankers to washerwomen in Tamil Nadu. His on-screen magic lies in portraying the underdog's dream: to beat the odds without losing one's humanity, writes Ramachandran.A 2015 documentary on the superstar called For the Love of a Man by Rinku Kalsy and Joyojeet Pal captured the depth of this fervour - of fans mortgaging homes, selling family gold, and treating film releases as once-in-a-lifetime festivals."This isn't fandom," Kalsy explained, "it's identity. He represents what they aspire to be - humble, moral, yet powerful when it matters."His home in Chennai has become a shrine for thousands of fans seeking a glimpse, a blessing, or the naming of a newborn. In 2016, AirAsia airline unveiled an aircraft emblazoned with his face to mark his film, Kabali's release; a symbol that his image could carry a film across the skies.Devotion often spills into social work by his fan clubs organising blood donation camps, relief drives, community events in his name. As Aishwarya Rajinikanth writes in her book Standing on an Apple Box: "My father never ever behaves like a superstar at home… except in his movies."Rajinikanth's fan culture also blurs cinema and life.Each film release becomes a ritualised spectacle. As a rookie reporter, I often witnessed the frenzied brotherhood at first day, first-show screenings: coins tossed at the screen, camphor burnt, flowers showered, cut-outs doused in milk, fans screaming his name.
Watching a Rajinikanth movie is less a screening than a carnival that is a heady mix of street cred, working-class pride, communal revelry and delirious joy.After three hours of superhuman justice, humour, romance, and vengeance, cinemas are littered with popcorn like confetti, and fans spill into the streets, whooping with cathartic delight.This year, celebrations have reached fever pitch: in Madurai district, a fan has built a temple adorned with over 5,500 posters and photos, offering prayers to an idol of the star.One of four children, Rajinikanth grew up in poverty; his father was a police constable. "When I dropped out of college, my father sent me to work as a coolie [porter]," he recalled. A relative later helped him become a bus conductor.A friend, noticing his passion for theatre, pooled funds to send him to the Madras Film Institute, a state-run film school. At the institute, he was talent spotted by the Tamil filmmaker K Balachander who gave him his first role in 1975.Rajinikanth stood apart from the fair-skinned, soft-spoken hero archetype of Tamil cinema legends like MG Ramachandran. His dark complexion, rustic drawl and streetwise swagger became integral to his cinematic identity.
Part of Rajinikanth's enduring appeal lies in his choice of stories and the range of roles he has played.He began with anti-heroes and villainous roles that won acclaim in films like Apoorva Raagangal, Moondru Mudichu and Pathinaru Vayathinile, and took on morally complex characters in Avargal, Johnny, Mullum Malarum, as well as tragic roles in Bhuvana Oru Kelvikuri.With the 1980 blockbuster Billa, Rajinikanth cemented his status as an action hero.He went on to star in hit Tamil films, popular Bollywood films, and even a cameo in the American film Bloodstone.From the 1990s, he became known for larger-than-life vigilante roles and portrayals of spiritual figures like Sri Raghavendrar and Baba. In 1998, Muthu unexpectedly became a sensation in Japan.Films like Sivaji and Enthiran, where he played a robot, were massive blockbusters, and despite health challenges, his films continued to achieve huge commercial success.Critics once dismissed Rajinikanth as a mere "Style King," known for his cigarette flicks, sunglass twirls, and punchy dialogues laced with wry humour. Yet the values his characters embody - loyalty, courage, humour, and justice - are timeless and universal.Filmmaker SP Muthuraman, who worked with him in 25 films, attributes his success to "hard work, dedication, goodwill, and responsible behaviour towards co-stars, producers, and distributors".In Tamil Nadu, where many of his film peers have entered politics, Rajinikanth dabbled in the arena but has never launched a party or contested elections. He thus occupies a unique space - never fully a politician, yet always a moral beacon for his fans.Film historian Theodore Baskaran says that Tamil cinema's greatest stars occupy a space once held by folk deities. More than a celebrity, Rajinikanth's influence shapes the devotion of fans who line up at dawn with milk and garlands. They believe that their swashbuckling hero can add colour to their dreams and magic to their lives.
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Reuters
11 hours ago
- Reuters
OBITUARY Terence Stamp, actor who played Superman villain Zod, dies at 87
LONDON, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Terence Stamp liked to recall how he was on the verge of becoming a tantric sex teacher at an ashram in India when, in 1977, he received a telegram from his London agent with news that he was being considered for the "Superman" film. "I was on the night flight the next day," Stamp said in an interview with his publisher Watkins Books in 2015. After eight years largely out of work, getting the role of the arch-villain General Zod in "Superman" and "Superman II" turned the full glare of Hollywood's limelight on the Londoner. Buoyed by his new role, Stamp said he would respond to curious looks from passers-by with a command of: "Kneel before Zod, you bastards," which usually went down a storm. He died on Sunday morning, aged 87, his family said in a statement. The cause was not immediately known. "He leaves behind an extraordinary body of work, both as an actor and as a writer that will continue to touch and inspire people for years to come," the family statement said. Terence Henry Stamp was born in London's East End in 1938, the son of a tugboat coal stoker and a mother who Stamp said gave him his zest for life. As a child he endured the bombing of the city during World War Two and the deprivations that followed. "The great blessing of my life is that I had the really hard bit at the beginning because we were really poor," he said. He left school to work initially as a messenger boy for an advertising firm and quickly moved up the ranks before he won a scholarship to go to drama school. Until then he had kept his acting ambitions secret from his family for fear of disapproval. "I couldn't tell anyone I wanted to be an actor because it was out of the question. I would have been laughed at," he said. He shared a flat with another young London actor, Michael Caine, and landed the lead role in director Peter Ustinov's 1962 adaptation of "Billy Budd", a story of brutality in the British navy in the 18th century. That role earned him an Academy Award nomination and filled him with pride. "To be cast by somebody like Ustinov was something that gave me a great deal of self-confidence in my film career," Stamp told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in 2019. "During the shooting, I just thought, 'Wow! This is it'." Famous for his good looks and impeccable dress sense, he formed one of Britain's most glamorous couples with Julie Christie, with whom he starred in "Far From the Madding Crowd" in 1967. But he said the love of his life was the model Jean Shrimpton. "When I lost her, then that also coincided with my career taking a dip," he said. After failing to land the role of James Bond to succeed Sean Connery, Stamp sought a change of scene. He appeared in Italian films and worked with Federico Fellini in the late 1960s. "I view my life really as before and after Fellini," he said. "Being cast by him was the greatest compliment an actor like myself could get." It was while working in Rome – where he appeared in Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Theorem" in 1968 and "A Season in Hell" in 1971 - that Stamp met Indian spiritual speaker and writer Jiddu Krishnamurti in 1968. Krishnamurti taught the Englishman how to pause his thoughts and meditate, prompting Stamp to study yoga in India. Mumbai was his base but he spent long periods at the ashram in Pune, dressed in orange robes and growing his hair long, while learning the teachings of his yogi, including tantric sex. "There was a rumour around the ashram that he was preparing me to teach the tantric group," he said in the 2015 interview with Watkins Books. "There was a lot of action going on." After landing the role of General Zod, the megalomaniacal leader of the Kryptonians, in "Superman" in 1978 and its sequel in 1980, both times opposite Christopher Reeves, he went on to appear in a string of other films, including as a transgender woman in "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" in 1994. Other films included "Valkyrie" with Tom Cruise in 2008, "The Adjustment Bureau" with Matt Damon in 2011 and movies directed by Tim Burton. He counted Princess Diana among his friends. "It wasn't a formal thing, we'd just meet up for a cup of tea, or sometimes we'd have a long chat for an hour. Sometimes it would be very quick," he told the Daily Express newspaper in 2017. "The time I spent with her was a good time." In 2002, Stamp married for the first time at the age of 64 -- to Elizabeth O'Rourke, a pharmacist, who was 35 years his junior. They divorced in 2008. Asked by the Stage 32 website how he got film directors to believe in his talent, Stamp said: "I believed in myself. "Originally, when I didn't get cast I told myself there was a lack of discernment in them. This could be considered conceit. I look at it differently. Cherishing that divine spark in myself."
Times
a day ago
- Times
Catherine Zeta-Jones: ‘This is a new chapter'
'T here was never any question that I was going to be in showbusiness,' says Catherine Zeta-Jones, the girl who left Wales aged nine to appear on the West End stage in Annie, who won an Oscar for her appearance as a high-kicking murderess in the film Chicago and a Tony for her turn in A Little Night Music on Broadway. We are talking over Zoom, Zeta-Jones lavishly glamorous in a vintage YSL shirt, a gold and diamond Cartier watch, fat diamond studs in her ears, full make-up and a huge arrangement of orchids as a backdrop. But the razzle-dazzle is all part of the performance — because then she smiles and lifts up her leg to show me her off-duty white fluffy slippers (she has been dancing since she was four and remains impressively limber). 'I am actually in my sweatpants,' she says. 'I've been on set since 6am.' Now 55, Zeta-Jones is enjoying a professional renaissance. 'It's a new chapter. It's what I have been craving. Variety.' Her new projects are certainly varied. She is currently in Bilbao making the Amazon series Kill Jackie, in which she portrays a former cocaine kingpin turned art dealer whose past foes are out to murder her. 'I'm playing a Welsh woman, speaking in my own accent for the first time. It's really empowering, as an actor it frees me up,' she says. I ask if she's had to ramp up the Welsh; she has lived in America for the past three decades and has been married to the American actor Michael Douglas for almost 25 years. Her accent is a peculiar melange — in one sentence she pronounces 'route' three different ways. 'No, it just comes back, all the nuances,' she insists, reeling off some Welsh lingo. She is also in a forthcoming indie film with Natalie Portman called The Gallerist — 'a lovely little jewel of a part,' she says. But the most high-profile of Zeta-Jones's latest projects is Tim Burton's Wednesday, in which she plays Morticia Addams opposite Jenna Ortega as the titular goth anti-heroine, whose deadpan nihilism has become a cultural phenomenon. The first series, which came out in 2022, is the most-viewed English language show on Netflix. Zeta-Jones's appearance in that season was brief but impactful; she perfectly conjured Morticia's smouldering hauteur and otherworldly amorality. 'When Tim called me about the first season, before I even saw a script, I said, 'I'm in.' To play Morticia Addams in Tim Burton's world … It was just magic.' Burton, it seems, was equally spellbound. 'I've been a fan of hers for a long time,' he says over the phone. 'It's the Addams family, so it's usually pretty over the top, but we also wanted to give it an emotional resonance and Catherine's just very good at doing that, delivering something heightened, but also tapping into those real emotions.' There is ample opportunity for this in the second series, in which Morticia's character has been expanded. 'Tim really wanted to incorporate the family into the show,' Zeta-Jones says. So Morticia and Gomez Addams (played by Luis Guzmán) have relocated to Nevermore Academy to help plan a gala and keep an eye on their children; mysteries are multiplying, macabre beasts are being unleashed and Thing's loyalties are being tested — even when acting opposite a disembodied hand, Zeta-Jones's Morticia is compelling. As in the first series, there are plenty of devilish pranks and gory murders, but the most high stakes moments are those in which mother and daughter enter into emotional combat. 'That is the crucial dynamic,' Burton explains. In one scene Morticia and Wednesday have a night-time duel, fencing foils flashing (Zeta-Jones fans will be reminded of the famous fight scene in her breakout role opposite Antonio Banderas in The Mask of Zorro in 1998). 'I got to bend into the comedy and the emotion, the vulnerability,' Zeta-Jones says. 'Morticia is like all of us. We're strong, but we're vulnerable.' And she has nothing but praise for her co-star Ortega. 'When we first met I didn't know who she was. It took me one moment on set to work out who she was going to be. It was very clear that she was a phenomenon. I mean, forget the show, just her as a young woman, as an actress, the way she is. She has a smart head on her shoulders.' Leather Trench coat, £12,332, Gabriela Hearst. Shoes, £635, Aquazurra. White gold and diamond earrings, pendant and ring (left hand), prices on application, and ring (right hand), £8,600, De Beers. White gold and diamond necklace, £144,000, and ring (right hand), £45,500, Boucheron JAMES D KELLY Shirt, £350, Ami Paris. Coat, £1,295, Joseph. Yellow gold and diamond necklace, £25,100, and white gold and diamond ring, £3,840, Messika. Rose gold and diamond bracelet, £54,800, Chaumet. Panthère de Cartier yellow gold and diamond watch, £49,700, and yellow gold ring, £2,410, Cartier JAMES D KELLY Top, £1,215, Etro. Jacket, £2,700, and skirt, £1,590, Stella McCartney. Silver earrings, £139, and cuff, £199, Jewells. Gold and silver ring set, £200, Demarson JAMES D KELLY Ortega's trajectory, a child actress who was launched to stardom, aged 20, via her role in Wednesday, mirrors that of Zeta-Jones. She was 21 when she appeared in the The Darling Buds of May, a bucolic vision of 1950s England, in which she played the ravishing Mariette, captivating the country the moment she appeared on screen — it was one of the most-watched TV shows in the UK at the time. 'I went to sleep on a Sunday night, when I woke up, everybody knew who I was,' she says. • Wednesday series 2 review: Jenna Ortega's a gothic hoot But really, Catherine Zeta-Jones was always a star. She was raised in Mumbles, a seaside town in Swansea. Her mother was a seamstress and her father worked in a sweet factory, which he eventually bought, following a £100,000 win on the bingo, the money also helped to fund dancing lessons for Zeta-Jones. 'It feels like a very precocious thing, and I don't know where it comes from, but I'd say it out loud, 'I want to be on the stage.' I was a bit of a prodigy,' she says. She would come to London, queue for auditions and, if she was rejected, change her leotard, put her hair up in a ponytail and try again. Her hero was Elizabeth Taylor. 'To me she represented Hollywood. And there was also the Welsh connection with Richard Burton, the scandal of their love, the craziness, it was part of my upbringing. Right after I finished Annie at the Victoria Palace, she was in The Little Foxes at the same theatre. So, one matinee, I stood outside the stage door with a bunch of daffodils. I waited and I waited for her to come, and when she arrived I remember saying to her, 'Would you take your sunglasses off, so I can see your violet eyes?' And she said, 'It's way too early in the morning for that.' I didn't care, she took my daffodils and gave me a beautiful hug.' There have been extraordinary strokes of luck in Zeta-Jones's life, and not just the bingo win. When she was 17 she was in the chorus of 42nd Street, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and the second understudy for the lead role of Peggy Sawyer. The night she was called upon to play the part the producer, David Merrick, was in the audience and was so impressed that he gave it to her. The French director Philippe de Broca saw her in 42nd Street and cast her in his film Les 1001 Nuits. It wasn't a particularly successful film, but it was seen by the producers of The Darling Buds of May. 'There is luck, yes,' she says. 'But I always think that you create your luck. If I hadn't been prepared and ready to go, David Merrick wouldn't have promoted me.' Clockwise from top left: as Velma Kelly in Chicago; with David Jason in The Darling Buds of May; with Jenna Ortega, Isaac Ordonez and Luis Guzmán in series two of Wednesday; with Dennis Quaid in the thriller Traffic After The Darling Buds of May, Zeta-Jones became disenchanted with the relentless gorgeous girlfriend roles that she was offered. 'I don't consider myself a great beauty,' she says. 'I always thought of myself as attractive and interesting, but never a great beauty.' She moved to America to reinvent herself and got a part in the CBS mini-series Titanic. Again this wasn't hugely successful, but it was seen by Steven Spielberg, who was producing The Mask of Zorro at the time, and suggested her for the female lead. It was this role that really elevated Zeta-Jones to international stardom, and was also seen by Michael Douglas, whose head was turned by her charisma. Soon after they were both attending the Deauville Film Festival and he arranged to have a drink with her. During their meeting he said to her: 'I am going to be the father of your children.' Zeta-Jones was not initially charmed, but eventually fell for him and they were married in a million-dollar New York wedding in 2000. Their children, Dylan and Carys, were born in 2000 and 2003 respectively; the Douglases retreating from New York to Bermuda to raise their family. 'The city in the summertime is too hot, so Michael took me to the Hamptons and I was like, 'same people in shorts'. The social calendar is exhausting. So Michael took me to Bermuda because his mother was Bermudian and I thought, 'I love this.' It's an hour and a half in a plane. It's a British colony, there were pictures of the Queen when I went to the bank. So we bought a house there and stayed for ten years.' Douglas is himself Hollywood royalty — his father was Kirk Douglas, the actor who played Spartacus and who died in 2020 aged 103. 'He was a flirty little thing,' Zeta-Jones says. 'He was wonderful and he was very fond of me, as I was of him. I miss him. They [Kirk and his wife, Anne] left a philanthropic legacy that was way beyond movies.' Kirk Douglas donated most of his money — which was estimated at over $60 million — to his charitable foundation, and left nothing to Michael. But the Douglases are not doing so badly themselves. They have four homes, two in New York, one in Canada and one in Spain. 'I know it sounds very jet set, and I love to surround myself with beauty but it's not excessive, it's very comfortable,' Zeta-Jones says. Zeta-Jones with Michael Douglas and their daughter, Carys, at the Cannes Film Festival, 2023 DANIELE VENTURELLI/WIREIMAGE As a couple they like to spend time in their home in Spain, away from their public-facing lives. It can be challenging, she admits, when big stars are a couple. 'Two celebrities together make ten. It's just the way it is. There's two versions of the story and there's two make-believes,' she says. 'We don't listen to the crap that is written about us, that's the main thing. And we respect our space, we're independent spirits. We are very similar; we were born on the same day, 25 years apart. We're not afraid to be verbal, to express ourselves. I wear everything on my sleeve and so does he, which is good.' Douglas has recently announced that, now aged 80, he has no real intentions of acting again and that he just likes 'to watch my wife work'. 'Michael has definitely earned the chance to slow down,' Zeta-Jones says. 'But I never say never. He's his father's son and loves to work — let's just say, 'retirement' is a flexible concept.' They both agree, however, that he will be playing a lot of golf. Whereas one of Zeta-Jones's favourite ways to relax is homemaking, specifically organising — and stocking — her numerous wardrobes. 'I go to all the vintage stores in Paris. I buy things that you are probably never going to wear, like a gorgeous cape, just great pieces. I am loving classic Yves Saint Laurent at the moment. I get excited about evening dresses. For me, a pair of jeans is a pair of jeans. Spending £200 on a white T-shirt? Nah. But when it comes to couture, beautiful beading, the artistry … I love the theatre of fashion.' She's got Carys, 22, hooked too. 'She loves my closet. I have probably the biggest Fendi Baguette bag collection, and she's just found more in my mum's house. I've got everything from denim to pearl to sequins. Carla Fendi used to give them to me all the time, right when they were hot potatoes.' Top, £195, Me+Em. Trousers, £410, Max Mara. Yellow gold and diamond Tiffany Knot necklace, £37,200, yellow gold Elsa Peretti Bone cuff, £23,300, yellow gold Tiffany T bracelet, £7,525, and yellow gold Tiffany Knot bracelet, £8,375, Tiffany & Co JAMES D KELLY Shirt, price on application, Michael Kors. Jacket, £3,017, and trousers, £1,165, Givenchy. Bra, £260, Eres. Clash de Cartier yellow gold earrings, £4,400, and matching ring (right hand), £2,410, Trinity white, rose and yellow gold and diamond necklace, £6,950, and matching ring (left hand), £11,200, Cartier JAMES D KELLY Zeta-Jones is an intriguing mix. There is something inherently regal about her, from her self-presentation to her demeanour. She is old Hollywood. But she can also be funny, a bit naughty even — which is when her Welsh accent comes out. When I ask where she and her husband keep their Oscars, she says 'mine is in the country house in New York, Michael's is in the apartment in New York. We keep them apart, just in case, you know, there isn't like hanky-panky going on there.' She also remains driven and ambitious, but her competitive streak is now largely limited to games of Yahtzee with the family. 'I have had such a great and varied career,' she says. 'I've worked with great directors, great actors. Everything now is a bonus.' Wednesday season two, part one is streaming on Netflix now. Part two premieres on September 3 Styling Marian Nachmia. Hair Maranda Widlund. Make-up Brett Freedman. Local production Town Productions. Thanks to the Corinthia London hotel Love TV? Discover the best shows on Netflix, the best Prime Video TV shows, the best Disney+ shows , the best Apple TV+ shows, the best shows on BBC iPlayer, the best shows on Sky and Now, the best shows on ITVX, the best shows on Channel 4 streaming, the best shows on Paramount+ and our favourite hidden gem TV shows. Don't forget to check our critics' choices to watch and browse our comprehensive TV guide
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Telegraph
Belinda Carlisle: ‘No more rock and roll lifestyle. I get up at 3.30am to chant and do breathwork'
How do famous names spend their precious downtime? In our weekly My Saturday column, celebrities reveal their weekend virtues and vices. This week: Belinda Carlisle Born and raised in California, Belinda Carlisle, 66, was a founding member of the all-female new wave band The Go-Go's before striking out on her own in the mid-'80s. She achieved a number of hits including Heaven Is a Place on Earth, Leave a Light On and Circle in the Sand, and is heading to the UK to tour in September after the release of her latest album, Once Upon a Time in California. She's also the co-founder and ambassador of Animal People Alliance (APA), a non-profit that provides care to street animals in India and Thailand, and jobs with living wages to vulnerable people to improve their quality of life. She lives in Mexico City with her husband, the film producer Morgan Mason. They have a son. 3.30am Every day I wake up at about 3.30am. I make myself a coffee, climb back into bed, close my eyes and listen to a spiritual leader like Eckhart Tolle or Ram Dass on Audible. It sounds really pretentious, but it's not. I've been studying these spiritual teachings for a long time. This sounds morbid, but I'm really interested in death and what happens after. A lot of these teachings deal with that, and reincarnation, and provide me with a lot of comfort. It changes your perspective on everything. I'll also do some chanting and breathwork. And transcendental meditation if I have any spare time. 6am I'm out the door for a big walk around my local park, Bosque de Chapultepec, for an hour or 90 minutes. After that I'll come back and wake up my husband. And then it's time for my Pilates practice. I've been doing Pilates for 30 years. I have my own equipment so I'll just jump on the reformer and do stretching and a lot of whatever I think I need that day. Then I'm ready for the day. Breakfast follows. It's nothing elaborate, usually an egg with a piece of toast. 10am I try not to spend too long on my emails over the weekend, but if I don't [do any] they pile up, so I try to do a little every day. After that I have an online Spanish lesson for an hour. I take Spanish lessons two or three times a week, and I also practise on Duolingo. I kind of had a head start as I speak French, although now I confuse the two. I love learning Spanish. It's hard but it's really good for your brain, and especially being an older person, it's kind of important. My goal is to be fluent in a couple of years. 11.30am If it's just my husband and me, we'll go for an early lunch. There are so many restaurants nearby that it's hard to choose where to go. We usually walk unless we visit another neighbourhood like Condesa or Roma; then we'll take an Uber. I've been living in Mexico City for about five years but I don't really eat any Mexican food now, which is funny. I think I just kind of burned myself out on it. I'm vegetarian and there's amazing patisseries and bakeries near us. There's one place we like to go that serves locally grown salads and vegetables. If I'm with my Mexican friends, lunch will be later. After eating we always visit another park close to us that has an aviary. The birds recognise my husband because he always feeds them peanuts. So we'll just wander and sit there for a bit. 3pm Now it's naptime. I like jumping into bed and watching movies and dozing. I never find any films on Netflix. I'm really out of touch with anything that's super-current. But I love an old post-war Italian film or a Japanese film. Actually, as part of my Spanish lessons I'm also watching a [reality TV] series called Love Is Blind in Spanish with English subtitles. I love it. 5.30pm We usually stay in on Saturday night. I can count on two hands how many nights I go out a year. I don't even like going out for dinner. I just like staying in and being cosy, and either cooking or ordering food through Uber Eats. If we order in, we'll go for pizza or Indian. Sometimes we'll watch something afterwards. I did go off reading for a while but now I'll read at the end of the day, usually non-fiction like an autobiography or a travel book. 7.30pm I'm usually asleep at about this time. I try to push it to 8pm, but I'm so tired because I'm up so early. My husband will stay up and watch the big screen in the TV room till about 11pm. My life is very different to how it used to be. I definitely enjoyed the rock and roll lifestyle and I'm happy that I had all these great experiences, but it wasn't sustainable. I'm happier now. I love not having any drama. I love really enjoying the daytime. I'm glad I'm at this point in my life.
