Rajini modelled his entire “SIMPLICITY” on the real life example of Kannada Superstar Rajkumar
Rajini was a huge fan of the Actor in his younger days and once he realized he was becoming popular - he aspired to slowly act like Dr Rajkumar
Rajkumar was a STRICT TEETOLLER who never drank on any occasion. He never smoked. He had faith in YOGA and regularly did Yoga exercises and He was a Devotee of Shri Raghavendra
So much so that he gave up eating Non Vegetarian Food to ensure he could play Raghavendra Swamy on Screen without hurting his devotees
Rajkumar also made a very early decision to COMPLETELY AVOID POLITICS
Unlike most others , he didn't bluff
He was serious and to his last day he refused Rajya Sabha Nominations multiple times and refused to campaign for a single candidate including for a close friend named Ambarish in the late 1990s (Another Popular actor whose wife Sumalatha was very close to Suhasini Maniratnam)
He would GENEROUSLY gift money to any artist or spot boy who was getting married , he would gift Gold Thalis after a shooting to married junior artists and drivers
Rajinikanth initially enjoyed his newfound wealth tremendously
He smoked blissfully
He drank like a fish
He created a Ruckus in Hyderabad that was solved by Rama Prabha (Former Telugu Actress)
Then one day suddenly HE CHANGED
He claimed it was K Balachander who transformed him by forcing him to quit Alcohol and Cigarettes
By 1983/84 - Rajini was different
He had transformed himself almost completely into Rajkumar in habits
I. He quit smoking completely
II. He quit drinking first during an entire shoot and later permanently after 1987
III. He adopted Yoga and began talking of Weird Sanskrit Stuff and Asanas and stuff
IV. He did his own movie on Raghavendra Swamy and became a devout fan of the Saint although until as late as 1981, he was near Atheist
V. He too gave up Non Vegetarian Food while shooting for Sri Raghavendra and later restricted Non Veg only when he was Outside India or to Hotels / Sets / Outside his home
He fully gave up Non Veg in the late 1980s
He too claimed to be COMPLETELY NEUTRAL IN POLITICS , citing that he did not believe Actors should be politicians
As late as 1993 - During a Celebration event , he said Actors should remain Actors in response to Sivaji joking about his own disastrous career as a Politician
He DID THE SAME THING as Rajkumar , gifting money to various people
Yet while Rajkumar did all this quietly, Rajini had a major AGENDA
Rajkumar never talked of his generosity
It was only after he died that everyone spoke of his generosity
A Bit like AJITH KUMAR in a way
Rajinis Generosity ALWAYS got published in some magazine within a week
Rajkumars Simplicity was Felt
The Man actually attended the wedding of a Kanteerava Studio Sweeper who had been his fan for many years , quietly , wearing a wig that nobody could recognize
Rajinikanths Simplicity was PUBLISHED in Magazines
How he would go to Bangalore, sleep in his friends house in Basavanagudi, eat a simple home cooked meal with Old Conductor friends like Putta Raju, Raj Bahadur and some others
Many believed these stories
Yet many things didn't gel
- His Wife ran an absolutely FOR PROFIT SCHOOL
- His Generosity was Selective. He once gave a ₹100/- note to an Assistant of 15 years to Balachander who was suffering from heart disease and needed a surgery
- He quoted absolutely market rates for his marriage hall unlike Vijayakanth who genuinely charged absolutely low rates of ₹4,000/- a day until PREMALATHA took charge after his illness 😁
- He claimed his family would get NOTHING of his money which was for the TAMIZH MAKKAL but he purchased multiple properties in the name of Latha in different states
Once his Political dreams were finished , his SIMPLICITY STORIES dried up 😁
He became the first tamil actor to buy a Rolls Royce
He purchased Huge Amounts of Gold for his daughter's wedding in 2010 (Soundarya) which his first son in law METICULOUSLY RETURNED TO THE LAST GRAM (Great Guy👍)
He spent insane sums on some Baba in USA
Today Rajini DOESNT EVEN PRETEND
Nobody believes him
They are Entertained by him still and he charges ₹100+ Crore a film
Yet NOBODY BELIEVES IN THE SIMPLICITY STORIES ANYMORE
They all know IT WAS SCRIPTED exclusively for him to build a political career