I thought, 'Do I deserve this honour?': Rajinikanth on IFFI award

Rajinikanth was honoured with the Icon of Golden Jubilee award at the ongoing edition of International Film Festival of India in Goa. The actor in a chat with Doordarshan shared his surprise when he learned about the honour.

“First when they announced this award for me, it was pleasant.. the shock. I really thought, ‘Do I deserve this honour?’ My heartfelt thanks to the Indian government,” Thalaivar shared. He reminisced about his early days in the film business and said, “My entire film journey, the turning point was meeting K Balachander. He changed my life.”

Not just Tamil, Rajinikanth has acted in Kannada, Telugu and Hindi films as well. He is well known for his trademark style that he has developed over the years. Rajinikanth shared that introducing gimmicks was a conscious decision. “In the beginning, I made it a point that in every picture, I need to introduce some style, some gimmick, because it is easy to do some gimmicks for a villain. For a hero, it won’t suit. For a villain character, there is no boundary,” he said.

During the interview, the Superstar also spoke about his friendship with Amitabh Bachchan. The two have been friends for a long time, and Rajinikanth believes that Big B is an inspiration to him. He shared, “Mr Bachchan is a great inspiration for me.” He also shared the best advice that Amitabh Bachchan has given him, “One should be busy. He (Bachchan) advised me, keep busy. Don’t bother about what people say. Just do the roles you like.”

Amitabh Bachchan is also being honoured at IFFI 2019 as he completes 50 years in cinema. At the inaugural session of the Indian Panorama, he said, “I hope we continue to make films which can bring people together and disintegrate this rather odd system of keeping sides due to colour, caste and religion, bringing us all into one community, making us hold hands together to appreciate our creativity and take a step forward in making this world a peaceful place.”