Indian actor Rajinikanth has appeared predominantly in Tamil cinema. He began his film career by playing antagonistic and supporting roles before graduating to a lead actor. After starring in numerous commercially successful films throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he has continued to hold a matinée idol status in the popular culture of Tamil Nadu. Writing for Slate, Grady Hendrix called him the "biggest movie star you've probably never heard of." Rajinikanth has also worked in other Indian film industries such as Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

Overview

He made his cinematic debut with K. Balachander's 1975 Tamil drama Apoorva Raagangal, in which he played a minor role of an abusive husband. He had his first major role in Balachander's Telugu drama film Anthuleni Katha (1976), and got his breakthrough in Tamil with Moondru Mudichu (1976)—also directed by Balachander. His style and mannerisms in the latter earned recognition from the audience. In 1977, he acted in 15 films, playing negative characters in most of them, including Avargal, 16 Vayathinile, Aadu Puli Attam and Gaayathri. He had positive roles in Kavikkuyil, the Kannada film Sahodarara Savaal, and the Telugu film Chilakamma Cheppindi, in which he played the protagonist for the first time in his career. His role as a failed lover in S. P. Muthuraman's Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri (1977) won him critical acclaim. In 1978, he was cast as the main lead in the Tamil film Bairavi. The same year, he received critical acclaim for his roles in Mullum Malarum and Aval Appadithan; the former earned him a Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize for Best Actor. He made his Malayalam cinema debut with I. V. Sasi's fantasy Allauddinum Albhutha Vilakkum (1979), an adaptation of a story from One Thousand and One Nights. By the end of the decade, he had worked in all South Indian languages and established a career in Tamil cinema.

He played dual roles in the action thriller Billa (1980), which was a remake of the Bollywood film Don (1978). It was his biggest commercial success to that point and gave him the action hero image. Murattu Kaalai released in 1980 was instrumental in establishing Rajinikanth as both an action hero and superstar. Balachander's Thillu Mullu (1981), the Tamil remake of the Bollywood film Gol Maal (1979), was Rajinikanth's first full-length comedy film. He played triple roles in the 1982 Tamil film Moondru Mugam, which earned him a special prize at the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards ceremony. The following year, he made his Bollywood debut with T. Rama Rao's Andhaa Kaanoon; it was among the top-grossing Bollywood films in 1983. Muthuraman's Nallavanukku Nallavan (1984) won him that year's Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actor. In 1985, he portrayed the Hindu saint Raghavendra Swami in his 100th film Sri Raghavendrar, a box-office failure. In the latter half of the 1980s, he starred in several films in Tamil and Hindi, including Geraftaar (1985), Padikkadavan (1985), Mr. Bharath (1986), Dosti Dushmani (1986), Velaikaran (1987), Manithan (1987), Guru Sishyan (1988), Dharmathin Thalaivan (1988) and ChaalBaaz (1989). During this time, he made his debut in American cinema with a supporting role in the mystery adventure film Bloodstone (1988), a box-office failure.

Rajinikanth continued to act in Bollywood, often playing supporting roles in films such as Hum, and Phool Bane Angaray (both in 1991). Mani Ratnam's Tamil film Thalapathi (1991), based on the Indian epic Mahabharata, earned him critical acclaim. Suresh Krissna's Annaamalai (1992), P. Vasu's Mannan (1992) and Uzhaippali (1993) are among his box-office successes in Tamil. He made his debut as a screenwriter with Valli (1993), a commercial failure. The Suresh Krissna-directed Baashha, in which he played a crime boss, was a major commercial success in his career and earned him a "demigod" status in Tamil Nadu. Later that year he acted in K. S. Ravikumar's Muthu, which was dubbed into Japanese. In Japan, the film grossed a record US$1.6 million in 1998 and was largely instrumental in creating a fan-base for Rajinikanth in the country. Padayappa (1999), his second collaboration with Ravikumar, went on to become the highest-grossing Tamil film to that point. In 2002 Rajinikanth produced, wrote and starred in the fantasy thriller Baba, which fell short of market expectations and incurred heavy losses for its distributors. After a three-year sabbatical, he returned to acting with the comedy horror film Chandramukhi (2005); it went on to become the highest-grossing Tamil film to that point, and its theatrical run lasted 126 weeks at Shanti Theatre in Chennai. Rajinikanth was paid ₹26 crore for his role in S. Shankar's Sivaji (2007), which made him the second-highest paid actor in Asia after Jackie Chan. He played dual roles, as a scientist and an andro-humanoid robot, in the science fiction film Enthiran (2010). It was India's most expensive production at the time of its release, and is among the highest-grossing Indian films of all time. He played triple roles in the 2014 animated film Kochadaiiyaan, the first in India to be shot with motion capture technology; it was a commercial failure.

Two years later, Rajinikanth played a Malaysian Tamil crime boss in Pa. Ranjith's Kabali, which had the biggest weekend opening for an Indian film. In 2018, he had worked in two films, 2.0 and Kaala. 2.0 was the sequel to the earlier Enthiran (2010) and was produced at a budget of ₹400–600 crore, making it one of the most expensive Indian film made at the time of its release. It had grossed over ₹699 crore, securing the position of highest-grossing Indian film of 2018 and had ranked among the highest-grossing Indian films of all time. Alongside the commercial success of 2.0, Kaala, had grossed around ₹160 crore against the budget of ₹140 crore, making it commercially unsuccessful. After these films, he acted in Petta (2019), Darbar (2020), and Annaatthe (2021), which grossed around ₹219–250 crores, ₹202—250 crores, and ₹175–240 crores, respectively.

His recent blockbuster, Jailer (2023), directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, grossed over ₹600 crores, making it his second film to gross over the ₹500 and 600 crores mark, securing the position among highest grossing Tamil film of 2023 and the highest grossing Indian films of all time.

Filmography

Key

†	Denotes films that have not yet been released

List of Rajinikanth film acting credits

Year	Title	Role	Language	Notes	Ref.
1975	Apoorva Raagangal	Pandiyan	Tamil
1976	Katha Sangama	Kondaji	Kannada
	Anthuleni Katha	Murthy	Telugu
	Moondru Mudichu	Prasad	Tamil
	Baalu Jenu	Vasu	Kannada
1977	Avargal	Ramanathan	Tamil
	Kavikkuyil	Murugan
	Raghupathi Raghavan Rajaram	Veeraiyan
	Chilakamma Cheppindi	Ravi	Telugu
	Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri	Sampath	Tamil
	Ondu Premada Kathe	Chairman of village panchayat	Kannada
	16 Vayathinile	Parattai	Tamil
	Sahodarara Savaal	Somashekhar	Kannada
	Aadu Puli Attam	Rajini	Tamil
	Gayathri	Rajarathnam
	Kumkuma Rakshe	Murali	Kannada
	Aaru Pushpangal	Ravi	Tamil
	Tholireyi Gadichindi	Chitti Babu	Telugu
	Aame Katha	–		Guest appearance
	Galate Samsara	Sundar	Kannada
1978	Shankar Salim Simon	Simon	Tamil
	Kiladi Kittu	Srikanth	Kannada
	Annadammula Savaal	Rangababu	Telugu
	Aayiram Jenmangal	Ramesh	Tamil
	Maathu Tappada Maga	Chandru	Kannada
	Mangudi Minor	Kumar	Tamil
	Bairavi	Mookaiah
	Ilamai Oonjal Aadukirathu	Murali
	Sadhurangam	Sundaresan
	Vanakkatukuriya Kathaliye	Joe
	Vayasu Pilichindi	Murali	Telugu
	Mullum Malarum	Kaali	Tamil	Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize
	Iraivan Kodutha Varam	Rajnikanth
	Thappida Thala	Devu	Kannada
	Thappu Thalangal	Devu	Tamil
	Aval Appadithan	Thyagu
	Thai Meethu Sathiyam	Babu
	En Kelvikku Enna Bathil	Saravana
	Paavathin Sambalam	Himself		Guest appearance
	Justice Gopinath	Ravi
	Priya	Ganesh	Tamil
			Kannada
1979	Kuppathu Raja	Raja	Tamil
	Iddaru Asadhyule	Bhaskar	Telugu
	Allauddinum Albhutha Vilakkum	Kamruddin	Malayalam
	Allaudinaum Arputha Vilakkum		Tamil
	Ninaithale Inikkum	Deepak	Tamil
	Andamaina Anubhavam	Dilip	Telugu
	Thaayillamal Naan Illai	Bichwa Bakri	Tamil	Guest appearance
	Dharma Yuddham	Vijay
	Naan Vazhavaippen	Michael D'Souza
	Tiger	Rashid	Telugu
	Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai	Santhanam	Tamil
	Annai Oru Aalayam	Vijay	Tamil
	Amma Evarikkaina Amma		Telugu
1980	Billa	David Billa, Rajappa	Tamil
	Natchathiram	Himself		Guest appearance
	Ram Robert Rahim	Inspector Ram	Telugu
	Anbukku Naan Adimai	Gopinath	Tamil
	Kaali	Kaali	Tamil
			Telugu
	Mayadari Krishnudu	Krishnudu	Telugu
	Naan Potta Savaal	Ramu (Shiva)	Tamil
	Johnny	Johnny, Vidyasagar
	Ellam Un Kairasi	Raja
	Polladhavan	Manohar
	Murattu Kaalai	Kaalaiyan
1981	Thee	Rajashekar
	Kazhugu	Raja
	Thillu Mullu	Chandran (Indiran)
	Garjanai	Vijay	Tamil	Trilingual film
	Garjanam		Malayalam
	Garjane		Kannada
	Netrikkan	Chakravarthi, Santhosh	Tamil
	Ranuva Veeran	Raghu
1982	Pokkiri Raja	Ramesh, Raja
	Thanikattu Raja	Suryaprakash
	Ranga	Ranganathan
	Puthukavithai	Anand
	Nandri, Meendum Varuga	Himself		Guest appearance
	Enkeyo Ketta Kural	Kumaran
	Moondru Mugam	SP Alex Pandian IPS, Arun, John		Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize
	Agni Sakshi	Himself		Guest appearance
1983	Paayum Puli	Bharani
	Uruvangal Maralam	Himself (Raghavendrar)		Guest appearance
	Thudikkum Karangal	Gopi
	Andhaa Kaanoon	Vijay Kumar Singh	Hindi
	Thai Veedu	Raju	Tamil
	Sivappu Sooriyan	Vijay
	Jeet Hamaari	Raju	Hindi
	Adutha Varisu	Kannan	Tamil
	Thanga Magan	Arun
1984	Meri Adalat	Inspector Ashok	Hindi
	Naan Mahan Alla	Vishwanath	Tamil
	Thambikku Entha Ooru	Balu
	Kai Kodukkum Kai	Kaalimuthu
	Idhe Naa Savaal	Ramu (Shiva)	Telugu
	Anbulla Rajinikanth	Himself	Tamil
	Gangvaa	Gangvaa	Hindi
	Nallavanukku Nallavan	Manikkam	Tamil	Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil
	John Jani Janardhan	John Mendez / Janardhan Gupta / Jani	Hindi
1985	Nyayam Meere Cheppali	Aathmaram	Telugu	Guest appearance
	Naan Sigappu Manithan	Vijay	Tamil
	Mahaguru	Vijay "Mahaguru"	Hindi
	Un Kannil Neer Vazhinthal...	Ravi	Tamil
	Wafadaar	Ranga	Hindi
	Sri Raghavendrar	Sri Raghavendrar	Tamil
	Geraftaar	Inspector Hussain	Hindi	Cameo
	Yaar?	Himself	Tamil	Guest appearance
	Bewafai	Ranveer	Hindi
	Padikkadavan	Rajendran	Tamil
1986	Mr. Bharath	Bharath
	Naan Adimai Illai	Vijay
	Jeevana Poratam	Ravi	Telugu
	Viduthalai	Raja	Tamil
	Bhagwaan Dada	Bhagwan Dada	Hindi
	Kodai Mazhai	Himself	Tamil	Guest appearance
	Asli Naqli	Birju Ustad	Hindi
	Dosti Dushmani	Ranjeet
	Maaveeran	Raja (Maaveeran)	Tamil	Also co-producer
1987	Daku Hasina	Mangal Singh	Hindi	Cameo
	Velaikaran	Raghupathi	Tamil
	Insaaf Kaun Karega	Vikram Singh	Hindi
	Oorkavalan	Kangeyan	Tamil
	Manithan	Raja
	Manathil Urudhi Vendum	Himself		Guest appearance
	Uttar Dakshin	Shankaran	Hindi
1988	Tamacha	Vikram Pratap Singh
	Guru Sishyan	Raja (Guru)	Tamil
	Dharmathin Thalaivan	Balasubramanian, Shankar
	Bloodstone	Shyam Sabu	English
	Kodi Parakkuthu	DCP Erode Shivagiri (Dhadha)	Tamil
1989	Rajadhi Raja	Rajashekar, Chinnarasu	Tamil
	Gair Kanooni	Adam Khan, Azam Khan	Hindi	Special appearance
	Siva	Siva (Tiger)	Tamil
	Raja Chinna Roja	Raja (Kumar)
	Mappillai	Aarumugam
	Bhrashtachar	Abdul Sattar	Hindi	Cameo
	ChaalBaaz	Jackie Pandyekar (Jaggu)
1990	Panakkaran	Muthu	Tamil
	Periya Idathu Pillai	Himself		Guest appearance
	Athisaya Piravi	Kaalai, Balu
1991	Dharma Durai	Dharma Durai
	Hum	Inspector Kumar Malhotra	Hindi
	Farishtay	Arjun Thange
	Khoon Ka Karz	Kishan
	Phool Bane Angaray	Inspector Ranjeet Singh
	Nattukku Oru Nallavan	Inspector Subhash	Tamil
	Shanti Kranti		Hindi
	Thalapathi	Surya	Tamil
1992	Mannan	Krishnan		Also playback singer
	Tyagi	Shankar G. "Dadhu" Dayal	Hindi
	Annaamalai	Annaamalai	Tamil
	Pandian	Pandian IPS
1993	Insaniyat Ke Devta	Anwar	Hindi
	Yajaman	Kanthavelu Vaanavarayan	Tamil
	Uzhaippali	Thamizharasan (Tamilazhagan)
	Valli	Veeraiyan		Extended Cameo; also producer and screenwriter
1994	Veera	Muthuveerappan
1995	Baashha	Manikam (Manik Baashha)
	Pedarayudu	Paparayudu	Telugu	Cameo
	Aatank Hi Aatank	Munna	Hindi
	Muthu	Muthu, Zamindar	Tamil	Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor
	Bhagya Debata	Singer	Bengali	Guest appearance
1997	Arunachalam	Arunachalam, Vedachalam	Tamil
1999	Padayappa	Aarupadayappan		Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor
2000	Bulandi	Ghajraj Thakur	Hindi	Cameo
2002	Baba	Baba, Mahavatar Babaji (Voice-Over)	Tamil	Also producer and screenwriter
2005	Chandramukhi	Dr Saravanan, Vettaiyan Raja		Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor
2007	Sivaji: The Boss	Sivaji Arumugam (M. G. Ravichandran)		Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil
2008	Kuselan	Ashok Kumar	Tamil	Cameo
	Kathanayakudu		Telugu
2010	Enthiran	Vaseegaran, Chitti	Tamil	Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil
2011	Ra.One	Chitti (Himself)	Hindi	Cameo, computer generated
2014	Kochadaiiyaan	Kochadaiiyaan, Ranadheeran, Senadheeran	Tamil	Also playback singer; cameo for Senadheeran
	Lingaa	K. Lingeswaran, Raja Lingeswaran
2016	Kabali	Kabaliswaran		Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil
2017	Cinema Veeran	Narrator		Documentary
2018	Kaala	Karikaalan
	2.0	Vaseegaran, Chitti, Kutty
2019	Petta	Petta Velan (Kaali)
2020	Darbar	Aaditya Arunachalam IPS
2021	Annaatthe	Kaalaiyan (Annaatthe)
2023	Jailer	"Tiger" Muthuvel Pandian
2024	Lal Salaam	D. G. Moideen		Cameo
	Vettaiyan †	TBA		Completed
2025	Coolie †	TBA		Filming

See also

• List of awards and nominations received by Rajinikanth