‘A great celebrity, who remembers his roots... and his friends’

Rajinikanth’s old friends celebrate as he is chosen for the Dadasaheb Phalke Award

When Rajinikanth worked in Bengaluru, issuing bus tickets as a conductor with the BTS (now BMTC), his friends and colleagues knew him as Shivaji Rao Gaekwad. Those who were aware of his struggles as a youth and continue to be friends with the ‘Thalaivar’, recall the man Shivaji Rao behind the larger-than-life Rajinikanth. “My real name is Venugopal. So till date, I am Venu to him and he is my Shivaji,” said actor-producer Ashok. “We were not just classmates, but also roommates in the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce’s film institute. Shivaji and I were in the Kannada batch and Chiranjeevi was our junior.” They have been friends ever since. “We were notorious on the campus, and books have been written about our escapades,” added Mr. Ashok, who expressed his happiness when he heard that his friend had been honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. “He should have got it a long time ago.”