Rajinikanth’s birthday: Jigarthanda DoubleX, directed by Karthik Subbaraj, has revived an important piece of trivia: Rajinikanth was the first dark-skinned star in Indian movie history. In addition to elevating Karthik Subbaraj back to the top of the Tamil film industry, his most recent project, Jigarthanda DoubleX, has highlighted an important truth once again: Rajinikanth is the first dark-skinned star in Indian cinema history. Karthik, who calls himself a devoted follower of the superstar, expressed gratitude to the actor directly on the movie’s title card.
In addition, the film itself is a masterful tribute to Rajinikanth, who in the 1980s defied several conventions in Tamil cinema by playing the lead role. Jigarthanda DoubleX is a prequel to Karthi’s second movie, Jigarthanda, about Allius Caesar (Raghava Lawrence), a Madurai criminal who decides to become a hero after an awkward party incident. In today’s Tamil cinema, where appearance and tone are crucial factors, Allius cannot become a celebrity, observes modern fair-skinned actor Chinna (Arvind Akash). Allius is a violent man with a frightening appearance that serves him well in his illicit smuggling operations, but he is unsure of how this will help him fulfill his dream of being a movie star. Enter Ray Dassan, a faux filmmaker (SJ Suryah), who finds himself tasked with killing Allius.
In actuality, Ray Dassan is a coward who was imprisoned on spurious murder allegations.
Rajinikanth’s birthday: To obtain his freedom, he must take Allius’s life. After the break, the movie takes a dramatic turn as Ray persuades Allius to relocate to his tribal hamlet. During a certain scene in the movie, Rajinikanth, a debutante who appears to have attracted attention with his debut film Apoorva Raagangal (1975), asks Allius to expedite the filming. Allius must to defeat Rajinikanth if he wants to be the first dark-skinned hero in history. Although this would appear to be a modest nod to the Superstar at first glance, the political underpinnings of Rajinikanth’s real-life rise to fame and Allius Ceaser’s in Jigarthanda DoubleX make for compelling underdog narratives.
Rajinikanth’s birthday: It should be mentioned that the film business had very few dark-skinned actors before Rajinikanth. The few that were present were frequently cast as villains or, worse, as the villain’s hitmen (Pa Ranjith took offense at this by naming his film Kabali, which is the term typically used for such henchmen, with Rajinikanth). Filmmaker K Balachander, a legendary figure in Tamil cinema, chose to name this somewhat unusual young man Rajinikanth, the color of the night, when he decided to introduce him in Apoorva Ragangal. In the films that followed, not only would his name be the target of many jokes and remarks, but so would his skin tone.
Rajinikanth’s birthday: Even in Apoorva Ragangal, Kamal Haasan, his current box office rival, refers to him Beggar Similar to many actors with darker skin tones, Rajinikanth was cast in a number of antagonist parts early on, such as Parattai in 16 Vayathinile. In some ways, even the name Parattai suggests a “unkempt” thug. With time, Rajinikanth developed into this grey-skinned hero, a quality that is still being explored by contemporary directors. The actor’s director for Thalaivar 170, Lokesh Kanagaraj, stated he wished to go into the Superstar’s darker side.
Rajinikanth’s birthday: That is yet another custom that Rajinikanth defied. In films such as Polladhavan, Billa, and Netri Kann, the superstar frequently portrayed roles unworthy of a hero, during a time when everything was black and white in the mainstream. Ultimately, it was Rajinikanth who popularized smoking in Tamil cinema at a time when it was viewed as a stigma. His skin tone has been a topic of discussion in several of his films, such as Sivaji, where his romantic interest attempts to write him off because to it. The color was seriously discussed in Pa Ranjith’s Kaala. “Black is the colour of proletarians, Karuppu uzhaipoda vannam,” declares Kaala. Rajinikanth wears entirely black throughout the movie, a characteristic shared by the followers of Periyar’s Dravida Kazhagam political movement. The image of Rajinikanth on screen will never change from black. And Karthik Subbaraj deserves credit for reminding the younger generation of Rajinikanth’s life during the 1970s.