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While she may have been disappointed, Radhika soon had reason to cheer up. All it took was a telephone call from Thalaivar . Radhika, clearly thrilled, said, "He called me to congratulate me. Can you imagine such a huge superstar doing that?
"It's a great time for the Indian film industry with Kabali and Sultan being at the box office and still getting the equal share of the pie. With stars like Rajinikanth sir and Salman - the hype around the stars creates the competition, but they have very strong fan followings," says Ali Abbas Zafar
India's movie industry is the biggest in the world, producing more than 1,600 new films a year in more than 20 local languages. And Rajinikanth is the biggest star in that firmament, if sheer, over-the-top fan mania is the measure
"Whenever Rajini sir's film releases, I come to Aurora theatre because there is a different type of Rajinikanth fans mania here. I can see his jalwa here and I try to watch his films here. I had watched Robot and Sivaji: The Boss here," Madhur Bhandarkar told NDTV
Rajini mania is, very apparently, at fever pitch. But it wasn't always this way. It took the 65-year-old actor - which is a very inadequate description of him - several films spaced over decades to climb to the current Everest of fame he enjoys now