Rajinikanth filmography

Rajinikanth is an Indian actor who has appeared in over 170 films, mainly 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 Bollywood, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Bengali.

## 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*. His role as a failed lover in S. P. Muthuraman's *Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri* (1977) won him critical acclaim. In 1978, he was cast as the main lead in the Tamil film *Bairavi*. 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. 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 Rama Rao Tatineni's *Andha Kanoon*; it was among the top-grossing Bollywood films in 1983. Muthuraman's *Nallavanuku Nallavan* (1984) won him that year's Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actor. a box-office failure. In the latter half of the 1980s, he starred in several films in Tamil and Hindi, including *Padikkadavan* (1985), *Mr. Bharath* (1986), *Bhagwaan Dada* (1986), *Velaikaran* (1987), *Guru Sishyan* (1988) and *Dharmathin Thalaivan* (1988). 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*, *Khoon Ka Karz*, and *Phool Bane Angaray* (all in 1991). Mani Ratnam's Tamil film *Thalapathi* (1991), based on the Indian epic *Mahabharata*, earned him critical acclaim. He made his debut as a screenwriter with *Valli* (1993), a commercial failure. *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, 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.

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. With this film, he has also established himself as the only actor in Tamil cinema with  two film to gross over 600 crore. {

## Films 
## Notes 
## References 
## Bibliography 
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## Other websites
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