Rajinikanth doesn’t age much, nor do his co-stars

In Kabali, Rajinikanth is cast opposite 30-year-old Radhika Apte, leading to an age gap of 36 years Rajinikanth made his film debut in 1975, playing a short but memorable role as the long-lost husband of the heroine (then three years younger than him) in ‘Apoorva Raagangal’. Photo: SaiSen/Mint Rajinikanth made his film debut in 1975, playing a short but memorable role as the long-lost husband of the heroine (then three years younger than him) in ‘Apoorva Raagangal’. Photo: SaiSen/Mint Gods don’t age much. And change in the Indian film industry is slow and hard, especially when it comes to women. In the last 41 years, actor Rajinikanth has aged by only eight years, if you go by the age of the woman lead in his first and latest film, according to an analysis of 121 films for which age data of the leads is available. His latest is Kabali, where he is paired with 30-year-old Radhika Apte, resulting in an age gap of 36 years. This is the highest for Rajinikanth so far, and ties with the gap in Kochadaiiyaan(Deepika Padukone) which was released two years ago. Rajinikanth made his film debut in 1975, playing a short but memorable role as the long-lost husband of the heroine (then three years younger than him) in Apoorva Raagangal. Only twice has he been paired with women actors of his age or just marginally younger than him, and both have been in Hindi cinema: Andha Kanoon in 1983 (with Hema Malini, two years younger to him, playing his sister in the film) and Gangvaa in 1984 (with Shabana Azmi, same age). The average age difference between Rajinikanth and his female leads has been 29 years in his last 10 films and 33 years in his last five films. Graphic: Prajakta Patil/Mint Click here for enlarge Rajinikanth can be disarmingly self-effacing about it. Ahead of the launch of Enthiran, in which his co-star was Aishwarya Rai, he narrated an exchange he had with an old friend in Bengaluru. Rajinikanth tells his friend about his latest project. Who is the heroine, the friend asks. Aishwarya Rai, Rajinikanth replies. “Very good, very good,” the friend says, and adds, “Who is the hero?” The audience breaks into laughter. For his thousands of fans hitting the cinemas today, there is only one answer. Whatever his age. Read More