Rajinikanth is world renowned as one of the biggest superstars in Indian cinema. However, very few people know about the trials and hardships he faced early in his life. In a revealing speech from 1992, the actor opened up about his formative years struggling to make ends meet and a fateful dream that changed the course of his destiny.
Born into a poor family, Rajinikanth took up various odd jobs from a young age just to survive. He started off as an office boy but soon found himself working as a daily wage laborer doing jobs like a coolie and carpenter. Things were so bad that at one point, he even contemplated taking his own life. It was during this dark phase that he had a vision in his sleep which gave him a new sense of hope.
In his dream, Rajinikanth saw a saintly figure sitting by a riverbank who called out to him. Though he didn't know it then, the figure was of the Hindu saint Sri Raghavendra. The next day when he inquired about the man, he was led to the saint's temple. It was there that he prayed fervently to become rich and successful one day. He also made it a routine to fast every Thursday.
Slowly, his fortunes began to change. He secured a job as a bus conductor which gave him a more steady income. It was during this time that he enrolled in a film institute and got his big break in Tamil cinema under the noted director K Balachander. The rest, as they say, is history. Rajinikanth went on to become the phenomenal actor that he is admired as today.
In a poetic twist of fate, years later when he revisited the temple in Mantralayam as a big star, he recalled seeing the same river and place from his dream. The superstar believes it was the blessings of Sri Raghavendra that uplifted him from a state of utter poverty and humiliation to receiving the monstrous adulation of millions worldwide. Truly, his is a story of rags to riches.
