Sri Raghavendra - Superstar's Devotional Landmark
1985 was the landmark year for Rajini as he completed 100 films in 10 years from his debut in 1975. Rajini took a bold decision to do a religious movie for his 100th film. Rajini, being Kannada legendary hero Rajkumar fan, had seen his Kannada film Mantralaya Mahime where Rajkumar portrayed Sri Raghavendra. Rajini persuaded K Balachander and SP Muthuraman to do the film. The film was done with a lot of conviction and discipline. None of the crew had non-vegetarian food and some even observed fast on Thursdays in reverence to the Lord's presence. The movie got an immense craze as Mohan also did a role in the film. Doing it with a lot of hard work, the audience and fans rejected it as 'Thalaivar' was beyond religion and there were no fights, duets, or masala scenes. Though sections of the audience were amazed at Rajini's resemblance to the holy saint. The one person who was happy with Rajini's performance was Rajkumar, who called him and said you have done justice to ...