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 the role, which gave a sigh of relief

to Rajini. In a coming generation, the movie made Rajini a demi-god in the eyes of the young

generation.

                                  

                                                      

CM MGR gave the film tax exemption to make the film watchable by all sections of the

audience :)