The story of his life reads like a fairy tale. Tossed around like a rag doll by the vicissitudes of fortune and labelled a miserable failure in the early part of his journey through life, Rajinikanth today strides the firmament of Tamil cinema like a colossus, an undisputed superstar, arguably the highest paid actor in the country, second only to martial arts hero Jackie Chan in the Asian circuit.

Determination, perseverance and commitment have characterised the actor’s rise to the very top and his biography titled ‘The name is Rajinikanth’ by an ophthalmologist and a self confessed Rajini fan, Gayathri Sreekanth, tells it all— but in a very unconvincing fashion and in a manner that leaves a lot to be desired.

The author who says she was inspired to write the book after seeing Shahrukh Khan’s biography on the stands has hardly done justice to her subject. There is a wealth of information on his dual persona— Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, the name he was born with and Rajinikanth as he was christened by his mentor and ace director Balachander.

The lack of in-depth interviews especially with the men who shaped his career— like Balachander who gave him his first break; Mahendran who directed him in two of his finest roles ‘Mullum Malarum’ and ‘Johnny’; S P Muthuraman the man behind ‘Aarilirunthu Arupathu Varai’, ‘Engeyo Ketta Kural’, ‘Sri Raghavendra’; Mani Rathinam who cast him in ‘Dhalapathy’; Vasu who made the blockbuster ‘Chandramukhi’ and K S Ravikumar who wielded the megaphone for ‘Muthu’ and ‘Padayappa’— robs the book of a lot of lustre and substance.

Publishing slip-up

Balachander’s ‘foreword’, which the author extols in her preface, is conspicuous by its absence in the book, perhaps the first case in publishing history of a foreword being edited out in toto. Typos in every other page, pictures without captions, the names of films being terribly misspelt with ‘Ilamai Unjaladukirathu’ becoming ‘Ilamai Unjaladikirathu’ ‘Bhuvana Ou Kelvi Kuri’ turning into ‘Bhuvana Oru Kavi Kuyil’ ‘Moondru Mugam’ confused with ‘Moondru Mudichu’ and the latter an intense family drama being passed off as a slapstick comedy are the other drawbacks in the book.

Factual errors are also there with ‘Haridas’ the film whose record run was eclipsed by ‘Chandramukhi’ being renamed by the author as ‘Baghavathar’ (the superstar of a bygone era, M K Thyagaraja Bhagavathar played the hero in the film). In an attempt to be realistic the author has gone on and on about how Shivaji scrounged for food, how he sponged off his friends, his shenanigans and youthful misdemeanours but the whole thing becomes a drag.

Even the parts where she talks about his nervous breakdown that almost cost him his career and life and his almost monstrous behaviour during those stressful days, could have been better written.

The prose too is extremely pedestrian with sentences like— “Rajini was noticed for his massy and a different performance” leaving the reader cold.

Rajini’s family life, his wife and daughters and his spiritual leanings also come in for scrutiny but here again the sequences lack a soul and narration, the required punch.

The author has let go of a splendid opportunity to pen a more readable biography though she had all the resources at her command and the superstar's blessings (he has not favoured her with an interview however). The man of the masses certainly deserved a better deal. Perhaps an autobiography, even if it were ghost written, would have been perfectly in order.