Rajinikanth lights a candle at 9 pm for 9 minutes as India fights the coronavirus outbreak

Kollywood legend Rajinikanth lit a candle on Sunday (April 5) to show solidarity with those leading the country’s fight against the coronavirus outbreak that recently forced the central government to impose a 21-day lockdown. Sharing a photo in which he is seen with his wife Latha, ‘Superstar’ urged the aam janta to stay home during these testing times.

Rajinikanth has been supporting the central government’s initiatives for controlling the COVID-19 situation right from the word go. Some time ago, he had requested citizens to respect the ‘Janta Curfew ‘and honour ‘frontliners’. This, however, landed him in a soup as Twitter removed the video for allegedly spreading misinformation. Following this, the Kaala hero had said that a section of the audience had misunderstood his video and assumed that he had said that the COVID-19 outbreak can be checked only by following the curfew.

The coronavirus scare has brought the film world to a standstill with most production houses pushing back the release dates of major flicks. F9, No Time to Die, Sooryavanshi and the Ranveer Singh starrer 83 are some of the biggies that failed to keep their date with movie buffs. Moreover, the shoots of movies such as Jersey and Acharya have been suspended to avoid mass gatherings.

Coming back to Rajinikanth, he was last seen in the Pongal/Sankranti release Darbar, which opened on a good note. The actioner, featuring him in the role of a cop, had a stellar cast that included Nayanthara, Nivetha Thomas, Suniel Shetty and Yogi Babu.

Rajini will next be seen in Annaatthe/Thalaivar 168 that marks his first collaboration with top filmmaker ‘Siruthai’ Siva. The rural drama features Nayanthara, Khushboo and Meena as the leading ladies.