“Rajnikanth's birthday is a bigger occasion than mine. I am going all out with the celebrations and have already contributed Rs 10,000,” says a diehard Matunga-based fan of the actor who turned 61 on Monday.
The Robot star, known for his super stunts, striking personality and catchy dance numbers, has a massive fan following across the country. One such club is the Maharashtra State Head Rajinikanth Fans Welfare Association, which has planned a day long celebration of his birthday.
“As a part of our programme, we had a puja first at the Murugan temple in Chembur, which was attended by all Rajni fans from the city. Then we had a milk abhishekh on Rajni sir's photograph,” said S K Athimoolam, president of the association. Formed and registered by the actor's fans, this entity has 90 branches in Mumbai alone. “We also had an ‘annadaan' because Rajni sir believes in charity. We served food to 500 needy people which included ladoo and payasam as an additional offering,” said Athimoolam.
Nearly 60 members of the fan club contributed in cash and kind. “Since it is his 61st birthday, we donated 61 sarees and 61 mixers and grinders. We also handed out 2,000 notebooks, 100 school uniforms and 20 sewing machines to the poor,” added Athimoolam, who donated Rs 1 lakh for the celebrations.
Fire crackers
Nearly 4,000 fans were part of the celebrations across different parts of the city. As the day drew to a close, the intensity of fire crackers and cake-cutting reached frenzied levels.
The virtual world made the most of the occasion too with birthday wishes literally pouring in across social networking sites. “Rajnikanth has just blown his birthday candle. HURRICANE ALERT has been declared by the weather bureau,” was one of the more prominent postings on a social networking Web site.
Seen on the Facebook page of someone who shares her birthday with the superstar, “Rajnikanth will cut a knife with his birthday cake.”
As Delhi also celebrated its 100th birthday on Monday, a fan with the handle of arjunghosh, tweeted, “A friend pointed out that Delhi was born the same day as Rajnikanth. Guess that's the reason Delhi was made the capital.”