April 2011 is a month none of the Rajinikanth fans would ever want to live through. Hard realisation struck millions of Rajini fans then that superstar was also susceptible to human conditions like illness.


After three months of countless prayers and offerings, Rajini performed what his fans would call a Chuck Norris act. He defeated death.

When Rajinikanth returned to Chennai after treatment in Singapore, hundreds of fans gathered at the airport just to have a glimpse of him.

But back home, the superstar and his family did what they were familiar at — surge ahead with an energy that is typically Rajini's.

Rajinikanth might have done a cameo in Shah Rukh Khan's Ra One in 2011, but the year established without a tinge of doubt this south Indian actor's supremacy in the world of Indian entertainment. A fact which even Big B gracefully acknowledged.

"This was perhaps the only time when Hindi actors mentioned how great Rajinikanth was. And no, it was not lip service. They were seeing the media lapping up everything about the superstar.

Rajini hogged the headlines for three months and almost consistently. He was a big trend on social networking sites," says Mr D.I. Aravindan, a film critic.

”For the first time in 2011, the Indians not just in Tamil Nadu but elsewhere, too, realised how immensely popular Rajinikanth was," he says.

The world also got to know his two talented daughters. Eldest daughter Aishwarya and her actor-husband Dhanush set off the Kolaveri mania across the globe.

Aishwarya was debuting as director of the film 3 for which the Kolaveri song was composed. Dhanush penned the song and sang it.

He also rocked Mumbai by participating in flash mobs that followed the Kolaveri rage. From being ridiculed for his modest looks, Dhanush has metamorphosed into an Indian actor.

Rajinikanth's ever-innovative second daughter Soundarya would be directing her father in Kochadaiyaan — a comeback movie for Rajinikanth after his illness.

Touted to be India's first 3D film shot with performance-capturing technology used in films like Avatar, Kochadaiyaan would have some of the best minds in industry.

"Fans like us are pinning our hopes on Kochadaiyaan. We hope to see the actor in full form in the film," says Mr S. Saravanan, blogger and film buff.

Fans hope Rajinikanth would live up to his famous punch dialogue — 'Even if I am late, I would still be the latest'.