Decoding brand Rajinikanth: What propels the brand value of Rajini, the 72-year-old Tamil superstar?

A simple but stylish man is a conductor on bus number 10A in erstwhile Bangalore (now Bengaluru). Elsewhere, an innocent milkman leads a contented life.

One day, the conductor’s bus-driver friend urges him to join the Adyar Film Institute in Madras (now Chennai). Another day, the milkman’s wealthy hotelier best friend betrays him.

The aspiring actor gets noticed by the noted Tamil film director K. Balachander, who offers him a role in his movie and rechristens him. The enraged milkman vows to become more successful than his friend.

The actor ascends from negative roles to stardom, acting in more than 170 films over the next 50 years. The milkman toils over the next 15 years to become a wealthy hotelier, while his friend descends into a downward financial spiral.

The reigning ‘superstar’ of the Tamil film industry makes fans go crazy well into his twilight years. The milkman wins the challenge and reconciles with his repentant friend.

These are both tropes of a rags-to-riches story worthy of a commercial potboiler. But one is the real-life tale of Shivaji Rao Gaekwad who became ‘Rajinikanth’. The latter is the plot of the 1992 film Annamalai that transformed him from a star into the aforementioned superstar.

The reel-meets-real backstory is one of the powerful drivers of ‘Brand Rajini’—which offers possibilities and hope of a better tomorrow to his audience and has propelled his own stratospheric growth to the top. And his appeal doesn’t seem to be waning. The actor, who will soon turn 73, has delivered one of the biggest super hits of his career in the recently released Jailer. It collected Rs 600 crore-plus in worldwide box office collections and raked in more than Rs 150 crore in profits for producer Sun Pictures. Rajini himself took home a whopping Rs 110 crore pay cheque, excluding the profit share and a BMW X7 gifted to him by an elated Sun Group Founder-Chairman Kalanithi Maran.

One of Inda’s most bankable stars, he is still one of the highest-paid leading men in all of Asia, especially in his age bracket. “His films are watched by everybody from babies to 90-year-olds. That’s why his collections are high and that’s why his own salary has also risen,” says Kabali producer Kalaipuli S. Thanu, who first publicised him as ‘superstar’ in the posters for the Tamil film Bairavi (1978).

But Jailer is a much-needed super hit for the star, coming after a decade of lacklustre films such as Kuselan, Lingaa, Kochadaiiyaan, and 2021’s Annaatthe. Though he first played his age in Kabali (2016), it took him another seven years to finally hit the mark as a retired cop in Jailer. “The film’s success is a combination of his persona and good content which appeals even to the audience of today who may not have been born when he was at the peak of his powers in the mid-’90s,” says trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai.

Brand Formula

A lot has changed in the intervening years—a much younger audience profile, the OTT (over-the-top content) revolution that has exposed viewers to content from across the world and made them weary of formulaic films, a life-altering pandemic that has changed cinema-viewing habits, the corporatisation of the film business and Rajini’s own political non-starter that left fans disappointed. A lot many lapses within and outside cinema have been forgiven even before—the mega failure of Baba (2002), extended absences from the big screen, and a revelation that he was lending money at exorbitant rates. “Any other lesser star would have found himself in deep trouble,” says Pillai.

But not Rajini. Certainly not in the eyes of his loyal fan base that is ready to forgive his worst moves as they wait patiently for ‘Thalaivar’s’ next whistle-worthy moment on screen, even if it means sitting through duds. So, what helps ‘Brand Rajini’ dodge the several bullets that have come the actor’s way? Industry insiders often respond with “minimum guarantee” and “charisma”.

Everyone in the value chain earns at least a minimum profit with his films, say industry folks. Veteran producer-distributor-exhibitor Abirami Ramanathan, who has worked with Rajini in all three capacities, explains it thus: “Suppose a film of his is made for Rs 150 crore, it will surely earn at least Rs 200 crore at the box office. The producer is happy, the distributor is happy, and the theatre owners are happy.” As a producer, he is confident of recovering at least 1.5x the investment. As a distributor, the risk of losing money on a Rajini film is much lower, to the tune of 5 to 10 per cent. Ramanathan distributed many Rajini films in the Chennai territory till Kochadaiiyaan. For instance, he picked up the rights for Sivaji: The Boss (2007) for `6.75 crore—a big sum at the time—and made a profit on it, though he refuses to say how much.

For an exhibitor, Rajinikanth brings in higher footfalls and occupancy levels. With the theatre owners’ share of collections (40-50 per cent) and expenses (power consumption and labour) being fixed for any film—hit or flop, Ramanathan says: “As a theatre owner, only if I get films like Rajini’s can I survive. So, God knows, we will wait for Rajini’s films.”

“More than everybody making money on his films, nobody loses money. That’s brand Rajinikanth,” says Ruban Mathivanan of GK Cinemas, a two-screen theatre in Chennai. He says even when a Rajini film underperforms, the collection is on par with that of a second-rung actor, but is not at a loss for the exhibitor. In Tamil Nadu, tickets are not sold for more than Rs 150-190 (excluding taxes) owing to a price cap. “If a film collects big money on the Rs 190 ticket price, everybody gets a good profit—producer, distributor and exhibitor,” says Mathivanan.

Hard Times

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing, especially for distributors. Baba (2002), produced and co-written by the superstar himself, bombed at the box office and the actor was forced to reimburse distributors. Similarly, Kuselan, Lingaa, Kochadaiiyaan and Darbar have proved to be losses for distributors in recent times, with Kabali earning them only meagre returns. Industry insiders point to producers overhyping the film and jacking up distribution rates, resulting in lower returns or loss for the distributors, though the film may have earned decent box office collections. For instance, Lingaa made on an estimated budget of Rs 100 crore collected a reported Rs 150 crore in worldwide gross. But the film’s distributors faced losses and threatened protests, which culminated only with the actor paying them around `10 crore as compensation.

Even Annaatthe, also produced by Sun Pictures, was a flop. The film production arm of Sun TV Network first stepped in as a producer for Rajinikanth’s films when Enthiran ran into financial trouble. But it took even the South-based media giant—which controls production to distribution to audio rights to its own OTT platform and successful network of TV channels—another three films to finally crack the code for a super hit Rajinikanth movie in the OTT era. Sun Pictures did not respond to Business Today’s repeated requests for comment.

Yet, the confidence that audiences are willing to watch a Rajini film at least once, makes the trade bet on him again and again. GK Cinemas’ Mathivanan says a successful opening weekend is guaranteed for a Rajini film where tickets get sold for houseful shows till Sunday by the preceding Wednesday. “It has happened even with his worst films.” Says Ramanathan, “If I get his dates, I will produce a film. But there’s a queue in front of me and I won’t be able to break it.”

Crafting the Style

This ability to pull crowds and hold them in his sway is chalked up to his on-screen charisma—a potpourri of inimitably stylish mannerisms and punchlines, man-on-the-street looks and down-to-earth real-life persona. “I just like the way Rajini sir behaves,” says S. Palani, Deputy Secretary of south Chennai’s Rajini Fan Association, one of around 50,000 registered associations established for the actor between 1977 and 1999. A real estate broker by day, Palani recalls the actor speaking to him casually with an arm around him and a cigarette in his mouth around 1984-86, by which time he was already a top-billing actor. Now, his grown-up son and daughter are also Rajini fans.

A lot of it could be “divine” as several industry folks point out, but at least some of it is by design—either his own or of those around him. For instance, it was at director K. Balachander’s (KB) insistence to develop his own style that Rajini came up with the signature cigarette flip within 24 hours, says Kandaswamy Bharathan, Joint Managing Director of Kavithalayaa Productions, founded by his father-in-law and Rajini’s mentor KB. All good brands have a USP and Rajini’s brand is built on the two pillars of style and punchlines, says Bharathan, also an adjunct faculty at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and ISB, where he teaches a course on the business of films. “Much like a tagline for a corporate brand, he has a punchline, which appeals even to kids. It’s usually a one-liner refreshed for every movie and created an early audience across age groups.” The banner that was behind several of his hit films, including Annamalai, says the punchlines in the film were approved by Rajini himself.

Consider Baashha, the definitive Rajini film that took him to dizzying heights. It should have been the natural successor to Annamalai. But Rajini chose to defer it in favour of Veera—a comedy on infidelity. Suresh Krissna, who directed the actor in all three films, says he was totally against making Veera. But it was Rajini’s sharp business acumen that knew there was no escaping comparison with their previous super hit film. “He told me, ‘We will have to bring down audience expectations with a hit comedy film. Reserve the heroism for the next film. If you reduce it and amp it up, it will hit the target’.” Baashha did and how, Krissna adds. If Veera got him more family audiences, Baashha and Muthu—the two action super hits released in 1995—cemented his superstar position. During Jailer’s success meet recently, the actor himself spoke of the predicament he faced in picking the right film after Baashha’s success—similar to what he faces today after Jailer. “Jailer’s success made me happy only for five days… after five days, my mind moved on to the next picture. Orey tension [Complete tension]; how to outperform or equal Jailer’s success and deliver another hit?” Rajinikanth’s office did not respond to Business Today’s requests for comment.

Foreign Shores

If Baashha was an instant cult classic locally, Muthu opened up a market for the actor in Japan. One aspect of his bankability is the strong overseas business of his films. Jailer, for instance, collected Rs 196 crore gross in overseas markets. His films do well wherever Tamilians live—whether that is domestically or internationally in the US, Malaysia, Singapore and even Russia, says Ramanathan. But Japan is a unique case where even native Japanese are fans. Three years after Muthu was released in India, a chance opportunity gave the film’s producer Kavithalayaa Productions the idea to release a subtitled version theatrically in Japan along with the now-defunct Japan Cinema Associates. One key strategy was to position Rajini as the Indian Jackie Chan—Muthu was an action comedy and Chan’s popularity as an action comic was spreading from Hong Kong to Japan and Hollywood. It worked. After originally releasing only in five to six screens, the makers had to increase the count due to higher demand. “You can put a movie on a thousand screens but you cannot make people like it,” says Bharathan. Recently, a Japanese couple travelled to India to watch Jailer, while a video clip of Japan’s Ambassador to India, Hiroshi Suzuki, dancing to the film’s song went viral. Muthu and Enthiran are now both case studies at IIM Ahmedabad and ISB.

Yet another marketing strategy at play is of brand scarcity—whether it is Rajini’s deliberate ploy to space out films after Baashha and Muthu for lack of strong scripts (between 2000 and 2010, he had only three releases); or his policy of never appearing in commercials in his five-decade-long career, except in a couple for charitable causes like eye donation.

Krissna says Rajini’s brand is that you have to come and watch the man on the big screen in his movies. “He never believed in being on TV every day. People still always wait for his films.” It’s a trend that top Tamil actors follow to this day, though they appeared in commercials earlier. “Only actors much lower in the rung sign up for commercials here,” says Pillai. Contrast this to the North, where Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan are among the top endorsers today. Senthil Kumar, Chief Creative Officer at Wunderman Thompson South Asia, says Rajini can easily charge premiums higher than Amitabh Bachchan or even Virat Kohli should he choose to do an ad today. “He has not missed out on anything. Advertising has probably missed out on him.”

Over the years, younger actors across Indian film industries have surpassed Rajini’s salary as eye-watering star fees are the order of the day. The competition in Tamil Nadu, at least, is between Rajini, Vijay and Ajith. The three fluctuate within a difference of Rs 5-10 crore in terms of the sum distributors are willing to pay for their films. Much younger Telugu stars such as Prabhas and Allu Arjun have also seen their fees skyrocket in the wake of Telugu films’ pan-India box office successes recently. Further afar, Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar have been taking home hefty payments for several years now. Still, Rajini is peerless in his age bracket. His contemporaries such as Amitabh Bachchan, Mammooty, Mohanlal and Chiranjeevi are paid far lesser.

“When someone other than him delivers an industry hit at age 72, we can talk about threats,” says GK Cinemas’ Mathivanan. It is industry speak for the film with the highest collection in its home box office. Mathivanan points out that it took a Baahubali 2 to beat Enthiran’s ‘industry hit’ tag. “Rajini was at the top for those six-seven years. Again, he is at the top now.” Rajini has already got two to three films in the works. One of them, also produced by Sun Pictures, will be helmed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, who directed Kamal Hassan’s successful Vikram. Noting that the film will be out by the time the actor is 75 and that his brand value will remain intact, Pillai quips: “He is a superstar for life.”

As curtains fall on the era of the demi-god big-screen idol in a digital world where content is king, Rajini just may be the last of his kind. 

@SaysVidya

Also watch: Decoding brand Rajini: What drives enduring brand value of 72-year-old superstar Rajinikanth who charged Rs 110 crore for Jailer