The name is Rajnikanth

I was quite reluctant to buy this book, the first time I saw it on the stands in Landmark.

Then later I decided, what the hell, let me see what's in there. I picked it from a local music-world and started reading.

The book, as everyone can guess, is totally about what Shivaji Rao's life has been till now. It creates a perfect blend of what the times were during the pre-filmy years and after entering into films.

There is more emphasis on the journey, which is something that most people dont know and are not aware of. A journey of how a mischievous shivaji rao, who was roaming the streets of bangalore with his friends, wasting time and money, not thinking much about his poor family, to becoming a superhero.

The whole story is quite simple - I mean, the way its represented in the book. No bombastic words. Language is quite simple. Sometimes it feels like as if you are reading through a collection of random blog posts by the same person.



The book takes an interesting journey. There is no chronology as such. We get into the past where Shivaji is a child and then in the next one we suddenly leap into, for example, a chapter about how he got married to Lata. So, in way, even if you think that you are going to get bored reading about someone's life, you'll be kept at a reasonable pace because of changing moods.

What I could learn after reading this book is that most of what we see about Rajni in his movies is perhaps a reflection of what his life has been. He put in efforts towards making a movie on Raghavendra or Baba was only because he strongly believed that these two people make a great impact on his religious sentiments.

The most important part of this book is stories about hardships, economic dependance, friendship, struggle, hope, confidence, crisis etc. I think I can just go on. Frankly, thats the truth. There is a lot of unknown stuff about Rajni and his early years in Madras (much before he met KB for Apoorva Ragangal) and this book simply gets all that to light.

The book also tell us stuff about politics in Tamil Nadu and even the Centre, how Rajni got himself involved unnecessarily and burnt his fingers. Incidents such as the elections, Veerappan's escapades, Cauvery issue are highlights.

Coming to stuff that cant be avoided. This book could have been edited with maybe a steady mind. Its so full of mistakes. And mistakes when done on facts really irritates anyone. Especially when movie enthusiasts read this book, they'll probably want to just throw this book into the trash can for such bad editing. Most movie names are quoted wrong - dont know if there was any intention. At some places, even the connections with dates and movies are wrong. After seeing so many mistakes, I strongly felt that the book shouldnt be selling for even half the price.

Verdict: If you are a hardcore Rajni fan, then its worth a buy.. Dont buy if off the stands, its very expensive. Get it on the web. Its a lot cheaper. Or even a pirated version would do.