Siva Kumar screwed his face. A man of impeccable character and discipline he is surprised that someone wastes away life like that. "But when do you sleep?"
"Sir, it's almost 20 days since I hit the sack," was Rajini's matter-of-fact reply.
"But it's humanly impossible. How can one survive without sleeping? What's the need for you to work so hard?" enquired a perplexed Siva Kumar, musing more to himself.
"I get half an hour when they break for lunch. I just doze off then. That maybe the reason why I am still alive." Rajinikanth replies nonchalantly.
Rajinikanth was a workaholic. He enjoyed working round the clock and had a deep sense of commitment. He was never happy until he got his shots right. He mentally improvised constantly and insisted the directors reshoot the scenes until he got them right. He had too much energy in him and felt every minute he relaxed while shooting was a waste of time. He never understood physical fitness included taking a break.
A palpable silence sneaks in, both slump into a train of individual thoughts until Rajinikanth restarts the dialogue. "Sir, do you remember our Madurai trip?"
"How can I forget that?" Siva Kumar squirms, recalling the trip vividly.
A function had been organized to celebrate Sivaji Ganesan's 200th movie in Madurai. Rajinikanth, Siva Kumar, Nambiar, KR Vijaya were amongst others honoured. A special chartered plane flew the stars. An aggressive Rajinikanth barged into the duty free shop and demanded a can of soda water. Rajinikanth was aggressive and looked menacing.
"Rajini, sir?" a dumbstruck shop assistant frantically ran around the store, unable to believe his luck seeing his idol at such close quarters. But his face fell when he couldn't find what he had been looking for, and apologetically said, "Sorry, sir, we seem to have run out of stock."
Flesh touches flesh with a thud.
Rajinikanth slaps the shop assistant: "How dare you not stock soda? Don't you know I wanted one?"
"I, sir... you just slapped me you know?" the man managed to talk back, timidly, ashamed at the public humiliation.
"Yes, I slapped you, now I know that's not enough." He then removed his leather belt from his trouser buckle, wanting to flog the helpless guy who ran out of the shop shouting for help.
It took Nambiar a lot of patience and effort to control Rajinikanth and his fiery temper.
In the picture: Rajnikanth in Basha
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