Happy Birthday Rajini, what a tough year it was!

We all know this year has been a particularly unforgettable one in superstar Rajini’s career and life - unforgettable not in a pleasant manner, rather quite the contrary. His health deteriorated after a seemingly foodborne illness took control of his health and snowballed into a health hazard during the beginning of the year when he started working Rana. Rana, started in January 2011, never found it foot
again although several attempts are being made to restart the project. The project team is disbanded and its technicians and actors, including Deepika Padukone, are asked to move on to other projects. But hope remains that Rana will be up and running soon.

It was during the principal photography sessions of Rana, on 29th April 2011, Rajini fell ill and complained of dehydration and exhaustion. It was minor, everyone thought, and Rajini was admitted at St. Isabel's Hospital only for a day and was discharged immediately. However, less than five days of the hospital visit, Rajini complained of breathlessness and fever and was admitted again at Isabel’s. One illness led to the other and soon enough, it was declared that Rajini was being treated in the intensive care unit and that his health is deteriorating.

His health scare became huge and fans across the world and the film fraternity in its entirety prayed for his healthy recovery. In the meanwhile, Rajini was shifted to Ramachandra Medical Center “for recurring respiratory and gastrointestinal problems.” Soon after, it was announced that Rajini was showing initial signs of renal failure and was undergoing temporary dialysis and kidney transplantation is necessary. All these were refuted as rumors by his family members who shifted Rajini to the state of the art Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore under the advice of Amitabh Bachchan. Before he left, Rajini recorded a heartwarming 4-minute audio message for his fans across the world and promised that he would come back.

Subsequently, after receiving treatment for nephropathy at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Rajini’s health improved and he was discharged from the hospital. Latha ensured he vacationed for about a month in Singapore before returning to Chennai on the 13 July 2011. Thus, Rajini after staring death in its face, returned hale and hearty to Chennai much to the relief of his fans who went into prayer sessions across the world for the well being of their favorite star.

Rajini’s perseverance was in full show when he resumed work and did a minute long cameo for SRK’s Ra.One. Rana might not have taken off yet but Rajini’s next project is announced. Kochadaiyaan it is. K S Ravikumar’s story is being directed by Soundarya Rajinikanth and the movie is made entire in 3D making it the first Indian film to be made using performance capturing technology used in films like Avatar and The Adventures of Tintin. Expect a lot of computer-generated visuals in Kochadaiyaan, which is scored by A R Rahman.

As the tough year comes to an end, Rajini is just stepping into his 61 years proving that age is not a deterrent for a man’s standing at the box office. The superstar still commands mammoth box office presence, nobody in the industry is yet capable of generating. While he celebrates his 61st birthday, let’s wish him a great, healthy year free from any health scare.

Happy Birthday Superstar!

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