Rajinikanth’s post thanking bus driver Raj Bahadur after Dadasaheb Phalke win goes viral

 The megastar Rajinikanth received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the country’s highest honour for cinema artists, during 67th National Film Awards in the Capital. His name was announced in March during the press conference and soon after that he took to his Twitter to remember some of his close friends and family.

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In April, the  70-year-old actor put out a thank-you note, also conveying his regards to all those who wished him.

Expressing gratitude to the Union government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rajini, who is fondly referred to as ‘Thalaivar’ and Superstar by his fans, conveyed his foremost thanks to his closest friend Raj Bahadur, who worked as a bus driver when the former was a conductor. 

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“For discovering my acting skill and for encouraging me, my friend Raj Bahadur,” he wrote, following it up with thanks to his brother Sathyanarayana Rao Gaekwad. “For making all the sacrifices that he did to make me an actor, even when wrought by poverty,” Rajini wrote in his letter.

He then went on to thank director K Balachander, his guru, for introducing him to cinema and for making him the actor that he is today. Rajinikanth made his debut in Balachander’s Apoorva Raagangal in the year 1975, sharing screen with Kamal Haasan, Sundarrajan and Srividya. The actor played a brief but very memorable role in this film.

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The actor also thanked all the directors, producers, technicians, distributors, theatre owners, media houses, people of Tamil Nadu and his fans across the world. He wrote that the award is dedicated to all of them. 

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award has been presented by the Indian government since 1969. Some of the notable recipients so far include filmmaker Satyajit Ray, actors Devika Rani, Prithviraj Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan (2018), actor turned politician Vinodh Khanna (2017)  and director K Vishwanath in (2017).