The style icon of Indian Cinema, Rajinikanth who began his acting career in 1975 completes 40 years of filmdom today! Born as Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, it was his rechristening as Rajinikanth, that elevated a simple bus conductor to a humble Superstar.

Rajinikanth entered the cinema industry playing a negative role in K. Balachander's Apoorva Raagangal which released on this very day forty years ago. Several negative roles later, he turned hero and several commercial successes as a hero, brought him superstardom.

Interestingly, the unique way he flipped a cigar into his mouth, that KB let him do in one of his movies, paved way to building his stylish onscreen persona. The 64 year old actor has acted in over 158 films in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada, and of course that one-off Hollywood flick Bloodstone. Few of his successful films are Apoorva Raagangal, Moondru Mudichu, Anthuleni Katha, Avargal, Katha Sangama, Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai,Thalapathi, Netrikan, Pokkiri Raja, Sree Raaghavendar, Thalapathi, Basha, Padayappa, Muthu, Arunachalam, Chandramukhi, Sivaji, Enthiran, Kochadaiyaan, Lingaa and many more.

His inimitable fast paced dialogue delivery and stylised bodylanguage gained him fans from across the globe. The fans of Rajinikanth have been celebrating his 40 years in cinema over the past few days with the hashtag # 40yearsofsuperstarrajinikanth. His next biggie is directed by Pa. Ranjith and word has it that he plays a don in that one. That's got us fans drooling already!

Galatta wishes our Superstar happiness and more success. Let him keep shining in showbiz forever!