Government Of India Constitutes Special Award For ‘Thalaiva’ Rajnikanth, Named ‘Icon of Golden Jubilee of IFFI’

In a first, the Government of India has constituted a special award titled ‘Icon of Golden Jubilee of IFFI’ which will be conferred upon Indian superstar Rajinikanth.

2019 marks the 50th year of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which is often counted amongst one of the earliest film festivals of the Asian continent.

The 50th International Film Festival of India, 2019 will witness over 200 best films from 76 countries, 26 feature films and 15 non-feature films in Indian panorama section and more than 10,000 people and film lovers are expected to participate in the golden jubilee edition.

Born on 12 December, 1950 in a Marathi-speaking family of Karnataka Rajanikanth’s original name is Shivaji Rao Gaekwad. Before he got a start in films, he did odd jobs to make a living including famously having worked as a bus conductor for Karnataka State Transport Corporation in Bangalore.

In a long and eventful career, Rajinikanth has acted in over 170 films in many languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and Bengali. He also had a starring role in the Hollywood production, Blood Stone (1988).

Government of India has earlier honoured him with the Padma Bhushan (2000) and the Padma Vibhushan (2016). At the 45th International Film Festival of India (2014), he was conferred with the "Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year".

Despite having been in the industry for over 40 years, Rajnikanth, also called as ‘Thalaiva’ by fans and admirers, he remains wildly popular having delivered super-hits like ‘2.0’ recently.