Rajni’s birthday as ‘World Style Day’?

Ask any one of Rajinikanth’s scores of fans what they like most about their ‘Superstar’ and chances are that they’d flip their hair back, laugh with descending intonation and say ‘style’.

Now, as if those ‘style’ statements hadn’t become synonymous with Kollywood’s numero uno actor, his fans are clamouring for something bigger to mark his birthday. About a month ago, a post appeared on the wall of a Rajinikanth fan page on Facebook that said ‘We should celebrate Thalaivar’s birthday as World Style Day’ and this set the virtual juggernaut rolling.

“Once that started, every online fan thought it was a great idea and has been garnering support to make World Style Day a reality,” explains Vinodh K R, an ardent fan and virtual fan club moderator. “More and more people have begun spreading the message through word-of-mouth as his birthday (December 12) comes closer,” he adds.

With the backing of close to one lakh fans online, you’d think that World Style Day might actually become a reality by the time the Superstar completes 61 years of age. But there are bigger plans afoot, claims Vinodh, “Everything we do for him has to be big. Next year’s birthday (12-12-12) will be a landmark day in the history of the universe and by this time, we will have managed to have his birthday declared officially as World Style Day.”

Till then, posters, publicity and petitions to everyone from the Chief Minister and the President of India will be sent.

Birthday bash

But for ‘Rajini 62’, plans for a grand bash have been in the works for almost a month. This time, a unified bash for the superstar has been planned on December 13 at Valluvar Kottam. The best part is that everything will have a ‘62’ twist to it, says an excited Saidai G Ravi, office bearer of the Chennai district and head of Rajinikanth Fans Welfare Association.

“If 62 people are given free clothes, then students’ fees amounting to Rs 62,000 will be donated... there will be 62 everywhere,” he says and adds excitedly, “We will also set off 62 sky decorators (rockets) that will fire 240 shots in the air around Valluvar Kottam, so that it can be seen at his (Rajini’s) residence.”

And they’re a stickler for crowd control too.

“Only 40 invites have been sent to each district fan club,” says K Thayumanavan, President of the Fans Welfare Association in Tiruvarur. “No one will be allowed in without the invitation bearing the 3-D hologram,” he adds.

But there’s a reason why they don’t want to open the floodgates and allow fans to witness industry bigwigs like SP Muthuraman and Kalaipuli S Dhanu felicitating their hero. “When we invited Thalaivar, we were told that if the programme was under control and to his liking, he would come and greet us as a surprise,” said an organizing committee member.