Rajinikanth & Durai Movies Together List — 4 Films

The shape of the work

Rajinikanth acted in every film; Durai directed all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Durai was a newcomer director when he cast Rajinikanth in Raghupathi Raghavan Rajaram (1977). The film was originally meant for another actor, but Durai saw Rajini's raw energy in a small role and bet his entire career on him.
• On the sets of Aayiram Jenmangal (1978), Durai let Rajinikanth rewrite his own dialogues. Rajini would pace around, muttering lines in Tamil and English, and Durai would just nod and say 'do it your way.' That film became the first time Rajini's signature style — the flick, the walk, the one-liner — fully clicked on screen.
• Paavathin Sambalam (1978) was the first film where Rajinikanth played a full-on villain with a sympathetic backstory. That template — the stylish anti-hero you root for — directly influenced his later iconic roles in Baashha and Padayappa.
• Durai and Rajinikanth were neighbors in Chennai during the late 70s. They'd walk to each other's houses at midnight to discuss scenes. Durai once said Rajini would knock on his door at 2 AM with a new dialogue idea, and they'd rehearse it right there in the hallway.
• Durai said in a 2012 interview: 'Rajini was not a star when we started. He was a hungry actor who would sleep on the set floor between shots. I never had to direct him — I just had to point the camera.'