Apr 09, 2025 03:51 PM IST
Rajinikanth expressed remorse over RM Veerappan’s situation, revealing their friendship and how it influenced his political stance against Jayalalithaa.
In the Tamil film world, the story of superstar Rajinikanth and producer and politician RM Veerappan’s friendship and bond is well known. Numerous hit films of Rajinikanth’s were, in fact, produced by RM Veerappan under Sathya Movies. In a recent documentary titled RMV: The Kingmaker to commemorate RM Veerappan, Rajinikanth finally opened up about what happened during the 100th day celebration of Baasha (produced by Sathya Movies) and why he spoke out against then Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa.
At the Baasha event in Chennai in 1995, RM Veerappan, who was an AIADMK minister in the Tamil Nadu government, was on stage with Rajinikanth. When the Coolie star made his speech, he spoke about ‘Varigala aatchi’ (hereditary politics), the ‘bomb culture’ in the state and how Tamil Nadu could become a ‘graveyard’. The end result of his speech was that RM Veerappan was dropped by Jayalalithaa, with whom he always had an uneasy relationship with, from the government.
Rajinikanth said in the now released video that he was extremely upset by what had happened to Veerappan and called him the next day expressing remorse. However, RMV apparently told him not to be too concerned about it. When the Superstar suggested he would reach out to Jayalalithaa, RMV reportedly told him, “Don’t lose your self-respect. I don’t need any position; I’m not attached to it.” RMV simply brushed aside the incident and went on with life, according to the Superstar. The Padaiyappa star is also seen getting emotional in the video when he stated that this incident was one of the main reasons why he strongly opposed Jayalalithaa politically and spoke out against her later. He went on to praise RM Veerappan for his ‘kingmaker’ skills for which the politician was known for as well as his wisdom and humility.
