Rajinikanth pays a quiet visit to Kolkata

A month’s rigorous schedule in north Bengal later, megastar Rajinikanth paid a quiet visit to the city on Tuesday. Curiously, accompanying him on his short Kolkata trip was actor Soham. The latter travelled with him from Dakshineswar Temple to Belur Math and posted a photo of theirs a day later.
Talking about the rendezvous, Soham said, “I knew about this visit long back; it was planned in advance.One of my friends from north Bengal got in touch and even though I couldn’t make it to the airport to receive him, I took care that everything was in order.” On Tuesday, Rajinikanth was already through with his mandir visit when Soham reached Dakshineswar. “He was waiting for me for 10 minutes. I needed to complete my darshan. He had gone inside quietly before anyone got a whiff of it, but I had to wade through a crowd. What struck me the most was that he had no pilot car with him; there were just two people with him apart from his manager. It was an exercise in modesty for me and I didn’t know where to hide my two personal security officers. My mother, who is a big Rajinikanth fan, was also with me,” recalled Soham, adding that he didn’t mention the trip to anyone to respect the superstar’s privacy. The two met outside the mandir and Rajinikanth also paid a visit to the Panchavati ashram apart from doing his devi darshan. “I was floored by the way he greeted me. Needless to say, I haven’t seen a more humble man. He was particularly impressed when he heard that I had worked with Satyajit Ray as a child actor (Sakha Proshakha) and saw the clip on my phone. After that we went to Belur and not only met the Maharaj there but also stayed back for sandhyarati. The crowd swelled once he left as no one was ready for this surprise,” said Soham. Rajinikanth met Swami Smaranananda Maharaj at Belur Math, sought his blessings and was gifted books on Swami Vivekananda. From there, he went straight to the Kolkata airport to catch his flight to Chennai. Directed by Karthik Subbaraj, the Thalaiva-starrer was shot across Darjeeling and Kalimpong for over a month. The untitled venture also stars Vijay Sethupathi and Simran. The next leg of the shoot will reportedly happen in Madurai.