Rajinikanth's best introductory songs

In a traditional star-driven film, the hero's introductory song is as important as the story itself. Over the years, the audience has also become accustomed to this culture, which dates back the golden age of MG Ramachandran and Sivaji Ganesan. One actor who carved out a niche for himself is Rajinikanth, who popularised this trend. Fans, on the other hand, look forward to the songs that glorify the superstar in his films, be it ‘Muthu’ or ‘Baasha’. We look back at five best introduction songs of Rajinikanth that made him what he is today.

In a career spanning over 40 years, Rajinikanth's work on ‘Annamalai’ was one of his best. He plays a humble milkman Annamalai, who befriends Ashok (Sarathbabu), a wealthy businessman. The film tracks the story of the bonding between the two friends, who later become staunch rivals. Even after all these years, ‘Annamalai’ holds a special place in the audience's heart for its touching story and terrific performances. In this film directed by Suresh Krishna, Rajinikanth is introduced with the song ‘Vandhen Da Paal Karen’, composed by Deva. The main highlight of the song is the lyrics that glorified its hero.

Ask any ‘90s kid his/her favourite Rajinikanth film and the list would be incomplete without ‘Baasha’. Regarded as one of the finest gangster films in the history of Tamil cinema, ‘Baasha’ saw Rajinikanth at his best when the film released in 1995. Playing the role of a notorious gangster, Rajinikanth was introduced to the audiences through the song ‘Naan Autokaran’, which was composed by Deva and sung by SP Balasubramaniam. In fact, Deva gave some of his best songs to Rajinikanth in the ‘90s. The entire album of ‘Baasha’ was declared chartbuster upon release. ‘Baasha’ itself emerged as one of the highest grossing films at that time.

Composed by AR Rahman, the song ‘Oruvan Oruvan Mudhalali’ is arguably one of the best introductory songs of Rajinikanth. The ‘Muthu’ album was a huge hit and was selected as the most popular foreign soundtrack in Japan. Rajinikanth plays the role of a servant in the film, which was later remade in several languages. After the success of the film, he became the first Indian actor, whose film opened to an overwhelming response in Japan. Yes, you read that right! A Japanese dubbed version of ‘Muthu’ was equally successful at the box office.

'Padayappa' marked Rajinikanth’s second collaboration with AR Rahman after the blockbuster success of ‘Muthu’. In Padayappa (1999), the scene where Rajinikanth was introduced can only be described as ‘pompous’. It set the standard for an entry scene, which was followed by the song ‘En Peru Padayappa’, composed by AR Rahman. The lyrics of the song was written in such a way that it glorified both the on and off personas of Rajinikanth, thus gaining cult status among the youth. Directed by KS Ravikumar, ‘Padayappa’ opened to rave reviews and became an out-and-out money spinner at the box office. Apart from ‘En Peru Padayappa’, the song ‘Vetri Kodi Kattu’ was also a smash hit upon release.

A Rajinikanth film needs no promotion and that was evident when his film ‘Kabali’ hit screens in 2016. Over the years, Rajinikanth’s films mostly featured singer SP Balasubramaniam crooning the introduction song. However, Santhosh Narayanan surprised the audience with the song ‘Ulagam Oruvanukka’, which was sung by him, Gana Bala and Anand. Much to everyone’s expectations, ‘Ulagam Oruvanukka’ was received with open-arms and is regarded as one of Rajinikanth’s best introduction songs. Unlike other popular Rajinikanth songs, the beauty of ‘Ulagam Oruvanukka’ was its lyrics, which was compensated by the visuals. Despite mixed reviews, ‘Kabali’ wreaked havoc at the box office and became successful.