Tamil superstar Rajinikanth is among the 25 Indians who were accorded the NDTV Living Legend awards
President Pranab Mukherjee honoured the awardees for their service in their respective fields, at an event held in Rashtrapati Bhawan on 14 December (Saturday).
Apart from Rajinikanth, the list of awardees includes Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Waheeda Rahman, music composer AR Rahman, sportspersons Sachin tendulkar and Kapil Dev, industrialists Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani, poet Vikram Seth, Infosys founder Narayana Murthy, Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi, Cipla chairman Yusuf Khwaja Hamied, tennis player Leander Paes, Sankara Nathralaya founder SS Badrinath, flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia, 2009 Nobel prize winner Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Self-Employed Women's Association of India founder Ela Bhatt, artist Syed Haider Raza, sculptor Anish Kapoor, Bharat Ratna awardee and eminent scientist C N R Rao, Indian economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, Distinguished Indian Constitutional jurist Fali Nariman, world famous music conductor Zubin Mehta and geneticist MS Swaminathan.
Several senior politicians and unior ministers were also present at the occasion.
Speaking at the event, Rajinikanth said his journey from working as a bus conductor to a superstar proves that miracles do happen. He thanked the president and NDTV for choosing him as one among 25 living legends. Rajini also thanked Tamil fans for their love and affection. [To check out the video, click here]
The superstar, who began his acting career in 1975, completed 38 years in the film industry this August. The actor started off doing villain roles and then took up main lead characters in Tamil films. He has acted in over 150 film in various film industries, but a majority of them are in the Tamil language.
Rajinikanth, who was last seen in 2010-release "Endhiran" ("Robot"), is awaiting the release of his magnum opus "Kochadaiiyaan", directed by his younger daughter Soundarya. The epic drama is slated to be released in April 2014.
