Rajnikant rushes home to check dip in popularity

Spurred by reports of a dip in his popularity, Tamil thespian Rajnikant has shortened his "Robot" shooting stint abroad and returned home on Saturday.

The star is scheduled to prepare for a series of meetings with the organisers of his fan clubs, All India Rajnikant Fans' Association president Satya Narayana said in a press note.

Sources close to Rajnikant's family said his wife Latha was mulling a more active role in organising the fan clubs a la Premlatha, actor-turned-politician Vijaykanth's wife who controls her husband's DMDK.

Meanwhile, posters exhorting the matinee idol to start a political career were all over the city.

In a recent interview, Satyanarayana denied rumours indicating that he was a stumbling block in the path of the movie icon's entry into politics.

Meanwhile, as reported on Friday, Rajnikant, presently the highest paid actor in India, came a poor fourth in a state-wide opinion poll conducted by students of a private educational institution.
The poll was conducted by Loyola College students and late thespians M.G. Ramachandran and Sivaji Ganeshan came first and second.

Vijay, relatively less known than Rajnikant, has ranked third in the poll by getting 16.4 percent votes, while Rajnikant got 16.2.

Last year, Rajnikant had topped the list followed by Vijaykanth.

The pollsters attributed the matinee idol's fall from the top position to his latest flop "Kuselan".

Actor-turned-politician Vijaykanth came fifth by getting 10.7 percent of the votes.

Amongst actresses, National Award winning B. Saroja Devi topped the favourite list, while J. Jayalalitha, AIADMK leaer, former chief minister and current leader of opposition, was ranked number two.

The third and fourth positions amongst former femme fatales were taken by the faded out K.R. Vijaya and recent retiree Jyothika Surya.

Controversial actress and television host Khushboo Sundar came fifth.

None of the current female heartthrobs including Trisha, Shreya Saran and Nayanthara came anywhere close to their seniors.

Indo-Asian News Service

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