As Rajinikanth gets Phalke award, village awaits the return of the native

As news of Rajinikanth getting the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award reached Mavadi Katepathar village about 60 km from Pune some villagers said they are awaiting the Tamil superstar to keep his promise of visiting his native placeShivajirao Gaikwad Rajinikanths name before he became an actor is a son of the soil who made it big in the movies He had assured us when he was shooting at Lonavala a few years ago that he will visit his native place and we feel he will keep his word a villager saidRajinis roots are in the village that is still home to many Gaikwads he said Some villagers met Rajinikanth a few years ago when he was in Lonavala for a shoot he addedWe tried to catch up with him during the shoot but were sent away by the security guards Later we went to his hotel and waited for him near the liftWe introduced ourselves in Hindi and he asked us to speak in Marathi We were surprised to know that he speaks fluent Marathi he saidSadanand Jagtap former sarpanch of Mavadi Kathepathar told PTI that the entire village felt proud after hearing the news of Rajinikanth being honoured with the prestigious awardJagtap was in the delegation which went to Lonavala to meet the actor Another villager Hanumant Chachar was also a part of the delegation Jagtap saidAkash Chachar the 29yearold son of late Hanumant Chachar said that after meeting Rajinikanth his father and a few other villagers corresponded with the actors office but there was no responseWe will once again invite the 70yearold actor as he has roots in this village Akash saidVijay Kolte another resident of the region said I hope someday Rajinikanth will come to the village and fulfill the wish of the villagers as for them he is still Shivaji Gaikwad the local lad who made it bigIn and around Pune Mavadi Kadepathar is known as Rajinikanths village A village elder said Rajinikanths grandfather moved to Basavanna Bagewadi in Karnatakas Vijayapura tehsil and then to Bengaluru where the actor was bornThe family migrated in search of work almost like many others in the village Though they had land in the village the family remained in Karnataka he saidIn 2013 they invited Rajinikanth to inaugurate a Marathi literary meet in Saswad but there was no responseIn 2016 then BJP MLA Anil Gote had demanded that the Maharashtra Bhushan the states highest award be given to Rajini He also claimed the Gaikwad family is from KolhapurBorn on December 12 1950 as Shivajirao Gaikwad in a Marathi family settled in the then Bangalore the actor was named after Maratha warrior ruler Chhatrapati ShivajiRajinikanth was the fourth child of Jijabai and Ramojirao Gaikwad His father was a police constable His mother died while he was eightEarly in his career while doing a stage play at the Madras Film Institute Rajinikanth whose mother tongue is Marathi was advised by noted filmmaker K Balachander to learn Tamil He mastered the language soon and thus began his celluloid journey which made him a demigodThe Dadasaheb Phalke Award Indian cinemas highest honour will be presented to Rajinikanth on May 3This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever