3 min readNew DelhiJan 29, 2026 02:43 PM IST
Tales of Rajinikanth’s generosity are well known in the Indian film industry as the actor has always been kind to his co-stars and crew despite being one of the biggest stars of the Indian films. While there have been some in his position who have acted in an arrogant fashion, Rajinikanth has always maintained a calm and composed demeanour suggesting that he doesn’t take his stardom too seriously. In a recent chat, actor Arvind Swamy recalled one such incident from his debut film where he accidentally slept on Rajinikanth’s bed and woke up to find out that the star was sleeping on the floor.
Arvind made his debut in the 1991 film Thalapathi, directed by Mani Ratnam, which starred Rajinikanth and Mammootty. Recalling an incident from his early days on a film set, Arvind shared that he wasn’t well versed with the hierarchy that is often practiced on movie sets and did not realise that there were certain protocols that were to be followed. “I was new to all this. I didn’t know the hierarchy. I didn’t know about protocol. Our industry is a little bit… kind of contrived in the sense of this protocol business so one day, I was early for a shoot. I was tired so I found a bed and I just lay down on it and went to sleep,” he shared during his chat at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne.
Arvind shared that as he woke up, he saw Rajinikanth sleeping on the floor. “I woke up and I saw Rajini sir sleeping on the ground in the same room. I had walked into his room and I had slept on the bed,” he shared. Arvind recalled that he was shocked to see this, “I mean why should he sleep on the ground?”
This is when the star’s make-up artist informed him that Rajinikanth had told him to not disturb the young actor. “His make-up artist said, ‘He told me not to disturb you.’ That’s Rajini sir,” he recalled and the crowd broke into applause.
Arvind shared that this gesture by the star taught him a lot. “It’s such a sensitive thing for somebody to not want to wake somebody up. It’s not like he is thinking, ‘He is a newcomer, why is he here, just chase him out’ or something like that. At the same time, he is very comfortable lying on the ground and sleeping and he was just doing that. I mean there are so many things you can learn from that one incident,” he said.
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