Rajinikanth has been a phenomenon down South for close to three decades now. A health scare in April 2011 had him in semi-hibernation. The Tamil industry is waiting with baited breath on the news of the release of two of his animated films 'Sultan' (tentative title) and 'Kochadaiyaan' because they are missing their adrenaline fix of Rajini-isms.

Adding to their woes; or rather eating into their pie, is Bollywood, who has suddenly woken up to the charms of this actor. Almost every second day, someone in Hindi cinema uses his name in some form or the other to grab headlines.

Asin, a South import to Bollywood in an interview said, "I regret not working with Rajini Sir.'' Ditto, Rani Mukerji, an actress who has romanced all the Khans and Kapoors on-screen; but misses the fact that she hasn't worked with the 60-plus Tamil phenomenon.

Deepika Padukone touts her 10-12 day act in Kochadaiyaan as a lucky break because she knows a statement such as this will benefit her in Bollywood and South India. Shah Rukh Khan, a worldwide craze himself, woke up to the charms of Rajinikanth.

When he got him to do a brief cameo in his home-production Ra.One, obviously in a bid to give the Tamil and Telugu versions of his film, an extended lease. And now, the makers of Khiladi 786 have spoken on how they were originally planning to call their film Punjabi Rajinikanth, because Akshay Kumar is playing a character who is kind of invincible.