Chennai: What is the secret of South Indian matinee icon Rajinikanth's health? Giving up liquor, smoking, and non-vegetarian food, not on his own volition, but on the persistent persuasion of his wife Latha, he disclosed at an event on Thursday night. “It was Latha's love that changed me,” he said to the rousing applause of the audience.
“Abstinence from the three will lead to long and healthy life,” he said and recalled how he was addicted to these vices. To buttress his contention, the movie moghul also cited himself as an example.
“Running 73 years, I am staying healthy only because of my wife. Even when I was a (bus) conductor, I had acquired many bad habits due to bad associations and friends. Then itself, I used to take non-veg, that too mutton, twice a day. Drinking liquor daily and cigarettes in packets, the count I do not know..... as a youth in that age.”
The occasion was the 50th show of the drama “Charukesi” by Y Gee Mahendran, his brother-in-law, and launch of the film production by the same title. Known for speaking his mind without any inhibition, Rajinikanth did not disappoint the audience.
Then, the day used to start with non-vegetarian dishes. “Morning breakfast was Aappam (a kind of dosa) and Paayaa (a mutton curry) with chicken 65. I used to pity vegetarians and wonder how they live. But, liquor, cigarettes, and non-veg are a deadly combination. As far as I know, those who have taken these three in excess have not had a healthy life after their 60s.
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They have either passed away or even if they survive, they mostly are bedridden,” he said adding, “it was Latha who changed me through love and not through force. She introduced me to doctors and through them she made me realize and brought me into a disciplined life. You also know how I was even in the movies prior to marriage and afterward and I thank her for that,” he said, crediting Latha for what he is at the present.
Interestingly, it was his stylish smoking in films and the initial anti-hero roles which have earned him a special place and catapulted him into stardom with an adulatory fan base.
This is not the first time that he had advised the youth to shun smoking and consumption. But, this was the first time that he had showered praise on Latha in public for changing him to adopt a disciplined lifestyle. However, his inclusion of non-vegetarian food as one among the vice has kindled a debate on social media as to whether all vegetarians have longer life. Memes too have come up deriding the superstar over the issue of non-vegetarian food. In a rebuttal, a Twitter user said that his grandmother, hooked to non-veg, had lived beyond 85 years.
Rajinikanth's upcoming big-budget project, Jailer, directed by Nelson Dilipkumar and bankrolled by Sun Pictures of the Marans, is expected to hit the screens later this year.
