Rajinikanth

Rajinikanth, born Shivaji Rao Gaikwad in 1950, has spent more than five decades shaping Tamil cinema and crossing into Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Bangla and Malayalam films across roughly 170 titles. The Government of India recognised his stature with the Padma Bhushan in 2000, the Padma Vibhushan in 2016 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2019, while the International Film Festival of India added the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award. Wikipedia page views average 25 K a day, a quiet metric that still lands him at hot by clicks #20 on this list. IMDb reported that “Jailer 2” opened third at the U.K. and Ireland box office behind “Street Fighter,” then noted early trends showing the film as the fifth Indian title to cross the 400 crore mark globally in 2026, putting Rajinikanth in the top five. NDTV tracked the domestic climb toward 600 crore worldwide by day six and quoted Allu Arjun calling the release a “coolest hit with a bang.” Bollywood Hungama highlighted a record 160 crore OTT deal, the largest ever for a Tamil film, while The Times of India recounted director K. S. Ravikumar explaining why the star passed on a “Padayappa 2” script. Cinema Express and Odisha TV shared behind‑the‑scenes moments and a co‑star’s comment that dancing with him fulfilled a longtime dream, and Gulf News mentioned Sanju Samson booking an entire theatre as the film approached the 500 million rupee milestone. That steady stream of box‑office milestones, record‑setting streaming numbers and peer endorsements keeps his name in the conversation long after most contemporaries have faded. The combination of historic honours, daily search traffic and a new blockbuster that continues to rewrite commercial benchmarks explains why he holds his spot on the ranking.

Rajinikanth is in place 20 on our list trending people in the world. Hot means named by trusted media and looked up most, not a judgement of anyone.