When Latha Rajinikanth opened up about her first meeting with Rajinikanth: ‘It wasn’t love at first sight, but I had a premonition…’

“When he was walking down the stairs to meet me for an interview, I knew there was something about him… about us. I felt I had known him for a really long time,” said Latha, in an old interview with Thanthi TV, about her first meeting with the Superstar.

ALSO READ | ‘Rajinikanth’s fans collected the sand he walked on, thought of it as prasad’: Co-star Sheeba Akashdeep on working with the Superstar

Superstar #Rajinikanth and #Latharajnikanth celebrating their 44th wedding anniversary in Dubai..❣️🤝 pic.twitter.com/WjHI8X5gMo

— Laxmi Kanth (@iammoviebuff007) February 26, 2025

Giving a brief insight into how the meeting happened, Latha said, “I was the cultural secretary in my college, and I had the opportunity to interview him for our college magazine. Ours was a movie-loving family, and we used to watch all good films. Right from the time of Sivaji sir, MGR sir, Jaishankar sir, Ravichandran sir, to the newer generation of Kamal Haasan sir, and then of course, Rajinikanth too, we used to see a lot of movies.” Crediting actor YG Mahendra, who is also the brother-in-law of Latha, for facilitating the first interaction, Latha pointed out that she wasn’t a Rajinikanth fan yet, but there was something astounding about him.

“I had a premonition about him. There was something in my mind gravitating me towards him. I just wanted to see him,” said Latha, who revealed that her father, who was connected to the film industry, had lovely things to say about the actor in Rajinikanth. “After watching Moondru Mudichu, he came home and said, ‘Mark my words, he will go places.’ And he genuinely enjoyed watching him on screen.”

Calling his style as the most striking aspect of Rajinikanth’s acting, Latha pointed out that he brought in a different type of acting in cinema. “Of course, there was the style quotient, but he performed in a way that you could actually enjoy the portrayal of a villain. I liked his speed a lot,” said Latha, who reminisced how she met him for the first time in veteran actor Sowcar Janaki’s house during the shoot of K Balachander’s Thillu Mullu. “Before the meeting, I did a small prayer at my home, and made a mental pact with Lord Krishna, and said, ‘I don’t know why you are sending me to him, but I am going.’ In fact, I had just tonsured my head in Tirupati, and my hair was just growing back.”

Explaining that first spark when their eyes met, Latha said, “It wasn’t love at first sight. It was like we knew each other very well right at the first sight. I had no fear etc… In fact, it was the day he had brought the house in Poes Garden, and it was also the premiere of his film, Kaali. He invited me for the film. And as the interview progressed, it was less about questions and answers about his career, and more about understanding each other. I think he too felt the same… a sense of closeness. I’d call it divine grace.”

ALSO READ: When Rajinikanth revealed the life advice shared by ‘great inspiration’ Amitabh Bachchan: ‘When you are 50 and above…’

Latha and Rajinikanth have two daughters — Aishwarya and Soundarya — and both have become respectable filmmakers with popular films like 3, Vai Raja Vai, Kochadaiyaan, VIP 2, and Lal Salaam in their filmography.

On the work front, Rajinikanth, who was last seen in Vettaiyan, is filming for Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Coolie, and will move on to the sets of Nelson’s Jailer 2 soon after.