250,000 plus followers with one tweet.
By The American Bazaar Staff
MUMBAI: Celebrities from Hollywood and Bollywood have flocked towards Twitter in recent years as a way to connect with their fans and promote their latest films, but they’re all going to have to make way for Twitter’s newest superstar: Rajinikanth.
The South Indian screen legend has launched his own Twitter profile, just days before his latest film hits screens around the world. Kochadaiiyaan, which releases on May 9, is India’s first-ever motion-capture film, featuring Rajinikanth in multiple roles alongside Deepika Padukone (Chennai Express) and Jackie Shroff (Aurangzeb).
Rajinikanth (63) launched his Twitter account just days ago, with the first tweet sent out on Monday – “Salutation to the Lord. Vaṇakkam aṉaivarukkum !! A big thank you to all my fans. Excited on this digital journey http://goo.gl/hyuvZx.” His handle is @superstarrajini, and features a simple profile picture of the actor sitting on a couch, with a banner promoting the upcoming release of Kochadaiiyan.
And yet, with just one tweet and a modest design, Rajinikanth’s Twitter already has over 253,000 followers. That’s a huge number in such a short period of time, and means that Rajinikanth could end up challenging the big boys of Bollywood when it comes to Twitter numbers.
Actor Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) leads the pack with over 8.6 million followers. Shahrukh Khan (@iamsrk) has over 7.5 million followers, Salman Khan (@BeingSalmanKhan) has just under seven million followers, and Aamir Khan (@aamir_khan) has around 6.7 million.
Among Bollywood actresses, the race is close between Priyanka Chopra (@priyankachopra) and Deepika Padukone (@deepikapadukone). The former used to have the most followers among B-town actresses, but has since fallen to second place behind Padukone. Chopra has 5.97 million, while Padukone has 5.99 million – a close race.
Rajinikanth, who said he has retired from leading man roles after 2010’s record-breaking film Enthiran, will hopefully become more of an active presence on the social network. Until then, he can rest easy knowing that the growth of his fan base shows no signs of slowing down, even if his film output does.