When Kamal Haasan recalled how his ‘emotions turned to affection’ for Rajinikanth on their first-ever meeting

Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth have remained friends over decades. But their first meeting had reminded the former of one of his close friends battling with cancer. Read on to learn more about this unheard scoop.

By Srijony Das

Updated on Mar 25, 2025 | 07:12 PM IST | 12K

When Kamal Haasan recalled how his ‘emotions turned to affection’ for Rajinikanth on their first meeting (PC: Lokesh Kanagaraj on X)

Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth are undoubtedly two of the biggest pillars of Tamil cinema. Despite being from the same league, the duo have always bonded as friends and shared solidarity with one another. However, did you know that their first-ever meeting had immediately reminded the Thug Life star about a special someone he knew beforehand?

In one of his older interviews with India Today, Kamal Haasan recalled the first time he met with Rajinikanth on the sets of his film with director K Balachander.

The actor added that right about that time, he was traumatized after learning that one of his close friends Govindarajan had been diagnosed with cancer and was battling for his life.

He said, “I had a very close friend of mine named Govindarajan, who is no more now. We used to call him Govinda Haasan because he was like a brother to me - he was family. He was also a lawyer like my brother. So, they got along like a house of fire. One day, people told me he was unwell when I was shooting. We used to meet almost every day. Soon, they pronounced that he had malignant cancer.”

Moving on, Haasan added that he saw Rajinikanth for the first time dressed up for his cameo in the movie, in a role where the character dies on-screen from cancer. As a result, Kamal Haasan was instantly reminded of his own friend dealing with the same disease.

Adding how he superimposed the image of his friend over Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan explained “Somehow, all the emotions turned to affection for Rajini. I keep telling him that. So, I think I superimposed the image of my friend onto him. And it's stuck. We've been together since then. We agree to disagree but still, we're friends”

For the untold, Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth worked in many films together, before they decided to stop citing their need to focus on their individual careers.