There's a moment in every Rajinikanth film where time stands still. A cigarette flips and lands between his lips. A coin spins in slow motion. Sunglasses materialise from nowhere. Physics takes a tea break. And somewhere in a theatre, a thousand people roar in unison, not because they believe what they're seeing, but because they believe in the man doing it.

As Rajinikanth turns 75 and completes 50 years in cinema, with his iconic film Padayappa re-releasing on this special occasion , one cannot help but wonder how he managed to cast a spell over multiple generations, and still continues to mesmerise everyone. The answer lies in understanding that Rajinikanth's antics – those signature moves that eventually become the grammar of his type of cinema--are more than just signature tropes.

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