Tamil Nadu Timeline

CinemaDMK-AIADMK alternation

Rajinikanth's Baashha released

· Chennai

Rajinikanth's Baashha released
Dikilona, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Baashha, Suresh Krissna's gangster drama with Rajinikanth as an auto-rickshaw driver hiding his past, opened and became one of the actor's most famous films.

Suresh Krissna wrote and directed Baashha, a Tamil action film about gangsters that reached theatres in January 1995. Rajinikanth headed the cast with Nagma and Raghuvaran. He played a modest auto-rickshaw driver concealing a violent earlier life as a gangster in Bombay. The film came to define Rajinikanth's career like few others.

Related events

  1. 1987

    1. 21 Oct 1987ChennaiCinema

      Mani Ratnam's Nayakan released

      Mani Ratnam's Nayakan, with Kamal Haasan in the title role, reached cinemas and was later named by Time as one of the greatest films of all time.

  2. 1992

    1. 15 Aug 1992ChennaiCinema

      Roja released, A. R. Rahman's debut as composer

      Mani Ratnam's Roja, the first film scored by A. R. Rahman, was released and its soundtrack transformed Indian film music.

  3. 1995

    1. 10 Mar 1995ChennaiCinema

      Mani Ratnam's Bombay released amid controversy

      Bombay, Mani Ratnam's film about an inter-religious couple during the 1992-93 Bombay riots, drew controversy, and bombs were thrown at his Madras home.

  4. 1996

    1. 9 May 1996ChennaiCinema

      Shankar's Indian released

      Shankar's anti-corruption vigilante film Indian, starring Kamal Haasan, became the highest-grossing Tamil film on release and India's Oscar entry.

  5. 1997

    1. 1997ChennaiCinema

      Sivaji Ganesan receives the Dadasaheb Phalke Award

      Sivaji Ganesan received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the top film honour in India.

  6. 1998

    1. 1998ChennaiCinema

      Rajinikanth's Muthu becomes a hit in Japan

      Shown in Japan as 'Muthu: The Dancing Maharaja', the 1995 Tamil film earned more there than any other Indian film, holding that record for 24 years.

Open in the timeline explorer