Rajinikanth is Thalaivar. Kamal Haasan, through his heydays as a superstar, has been Ulaganayagan to fans. Vijay has been hailed as Thalapathy while Ajith is Thala. Chiranjeevi is Mega Star to Telugu fans while Mahesh Babu is Prince, Pawan Kalyan is Power Star and Ravi Teja has been Mass Maharaja for well over a decade. Mohanlal is widely known to fans of Malayalam cinema as Lalettan while Mammootty is Mammookka. Superstar nicknames have existed in South India for ages, and the new generation screen icons have followed suit. Having a moniker helps — for one, it endears the star to his/her fans and, importantly, also conveys the particular image he or she might want to project as a public icon. Here’s looking at the set of monikers among South Indian stars:
GN Archives