My life's only dream is to see south Indian rivers linked: Rajinikanth

Actor-politician Rajinikanth has said that his life's only dream is to see all the south Indian rivers interlinked.

Speaking at the grand audio launch function that was held at the Young Men's Christian Association grounds in Nandanam on Wednesday night, he said, "Linking rivers is something that is close to my life. My life's only dream is to link all the south Indian rivers. I don't mind even if I close my eyes the next day."

The actor, who has maintained a stoic silence despite being the target of his political rivals, who often take potshots at him, on Wednesday opened up on a number of issues.

Rajinikanth began his speech saying, "This does not look like an audio release event. It looks like it is the success meet of the film. In fact, it is Kaala's success meet. I last took part in the success meet of my film Sivaji (2007). After that, Enthiran (Robot 2010) became a huge success. When we wanted to .celebrate the success of that film, I fell ill. I went to Singapore (for treatment) and recovered through your prayers and returned. As a result, we couldn't celebrate the success of that film."

"When I was undergoing treatment there, some people told me that if I have to enable the healing to take place faster, I would have to control my mind as well. Both body and mind have to be healthy. When your body condition deteriorates, your mind too follows suit. They told me that if you do what you like most, it would be well. I do not know anything other than acting. When I was acting in Rana, I became unwell. I thought for a change, let's try doing an animation film. My daughter Soundarya is someone who has expertise in animation. They told me that it would be enough if I acted in that film for seven to eight days. I agreed."

"However, they later said that the project would require more funds. That is because all those who made this suggestion were too intelligent. As the costs were spiralling, I said,'Let's stop this project here'. That movie did not do well. I learnt something from that experience. I learnt that one must interact and move with intelligent people and not with people who are super intelligent. The super intelligent will have several ideas and plans. They will have several windows and doors. However, all of them will be shut. When the time comes, they will not know which door or window one must use and flee the place."

"After that, I called my dear friend, director KS Ravikumar [director of Rana], and asked him if we could do a film. He narrated the script of Lingaa (2014) to me. I liked it. When he spoke of water scarcity and rivers in the film, without my knowledge, I became involved in the script. In fact, the reason I go to the Himalayas is to see the Ganga flowing there. At some places, it would gush out in full force and in certain places, it would be charmingly silent," he said.

Talking about his political career, Rajinikanth said, "Our media friends will be wondering why isn't he getting to the most important issue? Our fans here too will be wondering about it. What can I do, dear? The date hasn't arrived yet. I have a duty. When the time comes, with the Lord's blessing and the people's support, good days will begin for the Tamil people."