A day after superstar Rajinikanth was seen touching the feet of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at his home in Lucknow, the veteran actor on Sunday met Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav at the latter’s residence in Lucknow.
In an apparent dig at the gesture of the South superstar bowing down before the Uttar Pradesh CM, Yadav, posting a picture which shows the politician and the actor in a warm embrace, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “When hearts meet, people hug each other.”
“During my engineering studies in Mysore, the happiness I used to feel seeing Rajinikanth ji on the screen is still intact. We met in person 9 years back and have been friends ever since…” the SP chief continued.
He also posted another picture which showed the duo having a conversation.
Rajinikanth, who is basking in the success of his latest film “Jailer”, said he was happy to reconnect with Yadav, whom he called his friend, after almost a decade.
“Nine years ago, I had met Akhilesh at a function in Mumbai. Since then, our friendship has continued, and we talk over the phone. I had come here five years ago for a shooting, (but) Akhilesh was not there, and (I) could not meet him. He is here now and I met him,” the 72-year-old star told reporters.
Rajinikanth reached Lucknow on Friday to promote his film “Jailer”, which hit the screens on August 10.
On Saturday, he met CM Adityanath and took his blessings by touching his feet. Later, he said that the meeting was “very good”. Later, Rajinikanth along with Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya watched “Jailer” at a mall on Shaheed Path later.
Within 10 days of its release, Jailer has grossed Rs 500 crore worldwide as of Saturday. The Tamil film has been dubbed in Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada.