Rattled Rajinikanth left film set after Dharmendra slapped a real tiger: ‘He slapped and left, I have to shoot with it’ | Bollywood News

Dharmendra may have left the world on November 24, but his warmth, charm and larger-than-life persona continue to live on in the memories of everyone whose lives he touched. While his wife Hema Malini and his friends from the Hindi film industry have been reminiscing about his profound influence, colleagues from the South film fraternity, too, have shared heartfelt and often delightful stories about the man behind the star.
Among them, veteran South Indian actress Radhika Sarathkumar recalled an unforgettable encounter from the days when they were shooting in the same studio—working on different films but sharing adjacent sets.
“I had the pleasure of meeting him when I was shooting with Mr Rajinikanth in Vahini Studio. He was on the next set,” she said.

She went on to describe the challenging sequence they were filming. “We were shooting a fight scene where I was tied to a tree and Rajinikanth had to fight a real tiger because we didn’t have VFX then. The tiger was not very ferocious, and Rajinikanth was also not very comfortable doing that shot.”
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It was in the middle of this tense situation that Dharmendra walked onto the set—tall, striking and radiating his trademark charisma.
“He greeted Rajinikanth, looked at the tiger and gave it a tight slap with his huge hands. The tiger reacted like a cat. None of us could say anything at that moment,” she recalled, still amused the memory.
The incident, however, left Rajinikanth understandably rattled.Story continues below this ad
“Some time later, Rajinikanth left in his car. We assumed he had gone to his vanity van. A while later, the producer received a call from him. Rajinikanth said, ‘That man came and slapped the tiger. He will go back to his set, but I have to come back here and shoot with the tiger. Let the tiger calm down.’”
Dharmendra breathed his last on November 24. He was 89.