Rajini with the Bachchans at Robot music launch

What Rajinikanth does well on screen, he equally does it well off screen too. On the eve of India's Independence Day, you not only get to hear the master of all speeches delivered by Rajinikanth but also see India's four iconic figures in flesh who've made our India proud, stand tall and look up...All this at Juhu's JW Marriott hotel where Rajinikanth, Amitabh Bachchan, A.R. Rahman and Aishwarya Bachchan unveiled the music of Robot, India's first one of a kind sci-fi action thriller costing Rs.150 crores.

The battle ground was all set. The video cameras were all lined up like battle tanks ready to fire their missiles and all the press photographers in front of the stage were lined up like soldiers ready to take on anything that comes in front of them. For a change, they flashed their weapons right in front of the many great celebrities who graced the launch that evening.

Danny Denzongpa was the first to arrive bearing in mind his punctuality. Resul Pookutty arrived with his wife and kids. Swanand Kirkire, Anup Jalota, Hariharan, producer of Robot - Mr. Maran and some special guests arrives shortly. And then the big entry: Rajinikanth walked in with Amitabh Bachchan and wife Jaya Bachchan, and behind them walked the congenial Aishwarya Bachchan hand in hand with hubby Abhishek Bachchan.

What followed next was a complete 'paisa vasool' entertainment from the South Indian superstar Rajinikanth...and when he talks, you just listen and laugh out loud. In his trademark style, Rajini came up on the stage and shared a couple of funny real life incidents which went like...

"Once my neighbour's guest with his kids met me while I was in the South, he asked me whether I was now retired and if I did have any hair left for good life. He thought that I had retired from the film line. He also questioned me whether I was doing any film. I answered him back saying that I was doing a film called Robot which had Aishwarya Bachchan. The man got excited and started praising Aishwarya. But then paused and asked me - Who is the main actor in the film? I had to then tell him - It's me. He got shocked and wasn't able to believe it. He even tried telling me what was wrong with Aishwarya that she agreed to act with me. And went that extra mile in asking how could Abhishek Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan could've allowed her to act opposite Rajinikanth," said the superstar.

The crowd burst into laughter. The chief guest for the evening Amitabh Bachchan too couldn't stop laughing out loud. But that wasn't enough for the more Rajini hungry fans from the media. The actor recalled another real life story by revealing that SRK was the original choice of the director Shankar for Robot.

Rajini remembers, "Actually, I wasn't the first choice of Shankar. SRK and Kamal Hassan were his first choices but due to some problems, he couldn't give Shankar his dates. Well, as we all say - Daane daane pe likha hai khaane wale ka naam."

The frenzied crowd went into yet another laughter therapy thanks to our very own Rajini. All we can say is that Mumbai was blessed with a man named Rajinikanth on the eve of our Independence Day. Long live Rajini!