Actor Rajinikanth who was felicitated by the Indian government as "Icon of Golden Jubilee' at the International Film Festival of India, gave an interview to the government-run channel Doordarshan, in what is probably being considered as his first exclusive TV sit-down in many years.

The Superstar actor was seen in a rather relaxed mode where he shared some interesting details about his career, films and friends. Excerpts from the video here:

• Rajinikanth said he was 'pleasantly shocked' when the Indian government announced his IFFI felicitation. He shared the his first thought was whether he 'truly deserved this recognition' before 'humbly accepting the honour'.

• "The turning-point of my entire film-career was meeting Mr. K. Balachander" - One would have heard Rajini state this on multiple occasions and he did so in this interview as well. The actor also added, "During my film institute days, I was in the Kannada (speaking) batch. It was K. Balachander who told me to learn Tamil and he had so much confidence that he said 'see where I take you".

• Interestingly though, K. Balachander saw Rajinikanths journey in films as a good character artist. Shedding light on the same, the actor said, "K. Balachander identified (the potential) in me and showed it to me..But even he identified me as (only) a good character artist; Balachander Sir never thought I'd become a hero. It was Kalaignanam who came with a hero porposal and fortunately the film clicked in a big way."

• Rajinikanth confessed that in his early years when he was dabbling in movies of multiple regions, language was always a problem for him. "Acting is always the same but only language is the problem. Initially, I felt it really difficult to act in Hindi films..Also, when I was concentrating mainly on Tamil and Hindi, it became difficult to cope because comparatively South was well-planned. Of course now people of Bombay have changed but it was not like that back then..So I had to stop acting in Hindi films too."

• Rajinikanth called his friends from his 1973-1974 batch of Madras Film Institute days his 'real fortune'. "I am extremely relaxed with them..I am Sivaji Rao Gaikwad with them..The Rajinikanth you see is very different. You can see Sivaji Rao Gauikwad there."

• About his family, Rajinikanth light-heartedly said, "Everything is acting in life too..It's off-camera acting" before quickly adding "But you have to act properly and be sincere to your character with honesty".

• Rajinikanth admitted to being a "director's actor" and about how he approaches a script, the Superstar said, "First preference is for the director's voice. Then if there are any changes, I make suggestions and only if he accepts it is a yes. I improvise a lot and my mentor has also taught me that if you do only what the director says, then what is your input."

• About his iconic gestures and mannerisms like the cooling-glass flip or the signature 'Rajinikanth-walk' [known as the Superstar style down South], the actor said, "In the beginning, I made it a point to introduce some kind of style or gimmick in every film because a villain had no limit compared to a hero (referring to his anti-hero start). I used to work on that..For all the gimmicks I give my inputs and I practice depending on how much time it required."

• The actor said he made it a point to keep himself busy especially after taking advice from Amitabh Bachchan advised young people to do the same. "I enjoy my work, I do not feel burdened or see it as 'work'. I enjoy it like a game..Creativity also comes when you enjoy anything what you do", he quoted as the reason for staying relevant for among three generations of his audience.