Earlier, we reported about Rajinikanth being honoured at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) for completing 50 years in cinema. He has been getting many congratulatory messages ever since the honour. The latest to congratulate the actor for the achievement is his Petta director Karthik Subbaraj. Karthik shared IFFI's image announcing Rajinikanth's honour and wrote, "Congratulations Thalaivaaa. Life Time Achievement Award!!"

Karthik is a massive admirer of the Baashha star. The filmmaker has often stood by the superstar's films, including even the negatively criticised ones, such as Lal Salaam and Coolie. The appreciation has also reciprocated from Rajinikanth, who recently had kind words to say about Karthik's Retro, starring Suriya. While Retro received mixed to negative reviews from critics, Rajinikanth appreciated the film, especially Suriya's performance, the final 40 minutes in the film and its use of laughter as a weapon against violence.

On the work front, Rajinikanth has Jailer 2 and a film with Kamal Haasan, tentatively titled Thalaivar 173, at various stages of development. Recently, the superstar said that production on the Jailer sequel, directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, is nearing completion.