In an exclusive interview with Cinema Express, actor Sivakumar talked about how Rajinikanth changed the audience's perception of what it meant to be a hero on screen. Sivakumar mentioned that the main difference between acting in theatre and films was that how an actor presented themselves to the audience mattered more in the latter medium than the former. The conversation transitioned into how actors such as Rajinikanth and Vijayakanth played a major role in breaking such conventions while redefining heroism onscreen.
Sivakumar said that in the days of MG Ramachandran (MGR), people wanted to be like his onscreen characters, but that perception took a drastic change with the arrival of Rajinikanth. "With Rajinikanth, people started believing that you do not need a certain kind of personality or speak Tamil fluently in cinema. They also started accepting flawed heroes—those who have vices, such as drinking alcohol. Heroes could be of any kind but should be relatable to the audience. It was not like heroes should be like MGR's characters but should be like the audience themselves."
