Friendships are an important part of everyones life. Whether it is for an ordinary man or for an actor good and loyal friends have always proved to be a pillar of support in everyones life. Today we will talk about Rajinikanths best friend who helped him in his thick and thin. Not only that he also helped Thalaiva gain all the fame and name. The world may know Thalaiva as Rajinikanth but for his friend he was always Shivaji and will always remain so. If you are thinking that we are discussing an actor or producer then let us tell you that the person here used to work as a bus driver. Yes you read that right! The name of the person is Raj Bahadur. For context Rajinikanth before joining the film industry used to work as a bus conductor to fulfil daily needs. Rajinikanths financial conditions forced the actor to take up different jobs to earn his bread and butter. Both Rajinikanth and Raj Bahadur met in 1970 when they were working in Bangalore Transport Services (BTS). Soon the two became good friends. Do you know that it was Raj Bahadur who truly recognised Rajinikanths talent and asked him to pursue his dream of becoming an actor? The seasoned actor was a bit hesitant to take up the field because of his financial condition. However Raj helped him in that too. Raj became a pillar of support for Rajinikanth and got him admitted to a film institute and used to send him half of his salary every month. Back then Raj used to earn only Rs 400 but he fulfilled Rajinikanths needs by sacrificing his own needs and desires. Over the years Rajinikanth gave his best and became a superstar. Despite being such a big name in the South industry today Rajinikanth still shares the same bond with Raj Bahadur.