Padma Bushan Dr. Raj Kumar - Kannada Kanmani

[bingleguy]

Kannada actor Raj Kumar dies at 77 !

A Legend in Indian Cinema Industry. A very popular Actor from Kannada Cinema Industry. He has been honoured by prestigious "Dada Saheb phalke" award for his outstanding contribution to the growth of the kannada film Industry. He has served for more than four decades and acted in more than 220 movies in Kannada. He has received numerous awards.


Let his soul rest in peace

[joe]

Great legend of kannada.

May his sould rest in peace.

[bingleguy]

The Great actor was called Annavaru by his ardent fans !

Annavaru means Brother(calling with much respect)

[bingleguy]

The people of Karnataka adore him. They call him with love "Annavaru" meaning beloved elder brother. Dr. Raj Kumar entered the film industry at the age of eight years and got his first break as a hero in film "Bedara Kannappa" in 1954. Thereafter, he went on to work in over 220 films and became a household name in the Kannada-speaking world.

He is known for his simplicity and generosity. A kind-hearted and peace loving person. His contribution to the film industry is incredible. He has served his whole life for the growth of the Kannada Cinema Industry. He is also a famous singer. However, his singing career started when he sang 'yaare kugadali' in Sampathige Savaal. His devotional songs have a touch of class. Needless to say he has created history in Kannada Cinema Industry which will never fade off. He fought for Kannada in Gokak Chaluvali.

He has been awarded numerous State, National and International Awards. He is a Recipient of Padma Bhushan and a doctorate from Mysore University, he has won a number of national and State awards including the prestigious Karnataka Rathna Award recognising him as a ''jewel`` of Kannada films. In 1995 he received prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke award for his outstanding contribution to the Kannada film industry.

He has a large fanfare following him. His memorable films Bedara Kannapa, Bangarada Manushya, Kastoori Nivasa , Kula gowrava,Gandhada Gudi, Sampahige Sawal, Shankar Guru, Babruvana, Bhakta Prahalada, Halu Jenu, Bhagyada Laxmi Baramma, Jeevana chaitra, Akasmika are only a few to name. The list can go on and on and on... Official announcement has been made describing Raj Kumar as a "living legend" of Kannada screen.

Recently he is off from the cinema Industry, but his fans still want him to act expecting his new movies "Nrupathunga" and "Shabdavedi".

[romio]

We LalFans share our condolence and for his soul. :(


|| Gurur Brahma Gurur Vishnu Gurur Devo Maheshwarah,
Gurur Shakshat Parabrahmah Tasmay Shree Guruve Namaha ||

[rajeshkrv]

it's demise to not only the karnataka tinsel world but to indian cinema as well

one of the early actors and was in stardom for years ..

brilliant performance in movies like bangaradha manushya and many more..

A legend in all ways ..

Let his soul rest in peace

raj

[MADDY]

Great actor who influenced 2-3 generations of kannada cinema-goers....

but his fans can stop taking B'lore city to ransom for this......we have so many important activities planned for 13th,14th & 15th April.....i dunno how are we gonna reach offices on these days...

[Kumar]

A very dedicated actor who was proud of his craft. May he rest in peace.

[bingleguy]

Violence marked the Great Thespian's funeral ! Properties worth crores were destroyed!

[bingleguy]

Exploring a phenomenon called Rajkumar

Courtesy : The HINDU

Alladi Jayasri
Literature on the man who achieved so much is surprisingly scarce
# Rajkumar dominated the Kannada industry for 50 years
# A critical analysis of the Dr. Rajkumar is yet to be made

Literature on the "Bangarada Manushya" who strode the field of Kannada cinema like a colossus, exploring the impact of Rajkumar on an industry that he dominated for 50 years, is surprisingly scarce for a man who has achieved the status of a demi-god when alive and has come too be deified after he is no more.

Though the thespian has a fan following that knows the trivia about him and there is an entire generation of Dr. Rajkumar fans that knows him mostly through television, serious students of cinema and researchers have missed out on him.

Dr. Rajkumar as the subject of serious study, or the protagonist of a biographical sketch, or a critical analysis of the Dr. Rajkumar phenomenon has not engaged as many researchers as it ought to have done.

But it is a daunting task to sift "Rajkumarayana" from Kannada cinema to find enough to document any aspect of filmdom without a reference to the thespian cropping up, says A.N. Prahlada Rao, who authored "Bangarada Manushya" a biography, in 2005 to mark 50 years of Dr. Rajkumar in Kannada cinema.

Mr. Prahlada Rao, an officer in the State Information Department, is a veritable encyclopaedia on Kannada cinema, has been collecting trivia and all information on Dr. Rajkumar for over 30 years.

He had hoped to publish "Bangarada Manushya" in 2003, when Dr. Rajkumar turned 75, as a series for film magazines, but the media overkill on the star in the aftermath of his kidnapping by Veerappan had still not waned, and Mr. Rao's tome remained unpublished.

The 50-year milestone in Dr. Rajkumar's acting career then provided an opportunity as the Government decided to celebrate the occasion last year, and Mr. Rao's book became a commemorative volume for "Sarthaka Suvarna".

The latest book, and the most comprehensive among the half-a-dozen books on Dr. Rajkumar, had received favourable reviews as a book that balances the persona and the phenomena of Dr. Rajkumar.

The earliest writings on Dr. Rajkumar is "Ondu Kathanayakana Kathe" a narration by Dr. Rajkumar, as told to Chi. Sadashivaiah, which appeared as a serial in "Vijayachitra," a film monthly of the publishers of the popular "Chandamama."

The story never got completed, and the series ended abruptly, when Sadashivaiah died.

There was another series of articles in "Prajavani," nearly 30 years ago, authored by the then Chennai-based film journalist T.G. Srinivasa Murthy, but if there were plans to bring them out in book form, they never materialised.

When the film "Bangarada Manushya" ran super-successfully for a year, a souvenir was brought out on the movie, the actor, and incidents associated with it.

More recently, a book titled "Rajkumar" was authored by V. Nagaraja, and some years ago, the Karnataka Chalanachitra Patrakartara Parishat published a slim volume "Dr. Rajkumar" as part of a series of several books. It was written by Shyamasundar Kulkarni. Another book "Varanata" has been written by Jagannatha Rao Bahule, apart from souvenir volume when Dr. Rajkumar was honoured with the Padma Bhushan, titled "Padma Bhushan Rajkumar -Abhinandane".

It is unfortunate that a two-volume treatise on Kannada cinema written by three front-ranking Kannada film journalists for the Kannada University at Hampi was withdrawn by the university itself on the ground that factual errors and bias had crept into it.

One lakh copies of the book have piled up, a colossal waste of research, scholarship and precious paper.

Though the other books celebrate Dr. Rajkumar, and his iconic status, a book that places Kannada cinema and Dr. Rajkumar's status in historic perspective is yet to be written.

[great]

Bangalore riots force long IT-BPO weekend

courtsey : rediff.com
BS Bangalore Bureau | April 14, 2006 09:39 IST

The day after iconic Kannada film hero Rajkumar died, India's IT-BPO capital came to a standstill but the contingency plans of companies prevented any disruption in services.
While information technology firms got a large number of their people to work from home, business process outsourcing companies diverted the traffic to their centres in other cities.

This is because almost 95 per cent of the staff could not make it to their work stations as mobs went on a rampage in the city.

IBM, a majority of whose 40,000 staff in India are spread across eight centres in the city, is understood to have totally shut shop for the time being, keeping only a small portion of its BPO work going.

According to IBM executives, most of the work has been diverted to the company's Delhi centre. Pureplay BPO firms like 24/7 Customer, too, had to down shutters today, making do with little staff, and had to divert work to other centres in India.

Almost the entire IT staff of software vendors chose to stay away from work as many of them had the liberty to co-ordinate work from home, unlike BPO staff that cannot work out of home because of data security or unavailability of bandwidth.

Infosys' IT employees, too, did not have to turn up for work ahead of the company's annual results on Friday.

[bingleguy]

Thanks Great :clap: great inputs

[bingleguy]

His eyes continue to see

Staff Reporter - THE HINDU

Two persons received Rajkumar's eyes and got the gift of eyesight here on Thursday.

Doctors at the Narayana Nethralaya transplanted Dr. Rajkumar's eyes on a 15-year-old boy and a 55-year-old man. "The operations were conducted at 3 p.m. today," Bhujang Shetty, Medical Director of Narayana Nethralaya, said. The veteran actor had pledged his eyes a few years ago. Around 3.15 p.m. on Wednesday, Dr. Shetty removed the cornea of both eyes with the consent of the family.

The eye bank at Narayana Nethralaya is named after Dr. Rajkumar and till now 450 eyes have been transplanted and 4,000 people have pledged their eyes to the eye bank.

[bingleguy]

The mourners turned unruly

Raghava M for THE HINDU

The police used tear gas shells to manage them

# Chaos prevailed at Kanteerava Stadium where the mortal remains of the actor were kept
# People were forced to stand in a queue

BANGALORE: Chaos prevailed at Kanteerava Stadium where the mortal remains of Kannada matinee idol Rajkumar was kept. This was compounded by "poor" crowd management by the police. They were apparently ordered to remain unprovoked considering the over-emotional nature of the crowd.

The body, which was kept at the VIP podium from Wednesday night, had to be removed on Thursday morning to a place close to the steel barricades, where spectators are usually stopped from entering the grounds during sports events.

Temporary barricades were erected on two sides of the platform, where the body was kept in a refrigerated casket.

Provision was made for prominent citizens, politicians and those from the film world to pass through and pay their respects. The rest of the people had to file past the barricades.

On the platform, Rajkumar's sons, Raghavendra, Shivrajkumar and Puneeth, took turns to stand on either side of the casket and receive the garlands, flowers and wreaths offered by his fans. Those who came to the stadium to pay their respects included Governor T.N. Chaturvedi; former Ministers H.K. Patil and D.K. Shivakumar; Tamil film actor Rajnikanth; actor couple Vishuvardhan and Bharati; actors Saroja Devi and Leelavathi; actors Ravichandran, Ashok, Ramesh Arvind, Vinodraj, Malashree, Sudharani, Shruti, music director Hamsalekha; playback singers C. Ashwath and Manjula Gurunath; actor Devaraj and comedian Kashinath.

Ashwath, who has sung for the late actor, took a few minutes to break into "Eelladaru Iru Entadaru Iru Endendigu Ne Kannadavagiru... " Kannadave Satya Kannadave Nitya."

By mid-morning, the crowds swelled, entering from Gate No. 2, which was the only one that was kept open.

People were asked to stand in a queue to enter the stadium. But the crowd soon became unmanageable and groups of people began shoving their way in.

Crowd control vehicle

When people inside the stadium began throwing stones at them, the police used the crowd control vehicle to fire tear gas shells. Around noon, preparations for the funeral procession began. A light commercial vehicle, decked with flowers, was brought to load the casket. It moved out of the stadium around 12.40 p.m.

[bingleguy]

`Rajkumar was a soldier for Kannada'

Staff Reporter - THE HINDU

Governor, Kharge mourn thespian's death

BANGALORE: The death of Rajkumar has left a void not merely in the field of cinema, but the art, culture and language of Kannadigas, Governor T.N. Chaturvedi has said.

In a condolence message, Mr. Chaturvedi said, "It is significant that Rajkumar acted solely in Kannada films and remained a soldier for Kannada and Kannadigas to his last breath." The soft-spoken, even-tempered Dr. Rajkumar won millions of hearts by describing his fans as `devaru,' whose support had sustained him through the dark days in captivity when he was abducted by the brigand Veerappan.

He also demonstrated his love for Kannada with his role in the pro-Kannada Gokak agitation. Dr. Rajkumar was a synonym for Kannada cinema; such was the sweep of his influence on the industry and the people, he said.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president M. Mallikarjun Kharge, in a message, described Dr. Rajkumar as a "precious jewel as an actor, a person who attained the peak of popularity with his endearing demeanour."

Union Minister for Shipping K.H. Muniyappa said he was deeply shocked by the news of the actor's death.

The Karnataka Lalithakala Academy said Rajkumar would always be remembered for the indelible mark he left on filmdom and for giving an identity to Kannada cinema.

[swathy]

He is the main reason for kannada to be alive still. If not by hindi domination, it would have gone long back.

Even some of my kannada friends speak only in hindi.

yesterday's incident was really painful.

[bingleguy]

Very True swathy ... Silent mourning shld have marked his depart n not violence ...

the violence against the police literally brought tears in my eyes ... i really couldnt tolerate !

[swathy]

Even for me tears were rolling on seeing sivarajkumar and raghavendra rajkumar.

[bingleguy]

they pleaded the crowd like anything ! no use !

[bingleguy]

Yesterday i happenned to see Dr.Raj Kumar's movies ;-) ofcourse to avoid the horrible violence nobody had any other choice ...

His acting was really superb ... A movie named Kalidas ... i ve seen the movie with Sivaji in the lead in thamizh ... here Dr.Raj has really played an excellent role...there was no copy ! his natural style was really good ! he has maintained his body like anything by practicing yoga !

[bingleguy]

Also one more film which i saw yest was "Babhruvahana" ... son of Arjuna ... i guess this concept was never touched by Thamizh cinema ....

Babhruvahana was the ruler of Manipur
Dr.Raj has really performed well in this movie ... doin a dual role as the father Arjuna and son Babhruvahana

Read about Babhruvahana
http://www.philosophy.ru/library/asiatica/indica/itihasa/mahabharata/eng/gbmb14xt.html

[rajeshkrv]

yes in late 50's and early 60's his movies were dubbed in tamil and my father used to say, TMS & PBS sang all the songs .. and rajkumar was adored by tamil fans too at that time (bedara kanappa was very popular among tamil fans too)