Dr. RAJKUMAR

Dr.Rajkumar is a distinguished personality  in  this part of the world and a true artist par excellence who maintained an austere life-style and at the same time ensnared and enchanted audiences in the Kannada language for more than four decades donning various kinds of roles with great ease and single handedly driving his cinemas into success.

I dont know what much I can write about this man as his achievements as an actor is written in gold in the minds of people of Karnataka state and to my mind the world is yet to see an actor of his stature who had looks,talent, charm and enigma and who took all these titles upon himself without much fanfare and ado and went about the world of acting with versatility and a broad spectrum of roles.THERE IS NO MAN IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF CINEMA WHO HAD ALL THESE BUNDLED IN ONE. Not to forget he was also a singer par excellence.

I had met Dr. Rajkumar twice ; once on the sets of the film Purushottama produced by Madhu Bangarappa inside the Graphite India plant and thereafter at the Muhurat of  Gandugali Kumararama produced by Dr. M R Pattabhiram. I have met his sons at various instances.

What makes Dr. Rajkumar special. One...he was a distinguished hero...second..he played character roles with equal ease and was a high performer as an actor....third...even at an advanced age with marginal make-up he looked very young...he could dance with alacrity...he could emote well....fourth...he appears to me to have done risky shots by himself..for example in Gandada Gudi he climbs on the tusk of an elephant for a shoot..fifth...he never acted in any language other than kannada....sixth ...he sang in the films for himself...seventh...though not an emotional person per-se he could do romantic roles with great ease....eighth..there are few actors who can take a long shot without difficulty in that he could go on with dialogues for a longer duration without cut........nine...he never cherished political ambitions and did not try to capitalize his position in politics for he knew he was not cut for it...ten...he has sung many songs that would put many trained singers in the shade;  Dr. Rajkumar you were truly special.

One aspect of Dr. Rajkumar is truly special to me ..though a enigma at an young age he did not get anywhere embroiled in any controversy with any heroine of his time and chose to get married as a normal individual of his times and kept his private life largely private.

When will the state of Karnataka see another man of his stature ?  This is a moot question that must be going in the minds of the many film goers of this state.