Karnataka - Hassan   

A man of many parts

Staff Correspondent

Rajkumar also took keen interest in the composition of music

Hassan: There is an interesting story behind how Rajkumar got his screen name in "Bedara Kannappa." H.L.N. Simha of the Gubbi Company who was aware of Mutturaj's (as Dr. Rajkumar was known) talent promised the young actor that he would be selected for the lead role in the film. But he (Mutturaj) was surprised when he saw in the newspapers that a new actor by name Rajkumar had been selected.

A disappointed Mutturaj contacted Simha to remind him of his promise. Then Simha told him that Rajkumar was none other than S.P. Mutturaj. "Bedara Kannappa" was a hit and it won the Certificate of Merit award.

The film industry was expecting that Dr. Rajkumar would figure in the list of Padma honours. But to their surprise, his name was not found in the list. They heaved a sigh of relief when they found that the Padma Bhushan was given to Singanallur Puttaswamiah Mutturaj, Dr. Rajkumar's real name. Except for a few, all his films have been successful.

"Bangarada Manushya" has the unique record of running for 104 weeks continuously in theatres in Bangalore, 60 weeks in Mysore and 25 weeks in Mangalore. To help the unemployed artistes of the Kannada film industry, he formed the Artistes Cooperative Society with the help of Narasimharaju, G.V. Iyer and Balakrishna and produced "Ranadheera Kanteerava," which was a hit. Dr. Rajkumar came to films from professional theatre, where artistes had to sing their own songs. He was introduced to classical music in the Gubbi Company, a professional theatre company run by Gubbi Veeranna, doyen of Kannada theatre and films. Dr. Rajkumar learnt music there. He learnt playing harmonium from his father Puttaswamiah, who was a music teacher.

P.B. Sreenivas's songs were the inseparable part of Dr. Rajkumar's films for decades. In 1974, when Mr. Sreenivas was away in Singpore to give a concert, the music director of "Sampathige Sawal" persuaded Dr. Rajkumar to sing the famous song "Yaare koogadali."

Dr. Rajkumar was not only a singer, but also took keen interest in the composition of music in his films. Ustad Bismillah Khan, Shehnai maestro, greatly appreciated the music talent of Dr. Rajkumar. He was greatly impressed by Dr. Rajkumar's acting in "Sanadi Appanna." Dr. Rajkumar was the first actor to get the best playback singer award. He got the award for the song "Naadamaya, ee lokavella... ," he sung in the film "Jeevana Chaitra."

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Less than 50 p.c. of farmers enrolled under Yeshasvini
A man of many parts

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu