K.S. Ashwath

MYSORE: He was an associate of Rajkumar in the Kannada film industry for close to five decades, and the passing away of the Kannada screen icon stunned actor K.S. Ashwath.

His immediate reaction to the death of Dr. Rajkumar, according to family members, was one of shock, disbelief and sorrow. "What do we do now without him?" This was the spontaneous reaction of Mr. Ashwath on hearing of the news of Dr. Rajkumar's death.

The relationship between the two dated back to 1955 when they acted in Anna Tangi. Mr. Ashwath acted as Dr. Rajkumar's father, brother, friend and brother-in-law in scores of films.

Incidentally, Mr. Ashwath was the first recipient of the "Dr. Rajkumar Award", which was conferred on him by the thespian himself.

Mr. Ashwath, who has been ailing for some time, was in no mood to wait after his son broke the news of Dr. Rajkumar's death. Deeply shocked, Mr. Ashwath goaded his family members to get ready to reach Bangalore early. With tears trickling down his cheeks, he told The Hindu: "I am going to see my aptha mitra."

For the octogenarian Ashwath, who has quit acting in movies, the bonding with Dr. Rajkumar was so strong that both of them cried over the telephone recently, recalling their old association when both could not meet in Mysore.According to his son Shankar Ashwath, it was Dr. Rajkumar, who revived the acting career of Mr. Ashwath when he offered him a role in "Vasanta Geetha" during 1978-1979. Dr. Rajkumar gave him an opportunity when the industry had almost ignored Mr. Ashwath. From then on, Dr. Rajkumar insisted that Mr. Ashwath play a role in every movie that was produced by his home banner. In fact, Dr. Rajkumar's family would wait for dates from Mr. Ashwath to act in their production, he said.

For another actor and producer M.P. Shankar, the death of Dr. Rajkumar meant the loss of leadership in the Kannada film industry. He said that the industry depended on the matinee idol on all major issues. Speaking to The Hindu on telephone from Chitradurga, Mr. Shankar said: "It's like the sun setting on the Kannada film industry."

Mr. Shankar, who was conferred the "Dr. Rajkumar Award" for lifetime achievement for 2004-2005, said he had met the matinee idol on March 26.

"Gandhada Gudi," hailed as one of the landmark movies of Dr. Rajkumar, was produced by Mr. Shankar.

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