Karnataka - Belgaum   

Plight of music legend’s son shocks people

Belgaum: A report that Mukul Shivaputra, son of the music legend the late Kumar Gandharva, had taken to begging has shocked his relatives and people in his native Sulebhavi in Belgaum district.

The report said that Mr. Shivaputra was whisked away by some unknown people in Bhopal on May 7. It said that Mr. Shivaputra, who runs music schools, had started begging at Saibaba Temple in Bhopal and used the money he got on liquor.

“I am shocked and disappointed, but it is difficult to believe that he took begging,” said Rudrappa Shrishailaya Sambargimath of Sulebhavi, a relative of Kumar Gandharva.

Mr. Sambargimath said after Kumar Gandharva sold his small house at Sulebhavi and left the village over 50 years ago, none of his two children, including daughter Kalapini Komkali, visited the village as they had settled down at Dewas in Madhya Pradesh.

Mr. Sambargimath said he would request the Karnataka Government, through the Deputy Commissioner, to trace Mr. Shivaputra and provide better living conditions for him as he was not only the son of a music legend but was himself a talented vocalist and a cultural asset of the nation.

Gurupadappa K. of Sulebhavi said Kumar Gandharva kept visiting the village and performed at the annual Sri Laxmi Mahotsava even after he shifted to Dewas.

His last performance was about three decades ago, and thereafter he did not visit the village.

The house of Kumar Gandharva, which could have been developed into a memorial, has now become a restaurant and it is owned by Rudrappa.

His father, the late Malleshappa Naganur, purchased the house about 50 years ago.

The village no longer hosts classical music programmes and the Department of Kannada and Culture too has not shown any interest in organising them.

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