The end of a good role
Y. SUNITA CHOWDHARY
|
Mallikarjuna Rao’s death shocks the industry.
|
Mallikarjuna Rao.
Mallikarjuna Rao was a devotee of Lord Siva and as usual visited the temple in Srinagar Colony last week. It has been his routine since 1994. He wasn’t feeling well, yet waited for the rahu kaalam to pass before going to the
hospital and he never returned. EVV Satyanarayana who was his neighbour for 13 years in Chennai says that the actor had great faith in astrology and adds, “chaavu ki muhurtam pettukuni vellaadu”.
“Paadyami is supposed to be an inauspicious period in the Telugu calendar and Mallikarjuna Rao insisted on seeing the doctor only after that period and this delay had worsened his health,” says Ammiraju, his manager for 21 years.
But can humans change destiny? The actor immortalised his role as ‘Battala Satyam’ in Ladies Tailor once told this correspondent that he had been offered 12 identical roles after the film released but declined as he wanted to do only roles that had substance. He did go through a lean phase but stuck to his principles. The only film that got him a huge commercial break was Hello Brother wherein he moved the audiences to tears.
Known as a good human being he had particular affinity to three persons in the industry, the late Raogopal Rao, Vamsi and E.V.V. Satyanarayana. The actor worked in 42 out of EVV’s 48 films and always had dates reserved for him. The director says, “he is one of those few people who had gratitude, never demanded money but asked only for a good role. Last week he had confirmed his dates for my film that would begin in July.”
The only wish that remained unfulfilled was, that he wanted to be elected as an MLA from his village Anakapalli. He was touring the constituency extensively for the past one year and was interacting with his home crowd. This news has indeed come as a shock to their beloved ones in the village who watched their hero move up the ladder to complete more than 370 films in the Telugu film industry.
Mallikarjuna Rao will be remembered long for what he was — a good person!
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
