Dr. Rajakumar : A New Beginning

Dr.Rajakumar  :  A Miracle (Part II)

Definitely “beneath the showman’s mask, one could say, there was the sensitive face of a real artist, a genuine idealist, who was eager to serve his fellow beings through the medium of his art. Some said that Rajakumar was acting every movement of his life. Perhaps it was true. But it was not less true that he lived every movement of his plays or films. But the intensity of his feeling and expression was never fully exposed on our screen, and seldom on our stage. It was his complete identification with his role, and his(often) over anxiety about the perfection of his work, that sometimes led to unfortunate blemish on his otherwise impeccable histrionic reputation.”

In Rajakumar people found Badavar Bandhu, on Kathariveer, a Ranadheer Kanthirava, a Mayoor what not? Middle class viewers condemned the critics talking against Rajakumar like anything. Because they found him as an omnipresent of Kannada culture. Disgracing Rajakumar was like disgracing Karnataka violating social value and the self-respect of Kannadigas. People found in him all that was good and beneficial to mankind. It is very difficult to say what Rajakumar was to Kannada society. It is better to ask what he was not. He was identified with all the famous characters of Indian Bhakti Movement. He became a Sant Kabeera, a Sant Tukaram, a Bhakta Kumbara, a Bhakta Kanakadaas, a Basavanna and finally Devata Manushya. He became an idol of worship. Whenever Rajanna achieved the desired balance between the convection and its expression, the result was histrionic greatness unsurpassed on the Kannada screen. Two of his most outstanding roles which even today come to my mind are Babruvahana and Kaviratna Kalidaasa.

Rajakumar is not only the strength of Kannada culture and heritage but the great weakness of the Kannadigas too.

For instance, one of my friends Dr.Basavaraj Donur, who is a lecturer in English in one of the prestigious college of Karnataka, always opposed talking against Rajakumar. Rajakumar is his moral strength and emotional weakness.

As for as Rajakumar is concerned he would go to any extent to see his films and defend his Natasarbhawm. Of course. There are many reasons for such a mad(?) love for Rajakumar. His simplicity, commitment to art, respect for old people, strong belief in social values, concern for peasant community, tea totalitarian way of life, love of soil, yoga, sangeeta were most passionating to those who identified themselves physically, emotionally and morally with Rajakumar. Rajakumar was a role model for them. More than an actor, Rajakumar is a particular pattern of thinking and the way of life. They loved him and through his they loved themselves.

Academicians known for their hair splitting business, don’t talk about actors and actresses, but they watch movies secretly. They don’t discuss for, they believe it is below their dignity. But my friend Donur is first amongst us to see Rajakumar with an symbol of generosity. When Rajakumar passed away we consoled Donur, we talked to him, not because we did not know a person related to film industry, but Donur was a bundle of Rajakumar ethos. Rajakumar is living in the sincere emotions and feelings of such simple people. To understand Rajakumar what one needs is innocent and sincerity, it was for this that our Rajakumar stood and lived which he conveyed as his message of life.

No doubt Rajakumar is an actor par excellence. He started his career with theatre, where he proved his distinctiveness. His dialogue delivery, expressions of emotions, body language were marked with theatre influence. He believed that an actor should undergo theatre training to become a good actor. He is unique for his strange experiment in assimilating theatre and film. Expect Pritvi Rajkapoor of Hindi films we don’t have any parallel to him in this respect. The most unfortunate thing in southern universities is that they never studied or allowed actors, directors, music composers and lyricists to enter their campus. I am sure if our thick eyebrow critics and scholars and thought of Rajakumar he would have got the highest place in the educational curriculum too.

Rajakumar cannot be compared with any actor, be it NTR of MGR, be Big B or Rajakumar. No, we cannot compare him with anybody. For, they all are actors, acting for them is a profession, money making method. For Rajakumar it was penance, yoga and his lifeblood. He never tried to earn any mileage through the noble profession of acting. He acted because it was his internal urgency and emergency, which enabled him to propagate human values. Film for Rajakumar was not an industry. He expected it to be a mirror held to society. Cinema, he believed, should uphold human values. He always preferred to play the roles of a ideal brother, a father, a husband, a leader and a devotee in his films like chanduvalliya Tota, Anna Tangi, Kastoori Nivas and Bangarada Manushya. Fortunately, Rajakumar was on the screen when film had just begun its journey with a social commitment and he went off the screen when film forgot its motto and became an industry.

He is miracle of our era, definitely our children will not believe if we talk of Rajakumar’s simslicity, non-commercial outlook of media. For, the present generation is accustomed to perturbed definitions of film and acting.

It is wrong to say that Rajakumar entered the Gokak Movement to strengthen it. He took an active part when he came to know that there was a threat to Kannada Language. He was a thorough Kannadiga, a slave of Mother kannadamma first and an actor afterwards. Rajakumar means kannada abhimani Devaru plus Kannada language. He fought for Kannada because he just could not help doing it. Getting a political mileage was not the purpose of his participation in the movement as it was for some of our Kannada writers.

Probably he was the only actor in the industry who never sold his fame to promote goods. He led a retired, peaceful life and never entered advertisement. Had he thought of advertising he would have been the richest person in Karnataka at least. He remained as a right modal for our society not only as an actor but also as a good human being. He knew his limitations.

Rajakumar can be studied in more than a dozen fields of humanities. His contributions to yoga, acting, music, theatre, linguistics, society and human ethos are yet to be studied.

If you understand Kannada laymen, dasas, sharanas you definitely will understand Rajakumar. They are the essentials of Rajakumar’s personality. Rajakumar is a champion of humbleness, self-respect and beautiful human sentiments. The study of his career is a kind of journey into Kannada culture. His life story is my story, your story and our story. We cannot expect the existence of each individual kannadiga or Karnataka without Rajakumar.

Rajakumar is Rajakumar, unconquered undefeated and unforgettable. He was as ordinary as any man and as extraordinary as any actor in any film industry. Time cannot wither Rajakumar who got immersed in river Kaveri. It is that Shri Ramayana Dharshan of national poet Kuvempu involves all the words of Kaddada vernacular. Similarly Rajakumar involves the history of whole Kannada film achievements. He will live as long as Karnataka exists. Rajanna was, above all, an idealist and not a dialectician, an artist and not a social analyst, a patriot and not a politician, a reformer and not a revolutionary, an actor and not a man of action. One sits down to remember, to recall…

It is difficult to compress the ocean of his personality, gifts and deeds within the narrow limits of a mere article.

One can only say that there was a man called Rajakumar who never was, but was always is. He was life incarnate, it is sacrilegious to associate him with death.