Dr Rajkumar of Kannada movies fame passes away

PEOPLE-KARNATAKA-RAJ KUMAR DIED Dada Saheb Phalke Awardee Dr Raj Kumar passed away.

Sources in the M S Ramaiah Hospital said Rajkumar was brought dead to the hospital. The actor had been suffering from heart ailment for some time now with over three hospitalisations. However, he had responded well to the treatment then. The recent demise of his brother, Varadaraju, had also dealt a psychological blow to him.

Rajkumar bagged the coveted Dada Saheb Phalke award in 1995, increasing the number of awards in his kitty. He was also a recipient of the Padma Bhushan. He received ten Filmfare awards in the 'Best Actor' category, the second highest in the country.

Born as Mutturaju Singanalluru Puttaswamayya on April 24, 1929 in Gajanur in Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border, Rajkumar was known as ''Annavru'' (elder brother) to millions of his fans. He had acted in more than 220 movies in a career spanning over 45 years.

Some of his popular films included 'Bangaaradha Manushya' (The Golden Man), 'Kasturi Nivasa', 'Gandhadha Gudi' (The Temple of Sandalwood) and Jeevana Chaitra. Besides entertaining his millions of fans with his histrionic skills, he was also a renowned singer and had even bagged an award for singing.

A soft spoken giant of the celluloid, Rajkumar had been a voracious promoter of Kannada and had participated in the Gokak agitation on implementation of Kannada in 1982 and later joined the agitation for telecast of Kannada news in Doordarshan.

After his sabbatical from acting, the celebrated actor again hit the headlines when notorious sandalwood smuggler Veerappan kidnapped him from his farm house in Gajanur and kept him in captivity for 109 days in 2000. At the age 71, Rajkumar had to undergo an ordeal in the thick of the jungles from July 30 to November 15, 2000. He was released unharmed by the forest brigand, who was later slain by the joint Special Task Forces of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Veerappan was demanding the release of Tamil activists, who were in jail under a now defunct anti-terrorism law.

UNI