Rajkumar, actor who turned into a cultural icon

The doyen of the Kannada film industry, Rajkumar, died of a cardiac arrest in Bangalore on Wednesday afternoon. He had suffered a mild heart attack a couple of weeks prior to this.

Rajkumar's real name was Mutturaju Singanalluru Puttaswamayya. Known as 'Annavru' (big brother) to his fans, he had acted in over 200 movies. He had also been referred to as the John Wayne of the south Indian film industry. He also sang over 30,000 songs during his 45 year-long career in the industry.

Born on April 24, 1929 in Gajanur in Chamarajnagar district in southern Karnataka, he had started off as a child actor on the stage . He had debuted in 'Bedara Kannappa' when in his late teens. His last movie was 'Shabdavedi', his 206th.

He received numerous state and national awards, among them nine state awards in the best actor category and a national award in the best singer category. He received the Padma Bhushan and the Dada Saheb Phalkie award which was given to him in recognition of his contribution to the Kannada film industry.

His fans had conferred on him the title 'Nata Saarvabhowma' (The Emperor of Acting).He also received an honorary doctorate from Mysore University.

Rajkumar was the moving force during the Gokak agitation that began in 1982 demanding primacy for Kannada. This had increased his status as the protector of Kannada language and culture which he remained till his end.

On July 30, 2000, at the age of 71 Rajkumar, his son-in-law Govindraju and two others were kidnapped from the actor's house at Gajanur in Karnataka by the outlaw Veerappan, demanding the release of Tamil activists jailed under TADA.

The event prompted a massive manhunt and threw the Karnataka government inot a crisis. Rajkumar was released on November 15 that year after 109 days in captivity.

Rajkumar had been a role model to millions of Kannadigas. He never smoked or acted as a drunkard in any of his movies (except a few in the initial days of his film career). In real life too, he had been a non-smoker and non-alcoholic. An avid yoga exponent, he followed a strict diet.

His yoga regimen is said to have saved him during his days in captivity. Though he had numerous chances to try his hands in politics owing to his mass following, he shied away from it and instead focussing his energies on art and cinema.