Tribute to Rajkumar

I bow my head in the honor of Late Raj Kumar when I read that before death he donated his eyes. Till the end, he was humble, pious and "Nata Saarvabhowma" (The Emperor of Acting) with simple living.


Why Rajkumar refused to act in ‘Devdass’?

There was a controversy when Govt. banned smoking in movies and when Shatrughan Sinha came in the TV advertisement of a wine company. But I wondered to read that Dr Rajkumar never smoked a cigar/cigarette or acted as drunkard in any of his movies (excepting a few in the initial days of his film career). In real life too, he was a non-smoker and non-alcoholic and maintained a very high standard of living, performing daily Yoga-Asanas. Attempts were made to wards a Kannad version of Devadas film. A producer approached the icon of Kannada cinema, superstar and cult figure, Rajkumar to play Devadas but he refused because scenes of smoking and drinking would go against his high-flying purist image in Karnataka.

I recall a poster which was affixed in my school containing the words of S.C.Bose: ”I want to see Pistol instead of cigarette in the hands of students” One more incident also zooming before my eyes: Before 45 years I was contesting for the General Secretary Post of the Students’ Union of my college. My senior P.L.Sharma, presently a public prosecutor, offered me a cigarette. When I refused then he wondered. How was it possible for a student leader not to smoke? Though few years after that I started to smoke and before 15 years stopped totally again.

Harivanshrai Bachchan, father of Big ’B’ wrote ‘Madhushala’. He belongs to ‘Jaiswal’ community, which leads the wine business in India. But Harivanshrai never touched the wine.


Tamils and Kannadigas!

I pained to know that the kidnapping of Rajkumar on July 30, 2000 was portrayed in the local media as “a war between Tamils and Kannadigas,” Why did not they come on the foreign origin issue on the same tone as saying “ a war between Italians and Indians,”


After Veerappan Now Madani

What was the role of Congress Government of Karnataka in the matter of Veerappan? Why Karnatak and TN Governments always surrendered in the past on the feet of a Sandal wood smuggler? Why there is silence on the recent unanimous Kerala Assembly resolution demanding release of the Coimbatore blast accused Madani from a Tamil Nadu jail?

Justice S.P. Bharucha who headed the three-judge bench of Supreme Court said: “The present state government should quit to make room for another which can tackle him [Veerappan]. What have you done for the last eight years? What protection have you given to the people? This was an incident waiting to happen. Now you say that you can't do anything. If you can't, then quit and make way for somebody else who can do it.”

The judge said it was “negligence” on the part of the Karnataka state government not to take steps to arrest the forest dacoit [bandit] and his colleagues, who have been accused of committing “heinous” offences. To release Veerappan's associates, he said, would be “compounding negligence upon negligence upon negligence” and “we will not be a party to this.” The ruling also blocks the Tamil Nadu state government from releasing five Tamil separatists held in the state's jails—another of Veerappan's demands.

Kannada matinee idol Rajkumar, held in captivity for over 100 days by Veerappan in the year 2000, termed as "good riddance of a cruel animal" the killing of the forest bandit. "A notorious person who held the nation to ransom over two decades has finally met his bloody end. His menace has ended. But that is not enough. It is only part elimination," Rajkumar opined.


Why Voilence and ‘Lathicharge’?

Rajkumar's death had created a void that was impossible to fill even not possible by spreading violence and making ‘lathi charge’.

Shihan Hussaini, who also describes himself as a sculptor and karate teacher, has painted 56 portraits of Jayalalitha in his blood. In southern states such incidents of devotion are not unusual, where many politicians and film stars enjoy die-hard followings. A man chopped off one of his fingers as an offering to Jayalalitha on her 55th birthday.
The Indian mind’s spontaneous tendency is that of bhakti, of worshipping ‘That’ which it feels is above him. While it is a wonderful trait which has brought innocence and a freshness to the Indian psyche, it has been taken advantage in modern times by politicians, Christian missionaries and intellectuals, Mother Teresa, Sonia Gandhi, Mulayam Sinh Yadav, Mayawati, Jayalalitha, Laloo, Dharmendra, while they may have been outstanding personalities in their own right, have all, consciously or unconsciously exploited this innocence, whereas they did not always deserved the status of Gods or semi-Gods given to them. India is a land of 33 crore gods and goddesses. No more please! Perhaps Rajkumar did not want to be worshipped.


Premendra Agrawal
Premendra_in@indiatimes.com
www.Commercialservices.in/