Rajkumar (
1929-), often referred to as Dr. Rajkumar or Dr. Raj because of an honorary degree, is the most popular actor in
India’s
Kannada language film industry. It is difficult, even in the celebrity obsessed West, to understand exactly how popular he is in
Karnataka, his native state in southern India. He is literally a living legend. In
1991, rumors spread that he had died, he had to appear on television to ease the building tensions. When the state government considered dropping the requirement that students learn the Kannada language in school, Rajkumar objected and the government quickly abandoned the proposal. Rajkumar could have easily channeled his immense popularity into a successful political career.
Rajkumar was a stage actor before he made the transition to the screen in
1954’s
Bedara Kannappa. He has appeared in over 300 films, everything from
Hindu mythological dramas to
James Bond like detective movies. One of his films,
Bangarada Manushya, stayed in release for
two years. He usually plays the dashing leading man, these days wearing a
toupee and fake moustache and – like Western actors such as
Sean Connery and
Michael Douglas – sharing the screen with actresses young enough to be his grandchildren. His wife Parvathamma is a film producer and they have three grown sons, Shivraj, Raghavendra, and Puneet, and two married daughters.
He made news around the world when he was kidnapped by the notorious bandit and
Robin Hood figure
Veerappan last year. Rajkumar and his wife were staying in his family’s home in his native village of
Gajanur. Rajkumar’s property is on the edge of the huge
Satyamangalam forest which straddles the border between Karnataka and
Tamil Nadu, a thick jungle which is the favorite hideout of the bandit. Veerappan had made kidnapping a cottage industry, and his captives were usually well cared for. The government could not charge into the forest, because it would have been unforgivable and unthinkable if Rajkumar had been harmed as a result, and Veerappan, an ethnic
Tamil nationalist, could not kill Rajkumar because tensions between the people of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu would have exploded.
This stalemate lasted 109 days until Rajkumar was delivered unharmed by helicopter to
Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka. All seemed to be well, but speculation is spreading that the kidnapping did not involve Tamil nationalism at all, but was instead a monetary dispute revolving around one of Rajkumar’s sons in the
granite business.