Dr. Rajkumar, also known Annavuru, meaning Big Brother or Bhai in local lingo, is a thespian of Kannada filmdom. That’s only half the story. In reality he happens to be Bal Thackeray of Bangalore. When Annavuru sneezes Bangalore catches cold. Not because of love or adulation. But the waves of terror his goons unleash periodically in beantown.
Ageless Entertainer
To an extent, I agree. It’s really amusing to watch him act. More so, to watch this 80-90 year old actor dancing around trees with actresses young enough to be his great grand-daughters. Despite all awards he has won through political connections, he remains an below-average actor.
I never miss a re-run of his movies whenever, Bangalore DD or other, Kannada channels air them around November (month Karnataka was created). It’s so much fun. He doesn’t speak, but keeps bellowing at the top of his voice. Most of it rabble-rousing Kannada chauvinistic statements about outsiders stealing jobs from locals, antiquity and greatness of Kannada people over all the other cultures in the world, projecting himself to be the savior of all Kannadigas (sic). He never looks at his co-actors on screen. He always faces the audience while delivering these speeches ( he was a drama artist). Mostly these speeches have nothing to do with the story of the movie, but delivered for the benefit of his ardent fans - the most courteous and utmost civilized Bengaluru Rickshaw drivers. And he makes more faces than Jim Carrey! Watch him flare his nostrils, roll his eyes, raise his fake moustache, and all but drool rabidly - to scare away the evil immigrants from his beloved homeland.
Watch out for the songs in his movies. They are the best part! In one movie, he is a Police inspector or a Train inspector, who goes to Hubli to catch a small-time thief. So what does our brilliant Annavuru do to catch the culprit? Simple. Gets dressed like a gypsy chieftain and dances on the streets there about Kannada glory with tableaux of ancient kings, sages and scholars following him. As the hero, Kris, says in American Desi - ’I’ve seen por-no films with a better storyline than this’. With so much fun involved, No wonder - he’s crippled (now), yet his fans want to see him dance.
I can understand the front-benchers, the so-called Gandhi-class, going ga ga over items like Koena Mitra or that hot Reddy babe. But what explains a 90-year old man eliciting more whistles and cat-calls than all these babes put together together. It would have been pardonable, as misplaced sexual preference, if it was a hunk like John Abraham or even Bobby Darling. But for a nonagenarian dancing in a garish outfit! Can some people be, really, so desperate? I’m too scared to travel alone in autos.
Annavuru - Bhai of Bangalore
Though he projects himself as a paragon of virtue, most of his followers are anti-social elements and historysheeters. Unlike Shiva-Sena they haven’t formed a political party or a single umbrella organization; though there’s always talk of forming one. They operate under the names of various Abhimani Sangha (fan club) or Kannada Sanghas. Annavuru and Co. keep unleashing these stormtroopers over the city whenever convenient. By not having formed his own party and the influence over a considerable chunk of local population, he calls the shots in Karnataka’s political scene subjecting the incumbent governments to pressure-tactics and blackmail.
He reaps the benefits without getting tainted by the failure of the governments in power. It’s rumored that he, with his cohorts, has grabbed considerable land in and around Bangalore. One of his sons was caught smuggling Sandalwood but was let-off without as much as a whimper! His fans force the theater-owners to run his movies for 300-400 days, even if they are running to empty theatres, after even the hardcorest fans have had their fill. There have been occassions where his fans forcibly stopped the screening of other actors successful films, so that the Rajkumar dynasty can perpetuate their iron-fisted reign over Kannada film-industry, without competition. It’s because of his pressuring that Karnataka government collects extravagant entertainment tax from non-Kannada movies, while Kannada movies run 100% tax free! And the tax thus collected gets gifted to Kannada moviemakers as subsidy.
His involvement with Kannada movement started when he lent his charisma to the movement to turn Kannada language compulsory subject in all schools. He has also been raising issues like job reservations for locals, making Kannada the language of government correspondence, and similar regressive measures. He’s also had his hands in Cauvery riots when thousands of Tamils were forced to flee Bangalore and Karnataka by his henchman. There was retaliation in TamilNadu against people of Karnataka. He wasn’t arrested, despite being personally responsible for much loss of lives and poverty.
When he was abducted by Veerappan sometimes back. His goons turned Bangalore into a battlezone. No buses and autos plying, cars stoned by shabbily-dressed goondas, they didn’t even spare the glass windows of the IT companies which have put Bangalore on world map! (what’s the connection!) Forget about arresting these the rioters, or dispersing them : there were no cops anywhere on the streets. Mob was given a free run for several days before the situation was brought under control. Government bribed Veerappan to release the hallowed hostage, the money collected from fake-stamp-paper king Telgi (there’s a case in court). Bangalore including MNCs breathed a sigh of relief when he got released. Those darkdays will remain a blot on Bangalore’s history forever. Even the foreign executives were sporting Rajkumar’s mug on their imported cars those days, lest they get stoned by some loony! Such is Annavuru’s international infamy.
After his release his immediate gift to Bangaloreans was banning the entry of new non-Kannada films into Bangalore for two months. Imagine watching a Bollywood or Hollywood movie in the theatre after the whole world has watched it months back! We were once again turned into a laughing stock. Several theaters that flouted the rule were made to fall-in line through muscle power. It was only after the government agreed to all his demands that a compromise was made.
Even on a personal level he isn’t such a rolemodel. He keeps harping on Kannada culture and Karnataka. But the hypocrite hasn’t opened a single school, hospital or any such useful amenities - not even a toilet - for the sake of Kannadigas he so lavishly praises as ’My gods’. For all the glib-talk of culture, he’s unlettered. A primary school drop-out. The doctorate is a honorary one, which he has unabashedly prefixed to his name. He has also unscrupulously used muscle power to further the film careers of his 3-4 sons by crushing upcoming actors, whenever he could. It’s funny to see his sons movies celebrating 100 days, when they look no better than clapping boys.
BungleLoor Annav-URU
On this august occasion of Karnataka government deciding to rename Bangalore, I wanted to write a review on this great man who fanned the flames of chauvinism which has resulted in the death of Bangalore and cosmopolitan outlook. Unfortunately I couldn’t find this great man featured anywhere. So I requested Mouthshut to add him and , thankfully, they obliged. I am deeply indebted to the MS team for giving me an opportunity to unmask this fraud.
Jai BungleLoo, Jai Anna-URU