April 24th. What bells does that date ring in your head? You think of Sachin’s b’day? Move on from Sachin, I’m talking about the phenomenal, Dr. Raj Kumar. He would have been 80 yesterday.
Talk about Raj Kumar to some of your elders. Not one would ever stop praising about this legend. At my home at least, I hear the movies in which all of them sat together and cried at some point of time in the movie at his plight, his movies they went to see in the ‘tents’ evading their strict parents, the effort that they took to amass the money for the tickets. The story goes on...
Every time the topic arises, the amount of respect for this idol goes on increasing. When you hear not some, but all of them sharing the same standpoint, you can’t even think of questioning the amount of regard they have on him. And why not? After hearing so much and watching so many of his movies, there isn’t a shred of exaggeration if I say he’s the best in the business, the country has ever witnessed. The sheer screen presence, the roles he has donned, the social message his movies give out, the songs, impeccable acting skills, the storyline in his movies... I can keep going.
It’s been 3 years since he passed away. And probably 3 years, since I’ve become his ardent fan. Till then, I guess I was pretty dumb. But then on, I’ve watched lots and lots of his movies. And believe me, the enjoyment in sitting together and watching the older movies is what I would pick if I had to choose between the newer and the older ones. The cliché the every preceding generation says– in our times, the movies were good and conveyed a decent message to the society, seems so obviously true. There was a time when movies like “Bangarada Manushya”, which is much more than a gem of a movie ran for 2 years. Nowadays, the only movies that gather good amount of currency and manage to stay in theatres are the ones which portray violence or some sleazy crap. His movies were so very close to reality. You could readily associate yourself into some character in the movie. And all these good stuff didn’t end with a couple of his movies. Of the 209 movies he acted, I can safely bet anyone could easily end up liking more than three quarters.
Being an extended holiday till Monday, I was thrilled that I would get to watch a lot of his movies that TV channels would air as a tribute – only to be disappointed. Only Chandana aired “Bhakta Kumbara” that day. The coloured version of “Satya Harishchandra” was today. A couple of movies I watched were “Aakasmika” and “Sanadi Appanna” – a movie I’ve watched the most number of times. Talking about Sanadi Appanna, the great Shehnai player, Bismilla Khan who contributed to the movie’s soundtrack, was deeply moved by Raj Kumar’s acting and commented that he felt Raj Kumar himself was playing the Shehnai in the movie. This was just an instance of how his acting was so close to real life. My salutes to a great man – personally and on screen.
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