Everyone’s ‘Annavru’

It was a life well-lived. It was a life embellished with several achievements. Rajkumar, born 77 years ago in a tiny hamlet in Karnataka, was an actor of immense talent. From humble beginnings, he matured into an actor of great stature, on stage as well as the big screen.

A legend even when alive, the actor’s life was an open book. Rajkumar was actively involved in the Kannada film industry for a major part of the last century. Rajkumar will remain a guiding star to a generation of artistes.

It was in Gajanur near Chamarajanagar that Rajkumar was born. The day - April 24, the year 1929. His father was a noted theatre artiste - Singanallur Puttaswamaiah. His mother was Lakshmamma.
The actor was named Muthuraj as it was believed that he was born with the blessings of Muttathiraya. Muthuraj was rechristened as Rajkumar after he became an actor.
‘Anna’ was an epithet that millions of his fans chose for their hero.

Then came ‘Annavru’, affection mingled with respect. And that stuck. And Rajkumar reciprocated with the way he addressed his fans, ‘Abhimani Devarugalu’. An exalted position to his fans.
Rajkumar’s primary education was at the Government Primary School at Hirepura near Gajanur.
After completing his fourth standard, Rajkumar took to music lessons under the tutelage of his uncle Appaji Gowda.

At the same time, it was Puttaswamaiah’s dream that his son become an actor. It was as Balarama in the drama ‘Krishnaleela’ that Rajkumar made his debut on stage.

Rajkumar’s siblings, younger brother Varadappa, sister Sharadamma also donned roles in the play. A role in the movies was not too far away, and Rajkumar played one of the eleven saints in the film ‘Srinivasa Kalyana.’ And he was given remuneration of Rs 50. Incidentally, Rajkumar played the lead role in the colour film ‘Srinivasa Kalyana’.

Rajkumar acted in several plays from ‘Bhakta Ambareesha’ to ‘Bhu Kailasa’ and ‘Jagajyothi Basaveshwara.’ The actor’s father dreamt that his son make it big in the movies. But, that was not to be, for he soon passed away. Rajkumar was seen reminiscing about that several times during his career.

It was on June 25, 1953, that Rajkumar married his uncle’s daughter Parvathamma. It was a partnership that grew from strength to strength during his long career. ‘Bedarakannappa’ (1953) was Rajkumar’s first film as a lead actor. He followed it up with ‘Haribhakta’, ‘Ohileshwara’, ‘Mahishasura Mardhini’, ‘Abba Aa Hudugi’ and other films.

The actor completed a 100 films after 14 years of acting. It was ‘Bhagyada Bagilu’ which was his 100th film. ‘Gandhada Gudi’ was the 150th.

A record, It was a record of sorts when Rajkumar- starrer ‘Bangarada Manushya’ was screened for 104 consecutive weeks in the States movie hall in Bangalore.

Rajkumar acted in over 20 mythological films, including ‘Bhu Kailasa’, ‘Srikrishna Garudi’, ‘Dashavathara’, ‘Satya Harishchandra’, ‘Mahasathi Anasuya’, ‘Sathi Savithri’, ‘Mohini Bhasmasura’, ‘Srikannika Parameshwari Kathe’, ‘Parvathi Kalyana’, ‘Gange Gowri’, ‘Mahasathi Arundhati’, ‘Srikrishna Rukmini’, ‘Satyabhama’, ‘Babruvahana’ and ‘Bhakta Prahlada.’

Out of the notable historical films that Rajkumar acted in are ‘Jagajyothi Basaveshwara’, ‘Ranadheera Kanteerava,’ ‘Kittur Chennamma,’ ‘Sarvagnamurthy,’ ‘Srikrishnadevaraya,’ ‘Mayura,’ ‘Huliya Halina Mevu’ and ‘Immadi Pulikeshi.’

And to add to the sheer variety of roles, he also played James Bond-like characters in some films.

The other roles that won him adulation were in devotional films like ‘Bedara Kannappa,’ ‘Haribhakta,’ ‘Ohileshwara,’ ‘Bhakta Kanakadasa,’ ‘Santh Tukaram,’ ‘Navakoti Narayana,’ ‘Manthralaya Mahatme’ and ‘Bhakta Kumbara.’

The Malleswaram 'Hudugi'

HI ALL,

Just to scrap something about this GIRL And I can’t stop thinking about the early months of my relationship with this singer, months and days that were hectic and raw and so full of hope and panic that every day seemed like it would collapse in on itself. I love that almost five years into my relationship with her music, and an extra cover up in Citizen, a Tamil Movie with Ajith. She is Just an amazing Lady having wonderful Voice. I can hear a few notes and feel what it was like between us. And that is what this whole rambling entry was for, to say I am so happy I have brought music back into my life of this Beautifull Ladyz voice. She is just amazing, her voice makes u so energetic “The Malleshwaram Hudugi” thanks to Amritamati. S

Vasundhara Das is a Malleswaram girl. Her grandmother on her father's side used to sing Karnatak music. For those not familiar with Bangalore, Malleswaram is an old locality, like Basavangudi, where some of the city's most distinguished people live.

The Kannada writer G P Rajarathnam and Veena Doreswamy Iyengar were famous Malleswaram residents, and Vasundhara like them is an Iyengar. This is one of those localities that still loves to shop at old-fashioned flower and fruit markets, although big departmental stores have in recent years set up their businesses in re modeled buildings.

Malleswaram gets its name from the Kadu Malleswara temple, an ancient Shiva shrine whose beautiful granite tank was unearthed five or six years ago. It is also a locality that loves traditional music. Malleswaram Sangeeta Sabha and Ananya conduct classical music concerts regularly.

Vasundhara is a new generation Malleswaram-ite, singing pop and rock, and perhaps more comfortable in the "hip-hep-hyped" parts of Bangalore than in old Bangalore. She was a star performer at Channel V's road show on 2 March. But her links with the old Bangalore remain: she has been a student of Pandit Parameshwar Hegde (a student of Pandit Basavaraj Rajguru), incidentally also a Malleswaram resident.

In a chat with The Music Magazine, from which we have transcribed the earlier narrative, she said her present acting and singing assignments don't allow her the time to catch up with her classical music lessons. Although she would like to sing Hindustani music professionally, she feels she hasn't had enough practice to do it. The really touching part was when she spoke about her desire to remain with music even after all the glamour stuff was done. She described A R Rahman as "an intelligent man", and recalled the experience of recording the Mudhalvan song Shakalaka baby. Once that song became a hit, she was called for several Tamil recordings, and one producer gave her songs she found utterly distasteful. She firmly refused to sing them and flew back.

Vasundhara's father is into various businesses, including real estate, and works from home. Her mother works at the Indian Institute of Science, which is close by. They live in an old-fashioned house (one of the that few that hasn't been demolished to make way for an apartment block) on a main road.

Books - That changed My Life

A word can change The Supreme's Concious Life...

Lately I’ve really gotten into historical fiction. I feel like that’s a great way to learn about the past in a less boring way than reading a history text book. I recently read Lord of the Congo by Peter Forbath. That was a well-written, very interesting book about Central African history. I also finally got around to reading The DaVinci Code. I resisted reading it for a long time, because of all of the hype about it. However, it definitely lives up to all of the hype. I liked the way it wrapped all together. It didn’t leave any holes unplugged. At the end you wonder if this is really true, or maybe it is completely fictional, you just don’t know. The Making of a Champion by William Nack An excellent biography. An American Girl in Hitler's Germany. One of Garner's haunting childhood memories is the sound of knocking coming from the rubble of newly bombed buildings in Berlin, where she and her family spent the war years. She feared the sound was from doomed victims signaling for help, which could not get to them in time. In this stunning memoir, Garner tells the survival story of civilians in Hitler's Germany, The century for Young People, This Land Was Made For You and Me. A memorable biography of a talented artist and understated proponent of social change.

Good Karma - The Blood

For the first time ever, I donated blood In my life thats In the month of March. The process was surprisingly painful. In order to combat my apparantly sluggish blood flow, the nurse kept adjusting the angle of the fairly large needle. So it felt like she was stabbing the sides of my vein. And just before I went, some blood-giving vet just ahead of me had a seizure, right in front of me. Needless to say, I was slightly more nervous after that. But I have to say, I felt lighter when I was done. Maybe because of the lost blood. Anyway, planning to do it again in June or July.

Keep looking until you find it... Don't settle

Steve Jobs,

CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered an inspiring talkon June 12, 2005 to the Stanford graduates. His talk was in three parts.Here we have the second part of that talk where he talks about love and loss.

I was lucky - I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple inmy parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple hadgrown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees.We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30.And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grewwe hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first yearor so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out.What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me - I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar,and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world's first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successfulanimation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retunedto Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it.

Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.

So keep looking until you find it.......... Don't settle.

My Greatest Setbacks Or Disappointments

I have been very fortunate in that I have not experienced any major setbacks. After I graduated from college I worked for a year before going on to specialisation school. During that time I had a lot of difficulty coming to grips with the real world and reality. That was a big struggle for me because I had so many idealistic perspectives about how the world was going to be and what I would be doing. And then I got out there. I had a lot of people try to warn me, like my parents and my sisters, but until I got out there myself I didn’t realise how you have to balance reality with your dreams. It was kind of tough.

For example, I had an idealistic view of being able to make changes in the corporate environment I was working in. When you’re in college, there is so much more support for students to be active, take the initiative and to make changes in student organisations (not really in the administration). But in the corporate world there is so much bureaucracy and so many layers you have to go through. It was very disheartening. It is still upsetting to me now, but I realise that this is what I have to work with and changes can still be made.

I’m so glad I had a year’s experience before going back to multimedia school because I would have had no idea what it is really like in the world of work. That one year taught me a lot. When I interview creative people that have gone straight from creation to visuals, I’m always amazed that they know, or think they know, what they want without ever sampling the real world. I was able to use that one year of experience to adequately prepare myself for life after graduation. I wouldn’t have known what I wanted if I hadn’t had a taste of the real world.

Astonishing Facts About the Silicon Valley of india - Bangalore

Bangalore was a name coined by Britishers for the conventional name BENDA KAALUURO (meaning "cooked peas").

Recently it is popularly accepted as Bangy or B'LORE.

Bangalore has highest number of pubs in India. Bangalore has the highest number of breweries in the world.

Bangalore was the first city in India to receive Electricity.

Bangalore has only 42% of local population (i.e. Kannadigas). Hence a true cosmopolitan with around 20% Tamilians, 13% Telugites, 10% Keralites, 8% European-origin, 7% from other parts of India.

Bangalore is the only city in the world to have Commercial and Defence Airport operating in same locality.

Bangalore has the impeccable record of highest growth within a span of 20 years [as of Jan 2006]

Bangalore has the highest number of 2-wheelers in the world.

Bangalore has the highest density of traffic in the world.

Bangalore is considered the fashion capital of the East comparable to Paris.

Bangalore has produced the maximum number of scientists considered for Nobel Prize nominations (from India).

Bangalore has the richest people in India. The line of poverty is the least Compared to all other cities of India.

Bangalore has 21 engineering colleges within the City Limits, which is highest in the world in a given city.

Bangalore has the highest number of software professionals in the world taking the first place from Osaka, Japan.

Bangalore has the highest number of software companies in India, followed by Hyderabad, Chennai & Pune. Hence called the Silicon Valley of India.

My mom!!!

She was an incredible influence. She taught us to be proud of our culture and heritage. Growing up not only as an ethnic minority, but also a religious minority required a great deal of strength in a small southern City of India!

My mom was a stay at home mom, but she always encouraged my sisters and me to get an excellent education and have a career. She taught us to be independent and to stand on our own feet. She also impressed upon us that being a mother was the most important job that we’d ever have, but if the need ever arises, we should be prepared to stand on our own.

My mom and I were very close when I was growing up. She didn’t like that I choose defense as a career – she wanted me to be a engineer like my father and my sister and everyone else they knew that. That’s all she knew. I entertained the idea of becoming a doctor for a short while, but I knew that wasn’t what I wanted to do. So it took her and my dad a while to warm up to the idea. But now, they like having family members in different professions! They found that Visual arts wasn’t really all that bad, and now they are very happy about my decision (specially My sister)