On December 26, a bust of the late Kannada actor Vishnuvardhan was found vandalised near Magadi Road in Bengaluru. The late actor’s son-in-law, actor Aniruddha Jatkar, had requested the police to initiate action against the miscreants to avoid any similar incidents. Actors Sudeep, Darshan and Sathish Ninasam, among several others, demanded punishment for those who vandalised the statue.
On Monday, Aniruddha Jatkar along with Sowmyanatha Swamiji laid the foundation stone for a new statue of Vishnuvardhan 15 metres from where the bust had stood. Aniruddha was quoted by TOI as saying, “A new bronze life-size statue of Dr Vishnuvardhan will come up at a location close to where the bust was vandalised. Minister V Somanna granted permission for the installation of the new statue. He has also promised that the perpetrators of the act of vandalism will be caught at the earliest.”
It may be recalled that recently, Telugu actor Vijaya Rangaraju had spoken ill about Vishnuvardhan in an interview, which did not go down well with both the Kannada film industry as well as fans. Dr Vishnu Sena Samiti, a group of people who uphold the memory of the late actor, filed a complaint against Vijaya Rangaraju. Kannada stars such as Yash and Sudeep also demanded an apology from the actor. Consequently, Vijaya Rangaraju apologised for his remarks through a video.
Vishnuvardhan, one of the biggest stars of the Kannada film industry, made his acting debut with Vamshavruksha in 1972 and went on to star in several films in Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil as well. He won the Karnataka State Film Awards in the Best Actor category eight times, for his roles in Naagarahaavu, Hombisilu, Bandhana, Lion, Jagapathi Rao, Laali, Veerappa Nayaka and Aaptha Rakshaka. He was also honoured with the Dr Rajkumar Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007-08.
Vishnuvardhan succumbed to a heart attack on December 30, 2009. He is still regarded as an icon of the Kannada film industry. The state government has named some parks and roads after him, including a 14.3 km-long road connecting Bengaluru’s Banashankari Temple and Kengeri, making it the longest road in Asia to be named after a celebrity.
In 2016, director Kodi Ramakrishna recreated Vishnuvardhan’s 1972 classic Naagarahaavu using modern graphics. The recreation was produced by Sajid Qureshi, Sohail Ansari and Dhaval Gada under the banners Inbox Pictures Pvt Ltd, Blockbuster Studios and Pen Movies.
(Content provided by Digital Native)