Work on Rajkumar’s memorial begins

Work on Rajkumar’s memorial begins

Special Correspondent

Government has sanctioned Rs. 11 crore for

the memorial

It will include a modern cinema complex

to screen the thespian’s films

— Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

In memory: Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and Parvathamma Rajmumar at the foundation ceremony of the Rajkumar memorial in Bangalore on Wednesday.

BANGALORE: Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has said that the Government will extend all assistance, including additional funds, to the Dr. Rajkumar Memorial being erected by the Dr. Rajkumar Pratishtana, a Government-sponsored body.

He was speaking after laying the foundation stone for the memorial on the premises of Sri Kanteerava Studios here on Wednesday.

The project was delayed for over a year owing to various reasons. However, those concerned have been instructed to complete it at the earliest as there would be no dearth of funds, he said.

Recalling the tragic events that shook the State for two days in the aftermath of the death of the Kannada thespian Dr. Rajkumar, Mr. Yeddyurappa said at that time as the Deputy Chief Minister, he had ignored official warnings and with party leader H.N. Ananth Kumar, had braved the violent situation and paid their last respects to the icon of Kannada culture.

It was “divine design” that as the Chief Minister, he has now laid the foundation stone for the late matinee idol at the same place he was laid to rest, he added.

He said that the Government had sanctioned Rs. 11 crore for the memorial and it would include a modern cinema complex, as suggested by Mr. Ananth Kumar for screening films of Dr. Rajkumar, exclusively, on a regular basis.

Mr. Ananth Kumar claimed that the former Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee had once said that “Dr. Rajkumar was a cultural asset of the country”. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani has dedicated a paragraph for explaining the cultural importance of Dr. Rajkumar in the Kannada version of his autobiography “Nanna Desha Nanna Jana”, he said.
Gokak movement

Terming the late hero of Kannada cinema as a “metaphor of Kannada culture”, the Pratishtana member Baragur Ramachandrappa said that Dr. Rajkumar was responsible for drawing urban and rural people of the State to the cinema halls.

The Gokak movement would not have realised its objective, but for the actor’s presence.

The memorial should be developed as an international standard study and research centre of Kannada cinema and theatre, he said. Overwhelmed by the public response to the memorial and love for her late husband, Parvathamma Rajkumar said: “I am alive to see this. I thank you all. I cannot speak,” and handed over the microphone to her second son Raghavendra Rajkumar.

The envisaged memorial will come up on 2.5 acres of land covering the samadhi of the late artiste.

It will include a gallery of Dr. Rajkumar’s pictures, a museum, a yoga hall, an open-air theatre, a park, a library and a lake.