By the time Amitabh Bachchan made his film debut in 1969 with 'Saat Hindustani', Rajkumar had already acted in over 100 films.
Published Jun 15, 2025 | 1:00 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 15, 2025 | 1:00 PM
Dr. Rajkumar’s legacy was not built on borrowed content. He was a trained theatre actor, deeply rooted in Kannada literature, mythology, and philosophy. (Wikimedia)
Synopsis: Ram Gopal Varma is wrong: Rajkumar was not just popular; he was a cultural institution in Karnataka and already a leading figure in South Indian cinema. To suggest he rode to fame on the back of Bollywood is not just false — it’s laughable.
When Ram Gopal Varma, during a recent episode of The Filmy Hustle on India TV, claimed that South Indian actors became stars by remaking Amitabh Bachchan’s films — and implied that Dr Rajkumar rose to fame this way — he didn’t just get the facts wrong. He exposed his ignorance about Indian cinema beyond Bollywood’s borders.
Let’s make one thing clear: Dr. Rajkumar never acted in a single remake of an Amitabh Bachchan film. Amitabh Bachchan starred in the Hindi remake of a Kannada film originally led by Dr. Rajkumar. That’s not an opinion — that’s a historical record.
By the time Amitabh Bachchan made his film debut in 1969 with Saat Hindustani, Rajkumar had already acted in over 100 films. He had started his career in 1954 with the classic Bedara Kannappa. He had gone on to deliver monumental works like Ranadheera Kanteerava, Bhakta Kanakadasa, Nanda Deepa, Jedara Bale (the first spy thriller in South Indian cinema), and Satya Harishchandra.
Rajkumar was not just popular; he was a cultural institution in Karnataka and already a leading figure in South Indian cinema. To suggest he rode to fame on the back of Bollywood is not just false — it’s laughable.
Film historian and author of the National Award-winning book Sinimayana, Dr. K. Puttaswamy, states: “There is no instance of Dr. Rajkumar acting in a remake originally done by Amitabh Bachchan. Raj was already hugely popular by the 1970s in Karnataka and South India. Yes, he acted in one film, Apoorva Sangama, which was a remake of Johny Mera Naam — originally a Dev Anand film. In his career, Raj acted in very few remakes, most of them from the South itself.”
He goes on to clarify another important point: “Amitabh Bachchan got one of his first major breaks in Bombay to Goa (1972), a remake of the Tamil film Madras to Pondicherry (1966). So if anything, Bachchan gained early fame by acting in a South Indian remake, not the other way around.”
The truth is, many of Rajkumar’s Kannada originals were remade into Hindi, not the other way round. Shankar Guru was remade as Mahaan, Anuraga Aralithu became Laadla, Thayige Thakka Maga was remade as Main Inteqam Loonga, and Gandhada Gudi was reimagined as Kartavya.
If RGV had taken a moment to check the facts — maybe even asked Grok, his favorite AI assistant — he would have known this fact.
Dr. Rajkumar’s legacy was not built on borrowed content. He was a trained theatre actor, deeply rooted in Kannada literature, mythology, and philosophy. His choice of roles wasn’t based on market trends or Bollywood imitations — they reflected depth, diversity, and cultural richness.
He portrayed a vast array of characters: kings, sages, revolutionaries, poets, detectives, even a Kannada Bond. He had the rare ability to express the full range of traditional emotions — the nine ‘rasas’ — with sincerity and conviction, something very few actors in India have mastered.
His range was not limited by genre or commercial expectations. He brought life to mythological epics, family dramas, comedies, action thrillers, and philosophical tales, always staying true to his roots and audience.
So, for RGV, a director from the South himself, to not know this history, or worse, to willfully ignore it, is both disappointing and arrogant. His comment, made on national television next to Anurag Kashyap, wasn’t just uninformed; it was insulting to the legacy of a man who represented the very soul of Kannada cinema.
Dr. Rajkumar didn’t need Bollywood’s endorsement to become a legend. He never even acted outside Kannada films — yet he remains one of India’s most respected actors. His superstardom was earned long before Hindi cinema took notice of the South, and his work continues to inspire generations.
To imply otherwise is not just a distortion of history. It’s a disservice to Indian cinema itself. Mr. Varma, next time, don’t shoot from the hip. Do your homework.
(Views are personal. Edited by Majnu Babu).
