Singanalluru Puttaswamaiah Muthuraj, aka, Dr Rajkumar was the heartbeat of the Kannada film industry. He ruled the silver screens with his charming personality and stellar acting prowess with such dedication that to date people revere him. He is a cultural icon whose immense contributions to the cinema gained him a matinee idol status. The Kannada actor was one of the superstars not just for his acting, but also for his thoughtfulness. Did you know that the actor used to smoke three cigarettes a day?
Dr Rajkumar studied only up to 3rd standard before he decided to drop out of school. He wanted to follow his father in his footsteps by travelling around and performing in different villages. He made his acting debut with Bedara Kannappa in 1954. Throughout his illustrative career, he has delivered many hits like Bangarada Manushya, Nanna Thamma, Kasturi Nivasa, Sampathige Saval and Immadi Pulakesi to name a few. He has portrayed the roles of rugged heroes defeating villains, but he never smoked on-screen or played the role of a drunkard.
Prolific singer and exceptional actor, Dr Rajkumar used to smoke three cigarettes every day discreetly. Ganapathy, a senior journalist, shared an anecdote that once when nobody was on the set, the actor smoked a cigarette. The light boy saw the actor enjoying a cigarette. Noticing this, the Satya Harishchandra actor felt sad. He knew that everyone looked up to him as an ideal person and reportedly, he thought what message is he giving out if he smokes a cigarette? From then onwards, he never smoked again.
The actor was last seen in the film Shabdavedhi which was released in 2000. It was directed by S Narayan and backed by Sri Bhargavi Arts Combines. The film was based on a novel of the same name and featured Dr Rajkumar, Jaya Prada, KS Ashwath, Sowcar Janaki and Umashree. The film opened to mixed reviews from critics and ultimately became a commercially successful film at the box office.
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