Razing of Vishnuvardhan ‘memorial’ in Bengaluru sparks widespread outrage

Bengaluru: The razing of a structure erected in memory of Kannada actor Vishnuvardhan has triggered outrage among his fans and fellow actors.

The structure, on the lawns of Abhiman Studio on the outskirts of Bengaluru, came up after the iconic actor was cremated at the spot on December 30, 2009.

The property had been under dispute in a court. The memorial was removed in the dead of the night, fans claimed.

Actor Kiccha Sudeep on Saturday posted text and video messages, expressing disappointment over the development, and describing the hush-hush removal of the structure as ‘an act of cowardice’.

“We can shed tears for 10 minutes, but we should start thinking about what to do from the 11th minute,” he said in the video, hinting at the creation of an alternative memorial with a statue of the actor.

It is still not clear who razed the memorial, but Veerakaputra Srinivas, who heads the Vishnuvardhan Fans’ Association, said those who had staked a claim to the property had been planning to build a mall there.

“If the government cannot give just 10 guntas of land in memory of such an actor, we are ashamed,” he said in a Facebook post.

Abhiman Studio, in Kengeri, was the dream project of Kannada comedian T N Balakrishna, who built it against difficult odds.

Aniruddha Jatkar, Vishnuvardhan’s son-in-law, told reporters on Saturday that the actor had been cremated at the spot at the insistence of former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda.

The latter had said that an actor of Vishnuvardhan’s stature ought to be honoured with a suitable memorial.

The government eventually allotted another site in Mysuru for a memorial, but the informal memorial in Bengaluru remained, with fans demanding that it be retained since Vishnuvardhan had been cremated there.

Jatkar said that those who had damaged the memorial should be punished. 

“Legally, the land might belong to someone, but there is an emotional bonding that every Kannadiga shares with that special place. This has hurt all our feelings,” he said.

He said thousands of fans would visit the memorial almost every day, and hence, they had not expected that a day would come when the structure would be removed without a trace.

However, he said, the new memorial constructed at Mysuru was one of a kind. “We are trying to get the central government to establish a film and television training institute there. If that’s done, it would be one of the best tributes,” he said.

Vishnuvardhan was the screen name of Sampath Kumar (1950-2009). He acted in about 220 films, mostly in Kannada, and was one of Indian cinema’s most bankable stars. He emerged as a rebellious hero with ‘Nagarahaavu’ (1972), directed by the legendary Puttanna Kanagal, and delivered several blockbuster hits in the decades that
followed.