Gandhada Gudi re-releases today, Rajkumar fans excited

Bengaluru: On the occasion of thespian late Dr Rajkumar’s 96th birth anniversary, Gandhada Gudi (1973), one of the actor’s most iconic films, is set for a re-release from today. 

Gandhada Gudi (Sanctum of Sandalwood) follows an honest forest officer, Kumar (played by Rajkumar), who goes on a mission to save the forests from poachers and sandalwood smugglers. 

The film was shot in the Nagarahole and Bandipur forests. A popular shot from the film includes an elephant lifting Rajkumar with its trunk, featured in the song ‘Naavaaduva Nudiye Kananda Nudi’. 

Directed by Vijay, the film attained cult status and ran successfully in theatres for over 25 weeks.

While fans in Bengaluru and Mysuru are excited about the re-release of the film, many of them, on X,  expressed their disappointment about the film not coming to screens near them in the rest of Karnataka. 

Writer N Sandhyarani, an ardent fan of the actor, remembers travelling by train as a child from Bangarpet to Bengaluru to watch the movie when it was initially released in 1973. 

She says she is eager to watch the re-release of the film.

“I hope they have re-worked on it technically. Revisiting old movies is like attending a masterclass in all departments of movie-making. Although there were technological limitations, they overcame them with storytelling, acting, music, songs and with the right amount of emotions,” she adds. 

Gandhada Gudi 2, followed in 1994, is a sequel with Shivarajkumar taking on his father’s role of a forest officer.

“When you see the sequel, you can see the effects of deforestation. Though shot in the same forest, the trees are thinner, the springs are long dead,” Sandhyarani adds.

Harish Arasu, a public relations officer in the Kannada film industry says, “Gandhada Gudi brought awareness about our nativity, our environment and about the conservation of our forests. Films like Gandhada Gudi didn’t come back on the screen again. Only Rajkumar can make such a film.” 

Had a cultural and social impact

Rajkumar is considered Karnataka’s greatest actor. Not just as an actor, but Rajkumar had a cultural and social impact on Karnataka’s landscape as well. 

“When Rajkumar on screen addressed his onscreen mother as Amma, a section of people in Karnataka who used to call their mothers Avva or Akka, shifted to Amma,” actor Poornachandra Mysore recalls while talking about how an actor can influence the lives of people around him.

He adds: “This is a small example, but there are many stories like this about how he influenced the society and Karnataka’s culture. Apart from entertaining people, if an actor can truly create a difference in the lives of the people and his fans, that is what is called real achievement.”

Rajkumar’s influences have been vast. It is said that during the unification of Karnataka, one of the parameters considered was to pick districts where Rajkumar’s films ran in theatres.

Poornachandra says he admires Rajkumar for his versatility. “Be it as a bike racer or playing the shehnai in Sanadi Appanna, yoga in Kamanabillu, his Bond films… What a classic look. I have always felt that, had the Bond series continued, our industry would’ve reached a different level.”

Also an aspiring actor, Harish says he grew up watching Annavru (as Rajkumar is fondly called by his fans) and Vishnuvardhan’s films. He enjoyed watching Rajkumar’s Bond-style films, he says.

“He is an inspiration for all generations. For every aspiring actor, Annavru has been an influence,” he adds.