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Daari Tappida Maga is still relevant today

Actor Jayamala talks about why Rajkumar-starrer film, re-releasing on November 22, is special for her
Last Updated 12 November 2019, 13:54 IST

I was only 13 when I joined the film industry. I dabbled with theatre and performed on several stages before taking the big leap. Our home was always filled with music and dance because my father, Omayya Gurupura, was a Yakshagana artiste. I was in class eight when I did my first film. I have acted in more than 73 films and began my career in 1973. That was considered the golden period of Indian cinema. There were some beautiful movies made in Kannada during that phase. ‘Daari Tappida Maga’, that is now being re-released in digitised form on November 22, did exceptionally well when it came out. It ran for more than 100 days and broke all the box office records. The actors in the film were Kalpana, Aarathi, Manjula and me. We also had K S Ashwath, M V Rajamma, Vajramuni and Thoogudeepa Srinivas playing supporting roles. Looking back, I realised that most of the actors and technicians who worked on this film are no more. The negatives of films like ‘Daari Tappida Maga’ and most of the films made in that era, must be preserved for posterity. The government must take enough measures to ensure that time and effort is used to procure the negatives and get them preserved in the required temperature. The era of black and white films will never return.If we don’t wake up now then we will never be able to retrieve films from that time. I am thrilled that ‘Daari Tappida Maga’ is coming back in a new avatar. The subject of the film is relevant even today. The film talks about why it is important to preserve family values. It throws the spotlight on one of the two sons who goes astray. He commits a crime and is jailed. In such a scenario, the family is in distress and the parents lose sight of what the future holds for them. The film also looks at the emotions of a mother and how maturely she handles the situation. What happens when one is consumed by greed and the repercussions of the same are shown in the film. Films made back in the day were free of any kind of vulgarity. Women took up very respectable roles. The lyrics, too, had a story in it. I vividly remember the time we spent with Dr Rajkumar on the sets of the film. He played a double role in ‘Daari Tappida Maga’ and handled both characters with exceptional ease and finesse. He was dedicated and committed to his craft and would involve himself in every step of the process of filmmaking.He believed that work is worship and that his fans were his strength. He taught us all that learning never ends. The characters, played by actors, tend to remain with the audience much after the film has come and gone.People relate the real person to those characters. Dr Rajkumar was one of those who always lived up to his image of an honest, straightforward and a trustworthy human being. And most of the roles that he played were aligned to these virtues.He never wore his success on his sleeve. There was much to learn from him about how he handled his popularity. I can’t wait for the film to release and hope to see many more films from that era being brought back to life. (As told to Nina C George)

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(Published 12 November 2019, 13:35 IST)

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