Dr. Singanalluru Muthuraju (Known as Dr. Rajkumar, Annavru, etc in Karnataka) is very easily one of the most versatile and successful actors the world has ever seen. A few reasons which support this:
- His career spanned from 1954 to 2000, just short of half a century, which might seem normal to most people, considering the fact that there are many people who have had careers much bigger than that, but the awe-inspiring truth is that he acted in a lead role in every single one of his movies.
- He has acted in 208 movies, sometimes releasing ten movies in a calendar year during his peak years (the 50s and the 60s). Almost every single one of them have been declared a super-hit by Box Office. This is a rare achievement for not only an Indian Actor, an Actor in the world level as well.
- He has acted in innumerable genres of movies: Mythological, Social Drama, Spy, Romance, Philosophical, Thriller, among others. He has managed to put life into every role that he has portrayed.
- He is not only an actor, but also a very good playback singer. He has sung close to 300 songs for his movies, and for others’ movies as well. He has also won a National Award for Playback Singing for his beautiful “Naadamaya Ee Lokavella” from the movie Jeevana Chaitra. The evergreen song has impeccably been sung in Raga Thodi, a proof of the Carnatic Classical maverick that was Dr. Rajkumar.
- He followed a very austere lifestyle, and was very fit and ahead of his times. When heroes danced around with pot-bellies, Dr. Rajkumar impressed everybody with his Yoga Postures and a perfect body that a man of his age can have.
- In spite of his greatness, he was a very simple man with little ambition. His down-to earth nature fetched him millions of supporters who revered him as their “Annavru” (Elder Brother). He, in turn, called his fans “Abhimani Devarugalu” (Likening his fans to Gods). Dr. Rajkumar never ventured into politics, even though he knew that he could become the Chief Minister of Karnataka without having the slightest of problems. Such was his greatness, that his is the only autograph that Superstar Rajinikanth has ever asked for in his life.
- He was the first actor in India to get a Honorary Doctorate for Excellence in Acting. He was awarded the Doctorate by the University of Mysore. He is the only Kannadiga so far to win a Dadasaheb Phalke Award. He is also a recipient of the Padmabhushana Award, given by the Government of India.
- Even though more than a decade has passed after his death, he is worshipped like a God in Karnataka. He is an inspiration to every budding film artist there is in the Kannada Film Industry. His legacy can never be replaced.
