My Peaceful Dove,
What a shock you gave me in the Morning..!! In first shot I scolded you when you called me and told about Dr.Vishnuvardhan's Death. Its Unbelivable..Kannada's Great Sole which never anticipated anything from anyone.. Passed away. Sampath Kumar was born in September 18,1950 in Mysore.. He was like my another sole from my childhood. My Dad and Vishnuvardhan born in same year and my dad is a fan of him. There was one theater in my native which was closed a month back. I was watching movies with my Bakery Boys.. as my grandpa always scolds if he got to know I went to movie.. If it is of Vishnuvardhan's I was going with my dad once and after with Radatte- mava, our shop boys..like that. I saw 'Appaji','Karnataka
Suputhra','Nishabdha','Nishkarsha','Samrat','Janani janma Bhumi','Police Dada'movies not less then 3-4 times in theater. Everyone around me was fan for Vishnu in one or the other way. He was the star after Rajkumar accepted by every Kannada family. He was competitor to Raj Kumar. In old days scenario was not like now, One should be Raj's fan or Vishnu's. I was always with Vishnu fan group with a ring in left hand just like him. I was fond of writing poems and stories from my childhood days. I wrote not less then 3 to 4 stories for vishnu. It was a great combination of S.Narayan and Vishnu..and series of movies came and won the heart of audience.He was like a member of family of whole state.
Starting his acting career in "Vamshavraksha", Vishnu has stayed in the kannada film industry for more than 37 years.Vishnuvardhan had to prove himself when the time was completely dominated by Dr.Rajkumar. A born fighter, Vishnu accepted the challenge and became the 2nd most popular after Dr.Rajkumar. In 1972,Vishnuvardhan made his debut in Puttanna Kanagal's movie "Nagarahaavu". Raw and raring to go, Vishnu made everyone sit-up and notice his persuasive screen presence.Holding a king Cobra in his hand, walking along the hills of Chitradurga and singing the verses
"Haavina Dwesha Hanerdu Varusha,Nanna Rosha Nooru Varusha !! ", Vishnu won the hearts of kannadigas.He hit the bull's eye by bagging the best actor award for the state in his first movie.
He was a very rare combination of versatile actor and extremely nice human being. Not only he was warm, he also conveys that warmth across to the audience. This helps the audience develop empathy towards him. He has expressive eyes, which he can emote very well with. He was expressing more than words.Roaring as a lion in SahasaSimha to stammering Vijay in Suprabhatha,Vishnu has ascended the thrones of millions of his fans.Anger,laughter,making others laugh,easy delivery of dialogues,performing dangerous stunts are all second nature to Vishnu's blood.He made acting look easy.VishnuVardhan has also acted in other south indian languages and hindi.He has acted with super stars like Rajnikanth,Mammoty and Akshay Kumar.
I still remember When asked about his ambition in life before coming to movies he had said, "I always cherished the dream of working in a field which is full of thrills and adventure.I had also planned to join the army and loved to tour and visit places."
By God's grace or by Destiny, Vishnu was able to fulfill all his dreams in a single field.
No kannadiga can forget his acting in Veerappa Nayaka, Suryavamsha, Yajamana, Diggajaru, Kotigobba,Jamindarru,Simhadriya Simha, Sirivantha.. and and APTHAMITRA. How can I forget Matad matad mallige..which changed my whole thoughts about globalization.
Its nothing but the end of Golden Era.. This year 2009 took Vishnu at its end.. We hate you 2009.. It was not a time for Vishnu. Every one thought he will come to politics.. but the fate of Karnataka is too bad.. so that no famous and good personality of state will never enter politics.. I think its a great drawback for improvement of film industry. Just check out our neighbor states states like Andhra they built there Political Fort just by films. It never happened in Karnataka & in future too..by lack of icons. No one is there now to fulfill the place of you now.. There were two legends RAJ KUMAR & VISHNUVARDHAN in Kranataka. We lost both of them in the single Decade. There is Huge loss for kannadamma by Vishnu and C. Ashwath's passouts. Please Somebody Get up and lead Kannada film industry...Or else we will loose ourselves. One of my great childhood Dream to Direct one movie of Hrudayavanta Vishnuvardhan just remained as dream forever.
Mourning bye,
Surendra Nadig