The platinum jubilee may have missed the attention of many. But, the city of Mysore, that has always had close association with the Kannada film industry, boasts of its own celluloid landmarks. The prominent among them is Chamundeshwari Talkies.

It is a matter of pride that Bangarada Manushya, the movie which elevated legendary actor Rajkumar to an iconic stature, ran for more than a year (62 weeks), during 1972-73, a record no other film could achieve. 

And the theatre which helped the thespian, who himself was synonymous with the Kannada tinsel town, be a part of this rare feat was Chamundeshwari Talkies, which also incidentally has the credit of screening some of his other films for over 100 days.

Movies ranging from the mythological to the social hits like Sampattige Saval, Kasturi Nivasa, Sathya Harishchandra, Mayura, Eradu Kanasu and a few others have completed 100 days in the theatre and mementos arranged in the showcase happily stand witness to the popularity enjoyed by one of the best actors that the Indian celluloid has ever seen.

Crammed theatre

Joint owner of the theatre B Boraiah went down the memory lane with Deccan Herald reminiscing that it was a Herculean task to control the awe-struck viewers who would just cram the theatre.

Till the last show of the last day theatre was brimming with euphoric people. Four rows in the theatre were reserved exclusively for womenfolk, he recalled. He pointed out that the management decided to reduce the number of shows from four to three so as to handle the mad rush.

The tickets were priced at one rupee for third class, Rs three for second class and Rs ten for balcony then.

Though the movie generated huge collections, he could not recall the actual figure of profit earned.

Women moved

According to him, the story, that goes down as one of the best among Rajkumar’s movies, was the forte of the film. It won myriad hearts with the emotional aspects, well-knit sequences and appealing narration, he stressed, also adding “Women were very much moved by Raj’s one of the best rated performances on the silver screen”.

“To celebrate the anniversary I threw a party in which Rajkumar and a host of actors had turned up on the occasion that was also marked by a grand procession in the city”, Boraiah said. Boraiah was also associated with the thespian since the Gubbi Veeranna Drama Company days.