‘Baale Bangara’, the documentary on the life and times of Bharathi Vishnuvardhan, has a significant portion on the veteran Kannada actor’s high-profile relationship with superstar Vishnuvardhan. The celebrity couple’s grand wedding was swarmed by thousands of people. The film shows how they overcame several hurdles at different stages of their marriage.
The sudden demise of Vishnuvardhan - a stalwart of 200 films across five languages - at 59 in 2009 signalled the end of a glorious chapter in Kannada cinema. It also changed Bharathi’s life, she said here at an interaction with actor Anu Prabhakar Mukherjee at screen 11 in Orion Mall on Monday.
“People might have treated me differently after his passing. I heard talks about people blaming me for his death. I stayed strong because I never expect anything from people. You will be disappointed if you do that,” she said, post the screening of the documentary on the fifth day of the 13th edition of the Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes). The festival has held a retrospective on Bharathi.
Reflecting on the tough phase, Bharathi had a tinge of disappointment with the response of the industry. “Not many from the industry asked about our family and enquired about our well-being after the (Vishnuvardhan) left us,” added the 71-year-old.
The documentary, directed by actor and Bharathi’s son-in-law Aniruddha Jatkar, has inspiring chapters on Bharathi’s rise to fame. It reflects on how mastering multiple languages helped Bharathi become a multilingual star. Aniruddha plans to release the two-and-a-half hours Kannada documentary on an OTT platform soon.
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