Tense situation forces Chief Minister to retreat from Kanteerava Studio… Violence toll rises to four… Firing in the air, tear gas shells used… Army told to be on alert.
These are the headlines on television as the police fight pitched battles with goons and vandals on the rampage.
As Raghavendra Rajkumar‘s plaintive pleas reach nobody, as family members wait for semblance of order, as a tonsured Leelavathi and Vinod Raj wait for a glimpse, surely it is not wrong to ask:
Who are the idiots who are doing this?
What are they angry about?
And why are they so intent on reducing us to buffoons in the eyes of the world?
Buffoons who cannot give the great a moment of peace and quiet on a return journey.
Buffoons who lack the very thing that their master and mentor had by the plenty: Decency.
churumuri 
I agree with Sunaad. In the end, it turned out to be a spectacle, not a mourning.
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No doubt there has been massive outpouring of people’s grief , its such a irony as we progress in all other aspects of like science, tech we regress in terms of our responses to anything related to social behaviour
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I agree with you. Is this the price one pays for being a public personality that your family is not even allowed to mourn in peace? And what happens to our image of a peace-loving city?
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It is only a few anti socials who created this ugly scene that portrayed the True Fan as a Buffoon. Rather than feeling let down by these, one should understand that whenever there is such a large gathering, THIS is bound to happen. You will have all kinds of people at all places. Image has got nothing to do with this.
News Channels (especially the big ones) showcased this in a very rude way. They could see only the Buses burning and why did they miss the grief of millions of people who came to see their annavru for the last time?
This must be certainly one of the biggest gatherings ever on a person’s death.
Such enigma was Dr. Raj.
Can you restrict GOD to his family alone?
Alli nerediddora preethi kaanlilvaa nimge? Yake bari dwesha hudukthiri?
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Being Raj fan myself, I understand what went through all those millions.But still how in the world can somebody can defend that lawlessness,that rowdy acts..one thing is sure they are not any fans of Raj,..they are some franatics there to create disturbance..
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It is quite easy for chief minister Kumaraswamy to shift the blame to others on the violence which marred Rajkumar’s funeral procession. It is like a reflex action: whenever there is violence, you immediately shift the blame to anti-social elements.
I was there near Rajkumar’s residence in Sadshivnagar when his body was taken back to his residence. As the crowds swelled, I could clearly see where the problem lay. The administration was treating the whole issue as if the fans were trying to buy a ticket for one of Rajkumar’s movies. It was clearly not a law & order problem but one which needed to be treated with sensitivity. Rajkumar was more than a public figure. The chief minister along with top police officials should have met the family members of Rajkumar and chalked out a strategy to counter possible violence. The administration’s move to take Rajkumar’s body from one place to another showed indecision. If a decision had been taken to shift his body to a certain place, it was necessary to have the route swarming with policemen. For a VIP visit, the cops get into an overdrive and stop the traffic miles away from the actual route the VIP convoy takes. In this case, cops merely went about swinging their lathis whoever came their way. Is it the way one controls the situation.
Once again, when it was decided that Rajkumar’s body would be buried at the Kanteerava studios, the entire route again should have been cordoned off by seeking the help of the army.
But we know now that the entire episode was made good use by those who wanted to make a statement to certain people in the film industry. I rest my case.
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Prakash, what a wonderful writing! Thank you so much for explaining this situation in such short and clear terms. I hadn’t cried like a baby (here in the USA, wish I was in Bangalore watching the TV) hearing Dr Rajkumar’s passing away – I hadn’t cried like that even when my uncle passed away. Only now I am understanding how deeply Raj had touched all of us. Certainly, I am not a fanatic follower – just a simple human being. My heart goes out to our Annavru.
But, we have to console ourselves and move on. Dr Rajkumar is immortal through his films, songs, and deeds. He will be an inspiration for all of us to do something worthwhile for others.
Thank you Prakash, once again.
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Why were Leelavati and Vinod Raj tonsured? Are they related to RK’s family?!
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