This page relates to the Kannada actor, Dr. Rajkumar; for other usages of the name see Raj Kumar.

Dr. Rajkumar (Real name: Mutturaju Singanalluru Puttaswamayya) (born April 24, 1929 in Gajanur, Tamil Nadu, India) is a living legend and is the one of the greatest actors Indian cinema has ever produced. "Dr.Raj" or "Annavru" (big brother) to millions of his fans is sometimes called the John Wayne of South Indian cinema. He has acted in more than 200 movies over 45 years in Kannada. Some of his popular films include Bangaaradha Manushya (The Golden Man), Kasturi Nivasa, Gandhadha Gudi (The Temple of Sandalwood) and Jeevana Chaitra. He is also a well-known singer.

Rajkumar has received numerous state, national and international awards. He has received an honorary doctorate from Mysore University. He has won 10 film fare awards for the best actor category which happens to be the second highest in the history of Indian films. He has won 9 state awards in the best actor category. He has also won a National award

Dr Rajkumar has been a role model to millions of Kannadigas. He has never smoked a cigar/cigarette or acted as drunkard in any of his movies (excepting a few in the initial days of his film career). In real life too, he has been a non-smoker and non-alcoholic and maintains a very high standard of living, performing daily yogaAsanas and having a strict diet. Though he had numerous chances to try his hands in Indian politics vowing to his mass following, he shied away from active politics instead focussing his energies in art and cinemas.

Films

Dr. Rajkumar has a large fanfare following him through out the world. His most memorable films include Bedara Kannapa, Bangarada Manushya, Kastoori Nivasa, Kula Gowrava, Gandhada Gudi, Sampahige Sawal, Shankar Guru, Babruvahana, Bhakta Prahalada, Halu Jenu, Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma, Jeevana Chaitra, Akasmika are many others.

Dr. Rajkumar is also arguably one of the most versatile actor in the

Singer

Dr. Rajkumar is also a famous singer. His singing career started with the song 'yaare koogadali' in the hugely popular movie 'Sampathige Savaal'. Later he went on to sing for most of his movies and for many private albums which were mainly devotional albums. His devotional and classical-based songs have a touch of class. His song rendition was as versatile as his acting and would range from pure-classical to disco and fast-numbers to pathos.

Although his singing was greatly appreciated, his fans of the days of black-and-white movies in 1960s/1970s, swear by the fact that his true identity was P.B. Srinivas, who used to sing playback in most of Dr.Raj movies, until Rajkumar himself started to sing. P.B. Srinivas continued to sing for him in many of the movies in which he starred in double/triple roles.

In recent years, Rajkumar sang for few of the other actors and many background solos. One such song which holds a unique distinction was for the movie ‘Muddina Maava’ where in he has given playback to another legendary singer S.P.Balasubramaniyam, who had acted in the movie. This is probably a rare occasion where an actor sings for a singer, which is probably unmatched in the world of cinema.he has song many devotional songs on Hanuman and Sri Raghavendra Swamiji

Family

Dr. Rajkumar is married to film producer Parvathamma. Their sons Shivaraj, Raghavendra and Puneet are also established actors in Kannada films.

Kidnapping

On July 30, 2000, at the age of 71, Rajkumar, his son-in-law Govindaraju and two others were kidnapped from the actors' country cottage at Gajanur in Tamil Nadu by the Tamil bandit and terrorist Veerappan. Veerappan was demanding the release of Tamil activists who were being held in jail under a defunct anti-terrorism law. The event prompted a massive manhunt and threw the Karnataka government into crisis. Rajkumar was released unharmed on November 15, 2000, after 109 days of captivity.