Actor Chetan Ahimsa takes to the streets to protest his own government to have his Kannada actor Dr Rajkumar memorial opened up after his speeches. Followers and pro-Kannada groups have railed that the issue itself caused massive protests.
The Karnataka government has also dedicated around 2.5 acres to the construction of a memorial to Dr Rajkumar, who is affectionately called “Annavru.” The action was welcomed by the late actor’s supporters, but Chetan Ahimsa’s criticism has caused the critique to turn to politics and ideology.
Referring to a press conference in Bengaluru, Chetan continued in a statement made earlier today, he remained in line with those earlier remarks. What he did not mean to mean was offensive to anyone, he said: It was to address a bigger issue. “I stand by what I said. There is truth in that. I regret if anyone is hurt, but apologising only is not telling anyone something I am not telling,” he says.
Even fans and activists started to insist that he apologise, but the actor said he would not flinch. He said he was ready to take legal action if anyone thought his comments crossed a line. “I regret, but I will not apologise for saying what I think is the right thing to say. File my case if required, I’m ready to do that,” he said.
In fact, Chetan spoke so highly of Dr Rajkumar’s personality that it was hard for me to believe the legendary actor himself hadn’t supported a mass memorial of his own like that. “If somebody had given him 2.5 acres of land for a memorial while he was alive, he would have refused. He was a simple lad, and he didn’t believe in star culture,” Chetan revealed.
He went on to note that his criticism was not directed at the Rajkumar family or the fans but at the deeper problem of “star culture.” Government decisions that favour big audience members could also end up creating "disfruitfulness and dissatisfaction" in the movie industry, he said.
The distribution, he said, might obscure more pressing issues and, at the same time, establish unfair treatment. But the backlash has come fast. The Kannada and supporters of Dr Rajkumar have protested to call for a stop to Chetan's remarks. The millions of fans who believe it is actually very correct of them to recognise someone like Rajkumar as a cultural figure really believe it, and this is also reflected in millions.
Now the controversy has evolved into a broader debate about how public figures influence media consumption habits, governmental coffers and society’s “celebrity culture.” Some have taken Chetan’s stance as an exhortation to introspection; others have deemed it dismissive of the legacy of one of Karnataka’s most beloved icons.
