Gandhada Gudi re-release: Dr Rajkumar and Dr Vishnuvardhan’s cult classic back in theatres on THIS date

Gandhada Gudi, the 1973 blockbuster starred the late matinee idol Dr Rajkumar and Sahasa Simha Dr Vishnuvardhan in their first and only onscreen collaboration. Directed by Vijay and produced by M P Shankar, who also acted in the film, Gandhada Gudi was Dr Rajkumar’s 150th film and his last collaboration with veteran Narasimharaju. Remade in Hindi as Kartavya and dubbed in Malayalam as Chandanakaadu, Gandhada Gudi holds the distinction of being the first Indian film on the subject of protection of forests and wildlife conservation.

Gandhada Gudi, which had a 25-week run at the box office back in 1973, is set to grace screens again. On the occasion of Dr Rajkumar’s birth anniversary on April 24, 2025, Gandhada Gudi will be back in theatres. Incidentally, on the same date, Dr Rajkumar’s granddaughter Niveditha Shivarajkumar’s maiden production venture, Firefly, is also releasing in theatres.

Dr Rajkumar played an honest forest officer in the film, whose work is hindered by the illegal timber and poaching activities of Dr Vishnuvardhan’s character, who, as is later revealed, turns out to be the former’s long-lost brother. For the most part, Daada star Dr Vishnuvardhan is the villain in the tale, even making attempts on Dr Rajkumar’s life.

In fact, one of the major incidents on the set of Gandhada Gudi came when a prop gun was replaced with a real one when Dr Vishnuvardhan had to take aim at Dr Rajkumar. Luckily he missed, but when news of the incident spread, there was furore, with Dr Rajkumar fans issuing death threats against Dr Vishnuvardhan, who was still a relative newbie at the time.

Gandhada Gudi also starred Kalpana, Balakrishna, Sampath, Advani Lakshmi Devi, Thoogudeepa Srinivas, Shakti Prasad, Tiger Prabhakar, B Jaya, HR Sastry, among others. In 1994, director Vijay and producer MP Shankara reunited for a sequel, Gandhada Gudi 2, which had Shivarajkumar in the lead and had a cameo by Dr Rajkumar. Many years later, Dr Rajkumar’s youngest son, Puneeth Rajkumar made a docu-feature called Gandhada Gudi, about the need for conservation, by traversing across the length and breadth of Karnataka. Unfortunately, Puneeth did not live to see its release.