5 must-watch Dr Rajkumar award-winning performances on OTT

In his illustrious career spanning nearly 5 decades, the late matinee idol Dr Rajkumar, acted in over 200 films, and was adjudged the Best Actor at the Karnataka State Awards a record 9 times. He is followed by the late Vishnuvardhan (7) and Anant Nag and Shivarajkumar at 4 each. Dr Rajkumar is credited with being the very first recipient of the state award, winning it for Bangaarada Hoovu. His last came in the early 90s, when he was awarded for his performance in Odahuttidavaru.

List of films that Dr Rajkumar won the Karnataka State Film Awards Best Actor

• Bangaarada Hoovu
• Kula Gourava
• Bhakta Kumbara
• Babruvahana
• Hosa Belaku
• Haalu Jenu
• Devatha Manushya
• Jeevana Chaitra
• Odahuttidavaru

You can watch 5 of Dr Rajkumar's momentous award-winning performances on OTTplay

Kula Gourava 

The Kannada romantic drama film directed by Peketi Sivaram and written by G Balasubramanyam, was produced by Crazy Star V Ravichandran’s father, N Veeraswamy. Rajkumar was seen in triple roles, which was a first for him, along with Jayanthi and Bharathi. Ravichandran was in the film too, albeit as a child artiste. The Best Actor award for Dr Rajkumar apart, Kula Gourava was also adjudged Best Film.

Bhakta Kumbara

Director Hunsur Krishnamurthy’s biopic on the life of Gora Kumbara, starred Dr Rajkumar and Leelavathi, while the late Sridevi was a child artiste, playing Muktha Bhai, in what was to be her Kannada film debut. A blockbuster that had a 175-day theatrical run, Bhakta Kumbara tells the story of how a potter, Gora Kumbara, became a saint. Bhakta Kumbara was Dr Rajkumar’s eighth collaboration with director Hunsur Krishnamurthy.

Babruvahana

Hunsur Krishnamurthy got Dr Rajkumar his next Best Actor Award with the mythological film Babru Vahana, in which the late matinee idol had dual roles as Arjuna and his son Babruvahana. The first Kannada film to be made on Babruvahana, it explores the events that led him to wage war against his father to restore his mother's honour. The film was dubbed in Telugu and Hindi as Arjuna Garvabhangam and Veer Arjun, respectively

Haalu Jenu  

Singeetham Srinivasa Rao’s Kannada cinema debut was the tragicomedy that starred Dr Rajkumar along with Madhavi and Roopa Devi. Haalu Jenu was initially meant to be an Anant Nag film, but when it failed to take off, Parvathamma Rajkumar bought the story written by P Padmaraju. The film had a 35-week theatrical run, which was disturbed by yet another Dr Rajkumar film, Chalisuva Modagalu.

Devatha Manushya 

The core plot of director Singeetham Srinivasa Rao’s Devatha Manushya was based on the 1861 English novel Silas Marner by George Eliot. It was Dr Rajkumar’s milestone 200th film, and starred Geetha, KS Aswath and Sudharani along with him. This was the second Parvathamma Rajkumar produced film that got Dr Rajkumar a state award.