BENGALURU: Google India honoured one of the greatest Kannada actors, Dr Rajkumar, by dedicating a doodle to him on his 88th birth anniversary on Monday.
The doodle is a sketch of the actor in a movie with the audience watching it. It appears to have been inspired by Dadasaheb Phalke award winning movie ‘Kasturi Nivasa’ starring Dr Rajkumar.
The actor passed away on April 12, 2006 at the age of 77. He had worked in over 200 films and sung some of the best hits of his era. He was honored with a doctorate by the University of Mysore for his contribution to films. Rajkumar was the stage name of Singanalluru Puttaswamayya Muthuraju.
Even before it was released, Google had teased film buffs asking them to identify the subject of its next doodle, with a silhouette sketch of the actor in a mythological character. After the doodle went live in India, Google tweeted: Actor, singer, legend. Remembering the great #Rajkumar on his 88th birth anniversary.
Soon after, Google started a thread asking twitterati to name the best film of the actor.
During the day, several Kannada actors took to Twitter to pay tributes to the matinee idol. Among them was actor-director Rakshith Shetty. “Happy Birthday to the Legend, the face of Kannada Cinema, to our Annavru. This is so awesome. Check this out,” he tweeted and shared the doodle.
Cricketer Anil Kumble and actor Ragini were among those who hailed the actor on his birth anniversary.