BENGALURU: Now, Parvathamma rests in peace beside her actor husband Rajkumar at the thespian’s memorial. But the state government which got 2.5 acres on the Kanteerava Studios premises to build the Rajkumar Memorial has not paid `16.25 crore it promised for the land even 11 years after his death.
When Parvathamma died on Wednesday, there was no second thought about where her body should be buried. But when Rajkumar passed away in 2006, there was a lot confusion where the matinee idol should be laid to rest. “There were a lot of deliberations and finally the State government and the Rajkumar family zeroed in on Kanteerava Studios premises at Nandini Layout”, according to sources in the Information Department. Later the H D Kumaraswamy government got 2.5 acres belonging to Kanteerava Studios to build his memorial.
Shankrappa, Managing Director of Kanteerava Studios, said, “The land was given to Rajkumar Memorial Trust and the State government had decided to give `16.25 crore to the Kanteerava Studios. The same was approved by the Cabinet”. The Trust headed by the Chief Minister had also taken a similar decision, said Shankrappa who is also its member secretary.
He said many letters were written to the State government. “The matter is before the Finance Department which should approve and release the fund,” he said.
According to Shankarappa, they are planning to use the money to construct studio settings similar to Ramoji Film City.
M Lakshminarayana, Principal Secretary to Information Department said “As Kanteerava Studios and Rajkumar Memorial come under the State government, one should not make it a big issue,” he said. Asked about reason for the delay in the payment. He said it is a “minor” issue and will be sorted out “soon”.
Kanteerava Studios was launched in 1966 with government-private stakeholding. It came up on over 18 acres at Nandini Layout to facilitate production of Kannada movies.