Rajanand

Rajanand was born on 2^nd December 1927 in Hassan, Karnataka. He was an actor, writer and director who worked in the Kannada film industry. Rajanand came from humble beginnings, he was born in an extremely poverty-ridden family, and would almost on many nights sleep without even having anything to eat. At the tender age of ten, Rajanand decided to join the theatre to fill his empty stomach by earning a little. He worked very hard in the theatre even as a child, he would work for the maintenance of the theatre, clean it and at the same time, work on the plays. He started acting from the age of 10 in the theatres and by the time he was 18, he became very good at it. After mastering the art of theatre acting, Rajanand started writing plays and he excelled at them. He wrote and starred in several classic plays and he had made quite a name for himself and the conditions in which he was living as a young child, he did superbly to turn his life around.

He worked with some of the best theatre groups like Kalkoti, Samaj Vikasana, Kamala Kala and many more. As a drama and theatre artist, he would go on to write, direct, and act in over a staggering 500 plays. Soon he opened up his own theatre group known as the Rang Vaibhava in 1965. Some of his most amazing plays were re-enacted in this theatre, but ten years later he would have to shut down the theatre due to financial problems.

In 1967, he made his first movie known as Dhanapisachi. On this project, Rajanand stunned everyone when he went on to write over 500 feet of dialogues in one go. This was the hard work and dedication to his craft. After that, the offers came in flying for him. He would go on to become one of the most successful supporting actors in the history of Kannada films. He starred in classic movies like Operation Diamond Rocket, Mayura, Eradu kansu, Bhaddur Gandu, Bhakta Siriliya, Kunthi Putra and Putani Agent 123.

Apart from his film career, Rajanand was also an excellent writer, he wrote over 1500 Vachanas, which is a form of rhythmic writing of Kannada culture, he also wrote 3000 poems and over 10000 Kavanas. Rajanand was one of the most gifted and talented artists of his generation. He passed away in 2004 in Mysore.