Majestic

 

Majestic

 

Majestic

 

Thulasi Thotta Galli

 

Danvantri road

 

Darpana Sundari in the 21st Century

Bangalore City Railway Station

The shock of Puneeth Rajkumar's untimely death finds expression on the walls of the subway at Majestic.  

Kempegowda Bus Station

ಶ್ರೀ ಮೋಕ್ಷಗುಂಡಂ ವಿಶ್ವೇಶ್ವರಯ್ಯ Bharat Ratna Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya.

Sometimes it's nice to see a familiar face from the last century.

Churumuri on Sir MV

S C Road

Sunbathing.

There are days in Benglur when you can have all four seasons during the course of a day. And here's a man enjoying a brief spell of summer.

S C Road

Sandalwood Friday Movie Release.

If there's a good movie release, the handicapped (and the aged) blackmarket ticket sellers manage to make a few bucks. Today's bigger draw seems to be a movie called Prem Kahani. With stiff competion from Shivarajkumar's Bhagyada Balegara.

Tank Bund Road

Bus Art.

See the full Bus Art Series here. 

Platform Road / Vatal Nagaraj Road

The Power Lines under which the Venus Circus tent was erected. 

  The only memories I have of the first circus I visited are that of its charred remains that I saw in the newspapers in the following days.  It erased everything that I remembered of the first circus experience and replaced it with imagined screams of children trying to flee the inferno. About 60 (0fficially) of them, most of the them children, were killed in the fire and the stampede that followed at the Venus Circus, in February 1981. That was because the tent was erected under the power lines shown above. 

It took years for Bangalore to recover from that tragedy. No circuses were allowed to perform in the city for a long time. And the place where the Venus Circus stood is silent and barren to this day, as if mourning for all the little lives that perished on that Black Day in February, 1981. 

Next to where the Venus Circus tent stood is an old Lutheran Church, which does not seem to have enough people attending these days. It was probably built for railway employees from an earlier age, who lived in the Railway Colony, a short walk away. The people who live closest to the church today are the residents of a tiny slum, behind the Church.The doors and windows of the homes in the slums are turned away from the open area where the Circus tent once stood. 

However, the residents of the slum prefer to pray at the many little shrines that surround the Chruch. Even those who pray at the Church seem to prefer the small shrine with Bibles in Kannada, Tamil and English placed outside. Together, they form the unoffical memorial for the people who died in the fire.  

 

4th and 5th Mains, Gandhinagar

Sandalwood Special: Dr. Raj.

Pictures of Dr. Rajkumar, the biggest star to come out of Kannada cinema, decorate almost all the mobile generators and vanity vans (used for outdoor shoots) parked in Gandhinagar.

And this picture was clicked outside Dr Rajkumar International Hotel. The hotel's location is perfect - in Gandhinagar aka Sandalwood.




The doorman outside Dr Rajkumar International Hotel. His name is Kamal Raj and he's from Anantpur, in AP. He couldn't speak or understand any language except his mother-tongue - Telugu! He's lived in Benglur for 3 years working as security guard at various places. When I spoke to him, I realised that a good smile is all it takes to overcome any language barrier.

The above pictures were modified using a beta release of a fun software called Poladroid. Check it out here.

Click here to vote

Kempegowda Road

Old Vs. Fresh Arrivals.
This picture was modified using a beta release of a fun software called Poladroid. Check it out for free here. 

Click here to vote

OTC Road - Chickpet Stretch

  Time Travel. Now playing at Vijayalakshmi Talkies, Chickpet

Old Taluk Catchery Road or OTC Road has a special place in Benglur's short history. It was what South Parade or MG Road was to the Cantonment. It stretched from Cottonpet to Corporation (George Oakes Building) and here in Chickpet, it's known plainly as Chickpet. The oldest surviving theater in this part of town is the Vijayalakshmi Talkies. And if you are a Dr Rajkumar fan who loves to see his larger-than-life presence on a big screen, this is where you should go. This week you can take a trip back to 1985 and watch the movie Dhruva Taare. Time travel is cheap too. A front row seat will cost you Rs 21/-; balcony: Rs 30/- The poster outside the theater says that the movie will be preceded by the 'Indian News Trailor'! When was the last time that was ever played in a movie theater?

The Which Main? What Cross? Exhibition F&B, Papanna Street, St Marks Road. Ph: 080 - 40 333 888

30 select photographs from this blog are on display until May 31st '09. If you happen to be in that part of town, please do walk in look at their 'Art Wall'.

     

Click here to vote

2nd Cross Gandhinagar

 Gubbi Veeranna Rangamandira. Part 2.

The stage is also the home for the members of the travelling drama companies that perform at the Rangamandira. If you peep behind the side curtains, you can see the living rooms and kitchen next to the open make-up area for men that comprises of three mirrors, powders to whiten faces and colours for the lips and hair.

Read Part 1 of the story here.

Click here to vote

2nd Cross Gandhinagar

The G Gubbi Veeranna Rangamandira

While the film industry complains that people are not coming to see their offering anymore, there's a place in the heart of Gandhinagar that continues to conduct its entertaining business without much complaints. They do have a lot of complaints, but then, they are not making a drama out of it.

In Karnataka. there are about 10-12 modestly sized drama companies and in Benglur, the preferred stage is the one at G Gubbi Veeranna Ranga Mandira. And these days, catering to a select band of fans, is the Sri K B R Drama Company from Davangere. The play: Kivuda Maadida Kithapathi.

Actors: Prabhakar (top) and Subramanya Shastri of Sri KBR Drama Company, Davangere.

Prabhakar and Subramanya Shastri are actors who work for the Sri KBR Drama Company. Both are originally from Malavalli in Mandya District and their home: wherever they are performing.

These days, the Government-owned Ranga Mandira is their home. The drama company is their family. Together they will be performing a series of dramas, twice a day on weekdays and thrice on Sundays, until December before they move on to the next location. And it's most likely to be somewhere in the north, in the old Bombay-Karnataka region where they draw larger crowds than in Benglur. Especially at Jathres (Mela).

In fact, while we were sitting as the actors were telling me that Putanna Kanagal's classic movie Ranganayaki is probably the best example to know about the life of people like them, a trader from Haveri who was on a business trip noticed the actors and came to tell the actors that he has seen the play they are performing, 5 times!

That isn't bad. In fact, the actors feel that the drama companies are doing a pretty good job at surviving in cut-throat world the entertainment. They feel that the the audience is fed up with the dose of violence and bad stories that the Kannada film industry dishes out and are coming to watch plays instead - even in Gandhinagar.

But then, they would also like to act in movies, and their plays made into movies. That's where you get to be really famous. However, most drama companies do not have the money to make movies. But there a few plays that are still being made into movies. Here's an advertisement for a play, made into a movie, inside the Ranga Mandira starring Anant Nag (who began his acting career doing amateur Marathi and Kannada plays in Mumbai).

To catch Prabhakar and Subramanya Shastri in action, watch Kivuda's Kithapathi at 2.45pm and 6.15pm on weekdays and 11.45am, 2.45pm and 6.15pm on Sundays.

Click here to vote

Kempegowda Road + SC Road

Sandalwood Friday Movie Release.

What theatres are to malls, they are to Majestic too. A good Friday Release ensures that the mall or Kempegowda Road is full and the local economy is rolling. 

These are three people from Majestic who are hoping that this week's release will bring in the crowds. 

The picture postcard seller is a regular outside Santhosh. He's also a barometer about what's hot. According to him, the fastest selling postcards  in his collection is that of Darshan, also called the Challenging Star or Knockout Star.

Rubbing shoulders with him, outside Santhosh, is Astrologer Ramakrishna who takes the early morning bus from Bagalur. That's a tiny Kannada and Telugu speaking town just across the border in Tamil Nadu. Today is Friday and he is here earlier than usually to catch the fans who wait for a long time outside theaters. The swastik on his forehead acts as an irresistible advertising.

And finally there's the man selling Hello Cinestar outside today's big release - Yagna.

Shubh Labh.   

Click here to vote

S C Road, Gandhinagar

There's three hours to go before Sudeep's latest film 'Veera Madakari' opens and Kapali Theater in Gandhinagar, the heart of the Kannada Film Industry is House - Full. That's sad news for a fan who woke up late, but good news for the producer, Dinesh Gandhi, as you can see from the garland on the House-Full signboard. 

However, if you are die-hard fan of Sudeep, or Anna-avaru as Nagesh with a kerchief around his neck calls him, you would have reached Kapali at 5 am to make sure that you have the ticket for First-Day First-Show. 

It's not just die-hard fans who have turned up early. This old lady and the man in crutches were here too. They were peddling few "Gandhi-Class" tickets for Rs. 80 to latecomers and boys who have skipped classes to catch the morning show.

 
  

But it's not just college boys who have come to catch Sudeep's new offering. Peanut and watermelon sellers are there too, to help cool, people of all ages waiting impatiently for the movie to start. 

And here's something that I picked up from outside the Kapali Theater - empty boxes of exposed picture negative that was used for a Kannada movie called Police Story Part II (Can No 32288 5/7 that was used on 29/09/06).  

And finally, here's the star actor-director himself - Sudeep. With the mandatory handheld weapon of the angry young Kannada star.  

Click here to vote