Film City to be built in the name of Raj Kumar, Vishnuvardhan

Bangalore, Jan 6 (IANS) The Karnataka government will make a film city in the memory of Kannada film icons Raj Kumar and Vishnuvardhan, Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has announced.

He was speaking at a condolence meeting organised by the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce Tuesday in the memory of four stalwarts - actor Vishnuvardhan, singer C. Ashwath, producer Chandu Lal Jain and stuntman Circus Boranna - who had died recently.

Yeddyurappa said that the film city would be designed after taking suggestions from the film fraternity.

The meeting was also attended by the Congress leader Siddaramaiah and Bangalore South Lok Sabha member H.N. Ananth Kumar.

Actor-politician Ambareesh, who was also there, said he had spoken to Vishnuvardhan just two hours before his death Dec 30 and was expecting him to come back to Bangalore in a few days.

"But I was able to see his dead body the next day in the early hours of the morning. I am still to cope up with the loss," he added.

Ambareesh, also the president of the Kannada Film Artists Association, thanked the government for its support.

"The void created by Vishnu is too big. He cannot be replaced. Vishnu was a great artist who could have essayed any type of role. His death is a huge loss to the industry. We could have made some more films if we had not fought," said actor-producer Dwarakish who had a love-hate relationship with the actor.

A majority of the film fraternity including Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce president Jayamala, Leelavathi, Jayanthi, K.C.N. Chandrashekara, Srinath, Shivarajkumar, Raghavendra Rajkumar, Darshan, Hamsalekaha and others were present at the meeting.