Dr Rajkumar's 18th Birth Anniversary: When His Film Anuraga Aralithu Was Remade In 7 Languages

Anuraga Aralithu was directed by MS Rajashekar.

Today, April 24 marks the birth anniversary of Kannada cinema legend Dr Rajkumar. He is considered one of the greatest and most versatile actors in the history of Indian cinema. Dr Rajkumar is considered a cultural icon and has matinee idol status in the Kannada diaspora. His films used to get remade into other languages. Today, we will talk about this one film of his that created a record. It was said to be the first film to be remade into seven different languages. We are talking about Anuraga Aralithu. It was a 1986 Kannada film, directed by MS Rajashekar. It was based on the Kannada novel Anuragada Anthahpura by HG Radhadevi. The film was produced by MS Puttaswamy.

Anuraga Aralithu starred Dr Rajkumar, Madhavi and Geetha in the lead roles. The film’s music and soundtrack were composed by Upendra Kumar to lyrics by Chi. Udayashankar, who also wrote the screenplay. The film was a huge success at the box office and ran for around 50 weeks in theatres. It was later made into seven other languages: in Tamil as Mannan in 1992, in Telugu as Gharana Mogudu in 1992, in Hindi as Laadla in 1994, in Sinhala as Mal Hathai in 1996, in Odia as Sindura Nuhein Khela Ghara in 2000, in Bengali as Jamaibabu Jindabad in 2001 and in Bangladesh as Shami Strir Juddho in 2002.

This was the first Kannada film to be remade in Odia, Bengali, Bangladeshi Bengali and Sinhala. It was also the first Kannada film to be remade in two foreign languages. With the remakes of this film, Dr Rajkumar became the first Indian actor whose films were remade more than 50 times. He was also the first Indian actor whose films were remade in nine other languages.

A huge number of people flock to celebrate Dr Rajkumar’s birth anniversary every year. This year too, fans gathered at his memorial. Dr Rajkumar memorial is also decorated with flowers on this day. Proper arrangements are made for fans to approach the memorial. There is a food donation program specially arranged for them. Members of Dr Rajkumar’s family like Shiva Rajkumar and Raghavendra Rajkumar visit the place on this day.