Tamil superstar Rajinikant and his Telugu counterpart Chiranjeevi will lead the guest list at the inauguration of the memorial of matinee idol Rajkumar on Saturday on the premises of Kanteerava Studio. The Who’s Who of the Kannada film industry and a few stars from other film industries are expected to turn up for the event.
Spread across 2.5 acres, the memorial is supposed to be the biggest built for any cine actor in the country. As of now, only the first phase has been completed.
Rajinikant and Chiranjeevi will participate in the inauguration in morning, said the late Rajkumar’s son Raghavendra Rajkumar adding that Malayalam actor Mammootty may join them. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will inaugurate the memorial, while the actor-guests will release a pictorial book on Dr. Rajkumar and a 20-minute documentary on his life.
Later in the evening, a grand cultural event will be held at Palace Grounds. The entire Kannada film industry will participate. Over a lakh people are expected to turn up for the evening’s extravaganza.
Torch to burn 24/7Addressing a press conference on Friday, Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce President H.D. Gangaraju said that a “Raj Ratha” carrying a torch, which started from Dr. Rajkumar’s birthplace Gajanur, will be reaching the memorial site on Saturday morning. The torch will be placed near the memorial. It will be kept aglow all the time by the family, he said.
