What Made Dr Rajkumar's Kasthuri Nivasa An Iconic Movie In Kannada?

All movies in which late sandalwood actor and matinee idol Dr Rajkumar had worked in is special in one way or the other. Especially some of his movies are all time hits. "Kasturi Nivasa" is one such movie.

The movie was released in the year 1971 on January 29, which means exactly 50 years have passed after the release of this movie. The character Ravi played by Dr Rajkumar in this movie was outstanding. He character had different shades in the movie that of a Businessman, Friend, husband, and a failed lover.

He excelled in portraying all these characters. Famous actresses like Aarti, Jayanthi, were in lead roles in this movie. This movie was bankrolled by KCN Gowda and was directed by Dorai Bhagawan.

Actors Raja Shankar, and Ashwath too had given their best to this movie. The movie has maintained its fervour even today after a span of fifty years. The movie stands out when compared to other movies in many respects.

All the six songs composed by G K Venkatesh in the movie were hit songs. The lyrics for all these songs were written by Chi Uday Shankar. The songs "Aadisinodu...." "Nee bandu Ninthaaga" "Aadisidaatha besara Moodi" are still rinding in the ears of fans of yesteryears.

And thanks to Puneeth Rajkumar's movie Rajakumara, the remix version of the song is hugely famous even among the millennials.

The response in the first nine weeks after the release of the movie Kasthuri Nivasa was not very encouraging. Later the movie galloped and the response from the audience was tremendous. While the movie ran for about 175 days in several theatres, it completed 100 days in 16 theatres which is a record by itself.

This movie was coloured in the year 2014 and re-released. This version too was greatly successful. The movie was remade as "Avandaan Manidan" in Tamil. Shivaji Ganeshan was seen as the lead actor in this movie which was incidentally his 175 movie. In Hindi also this movie was remade as "Shaandaar" with Sanjeev