Actors, singers join Koo to celebrate Rajyotsava

Bengaluru: Several well-known personalities joined Koo App on Sunday to celebrate Karnataka Rajyotsava. The celebration started with a short note from actress Roopika.

It was followed by a welcome note from Aprameya Radhakrishna, the Founder and CEO of Koo. He welcomed the community and spoke about Koo celebrating the Rajyotsava online due to coronavirus. "This also gave an opportunity to people of Karnataka and Kannadigas all over the world to unite," he said.

This was followed by a short speech by Chief Minister of Karnataka, B S Yediyurappa. He spoke about the importance of speaking Kannada and celebrating 'our roots' and thanked Aprameya for hosting the celebration on Koo.

Veteran singer Shashidhar Kote sang a beautiful Kannada song, "Barisu Kannada Didimava", that was written by Rastrakavi Kuvempu. Popular Kannada standup comedian Gangavathi Pranesh spoke about the importance of reading Kannada literature, watch Kannada movies and to teach the next generation Kannada too. Actor and director Jagadesh Malnad spoke about British officer Ferdinand Kittel's love for the language and how he compiled the first Kannada to English dictionary.

Actress Neetu Shetty called upon the people to keep the language alive by speaking Kannada it and to be proud of being Kannadigas. World famous magician Kudroli Ganesh did a short performance and requested everyone to converse in Kannada. Singer Ganesh Karanth sang a few lines of a song and discussed the importance of Kannada.

Popular actor Naveen Krishna requested Kannadigas to teach the language to all non-Kannadigas who have made this beautiful state their home. The performance ended with actress and dancer Roopika's performance along with her team Gejje.

On the occasion Aprameya Radhakrishna said, "I'm so happy to be able to celebrate the Rajyotsava with the Kannadiga community from all over the world, on Koo. The pandemic has restricted our ability to celebrate this beautiful occasion, but it is a boon to be able to unite as a much larger community online. Today Kannadigas from all over the world joined the celebration.

I thank the Chief Minister and all the other luminaries that joined us today. I look forward to hosting the Rajyotsava on Koo every year and making it even grander next time."