Vishnu Vardhan (1950-2009)

On Tuesday night, yesteryear Kannada superstar Vishnu Vardhan’s heart rebelled against him.

On Tuesday night, yesteryear Kannada superstar Vishnu Vardhan’s heart rebelled against him. The next morning, nearly every auto in the city pasted newspaper cut-outs of his death on its front—to ward off the mobs at the circus that would become his funeral. If Veerappan’s one-time abductee Rajkumar was the Dilip Kumar of Kannada cinema, Vishnu Vardhan was its Big B, it’s very own Angry Young Man. As an enraged collegian in Naagarahoovu (1972), he spoke to a whole generation of young Karnataka trapped between the social norms of the conservative South and the onrush of modernity with its irreverence of tradition. More roles skinning out Kannada anxieties happened. But in time, bell-bottoms, pink shirt, yellow jacket and all, he would turn lover, action-man and clown.