Friday, March 20, 2009

Pop icons from Karnataka... Are they?

This post is on those celebrities whom the common man boasts are from Karnataka, whom I feel are not. More people might be on the list but I can recollect only these at this moment.

1. Aishwarya Rai (Bachchan)
She is more popular with her pre-marital surname, though people call her with her new one nowadays. Some do club both.

Info: Native from Mangalooru, she was crowned Miss World in 1994, she outcasted the Miss Universe of the same year, Sushmita Sen in the so called "Bollywood". Now making her entry into Hollywood too, recent one being Pink Panther II. Rumours were their that she would be working as a bond girl. No news till now.

Also has acted in some Tamil movies, I dunno the names. Mothertongue being Tulu, she can speak Hindi, English. Also can speak a bit of Tamil (sa said by her in some newspaper) Dunno whether she can speak Marathi.

Married to Abhishek Bachchan, son of Bollywood Bigman Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Baduri (Bachchan).
What people adore most: Her eyes.

Now, my views.

I know that many of you like her. Some hate her to the core. I'm indifferent about her looks. Anybody for that matter.

What irritates me the most is that, I don't like her treatment to Kannada. To support my point, I go back to the languages she can speak. If she can learn a bit of Tamil, just because she has done a couple of Tamil movies, she has visited Mangalooru, Bengalooru many a times. Before her becoming a celebrity, there has to be atleast a few friends who speak Kannada. Why can't she have learned Kannada then?

Some idiotic producers, directors from Kannada, tried for her dates in some of her films. She clearly denied them. I don't know the reason. One such director was T.S.Nagabharana who tried for her dates for the film "Kerege Haara" which is a film based on a folk story. If she can agree for films like Devdas, et al, what made her deny it? I don't know.

I don't feel bad for that but I just mentioned this as an example to her attitude. She shares her birthday with Karnataka Rajyotsava. Hehehe!

2. Deepika Padukone

Originating from Padukone, besides Maravanthe, 15 km from Kundapura, Udupi District. She is the daughter of the infamous Prakash Padukone, Badminton Player. Sole Indian winner of "All England Open" till 2001. (Broken by Pullella Gopichand)

DOB: 5th January 1986

Info: Before trying movies, she was a busy model, was also featured in Kingfisher's Calendar (Full of Bikini Babes, ATCI).

Was also featured in petty ads like close-up etc.

She started her movie career with a Kannada movie, Aishwarya, co-starring namma Upendra. Thanks for the nologic director, Indrajit Lankesh. All of his movies are a mix up of many movies from all sorts of languages.

Had a glorious opening in Bollywood with "Om Shanti Om" co-starring Shah Rukh Khan.

In love with (flirting with?) Ranbir Kapoor, son of Rishi Kapoor right now. She had made news by moving around cricket stars M.S.Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh. Was a big news at a time. They say, now the relationship is ditched.

What people adore most: Her Smile.

My views.

Boy! Her attitude baffles me. What irritates me most is when she gives interviews on media. Specially, ones she gave during the making of Aishwarya. Though she could speak Kannada, she never spoke. This can be the only sole reason, why she cannot be treated that she is from Karnataka. You people might argue that she is born at Copenhagen, Denmark, but she still originates from Karnataka. You can't rule that out.

Though one good thing is that she doesn't deny making another kannada film unlike Aishwarya. Rumours are there that she has agreed for another film with Uppi.

More of Bollywood heroines fall into this category. Shilpa Shetty (Acted in Preethsod Thappa, Auto-Shankar, for KFI), Genelia D'souza ( they say she is from Mangalore, acted in Sathya In Love with Shivrajkumar), Hansika Motwani, Freida Pinto, many of them. Some are humble, some are not. Here I end this list with Bollywood heroines.

Thought of adding one more celebrity but lack of info. May be its too early to decide upon that. Will update in the same post if found so. Suggest any other name which I might have left out that you think sould make this list.

Generally, when people boast about such kinda people, I feel irritated. What I feel is that they haven't done anything for Karnataka and these stupids take their name just because they were born here or have their origin here.

To take pride in a person, he should have done something memorable in that direction. I don't see any in the above people. Kindly enlighten me if you found any.

Disclaimatory:


Thanks www.theaishwaryarai.com for Aishwarya's picture I used in this post.


Thanks www.gobollywood.com for Deepika's pic.

10 comments:

Shrinidhi Hande said...

any comments on Vijay Mallya, Rahul Dravid, Deve Gowda, Shilpa Shetty and others?

BlackThorn said...

chappli tagond hoDi ibbrugu heLteeni.

Unknown said...

@ i7 - Chance sikkre miss e illa maga!

@ Shrinidhi - Thought of adding aravind adiga. That was the third person i was talking about in the post.

Regarding Mallya, you can't say he hasn't done anything to Karnataka. He has his distillaries in Karnataka, he represents RCB for IPL, though one may not consider it, i dont think you can categorize him in that category.

Dravid, He represents Karnataka, I've seen him speaking Kannada fluently. I dont think he falls into this category though he has his origin in Indore.

Deve Gowda? I don't want to consider him at all. (in the sense, as it goes with Kannada idiom, aatakkuntu lekkakkilla) that kinda thing.

I think I've mentioned about Shilpa Shetty. People hardly take her name that she has Mangalorean origin. She is more of a bombay girl to the majority.

Kalki said...

It is because Kannada movies are crap!

Unknown said...

Oh yeah? Tell me why? So which movies do you consider as good? Huh?

Navaneethan Santhanam said...

Why should they do anything for Karnataka? If Aishwarya chose not to do a Kannada film, that doesn't mean she'll never do one, right? You're generalising a bit too much.

As for Deepika Padukone, you say she knows (but doesn't speak) Kannada. I'm not sure how you reasoned that one out, but has she been interviewed in Kannada? Perhaps she's not had a chance to speak in Kannada.

Unknown said...

Why should they do anything for Karnataka? Huh! People all over India know that she has originated from Karnataka and some do give a bit of publicity that she is from Karnataka. Thats the reason I say that they haven't done anything to Karnataka and should be stopped with the publicity that they are from Karnataka. Its a general notion that if you're an icon, you should do something progressive to the state you belong to.

Aishwarya, is looking into Hollywood these days, Would she accept an offer from a relatively low budget film industry? If she would have done a film in Kannada, she should have done it long back. I dont see any possibility of her doing it anyway.

I've seen her speaking kanglish ( Kannada mixed with English) many a times and she answers in English even though the question is asked in Kannada. Want proof? watch any Kannada channel's interviewing her for the movie Aishwarya. If you're interested.

Navaneethan Santhanam said...

Any thoughts on VS Acharya's total & utter failure to identify that the rally was for the Congress?

Unknown said...

@ TSPW - Well, I came to know about it just now! Thanks for bringing it to my notice. I can't comment on that now! But FYI, here is what Mr. V. S. Acharya has to say to it.

Of course, it contains a bit of political drama in it. All I can say here, right now, is that it was just an accident.

Unknown said...

Oops! Here is the link - http://drvsacharya.blogspot.com/2009/04/dr-acharya-addresses-congress-meeting.html