Rajkumar born as Singanalluru Puttaswamayya Muthuraju (24 April 1929 – 12 April 2006) was a popular actor and singer in the Kannada film industry

Cinema of Karnataka

The cinema of Karnataka , sometimes colloquially referred to as Sandalwood and as Chandanavana in Kannada, encompasses movies made in the Indian state of Karnataka based in Bangalore. Most of the movies are made in Kannada, with a handful of them in Konkani or Tulu. Today more than 100 films are...

. Having acted in more than 200 Kannada movies, he worked primarily in Karnataka

Karnataka

Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...

 and is considered a cultural icon

Cultural icon

A cultural icon can be a symbol, logo, picture, name, face, person, building or other image that is readily recognized and generally represents an object or concept with great cultural significance to a wide cultural group...

 of Kannada.

Rajkumar entered the film industry at the age of eight and got his first break as a lead in the 1954-film Bedara Kannappa and went on to work in over 220 films. Born in Singanallur of Coimbatore

Coimbatore District (Madras Presidency)

Coimbatore district was one of the districts of the erstwhile Madras Presidency of British India. It covered the areas of the present-day districts of Coimbatore, Erode and Tirupur and the Kollegal taluk of present-day Karnataka. It covered a total area of and was sub-divided into 10 taluks...

, Madras Presidency

Madras Presidency

The Madras Presidency , officially the Presidency of Fort St. George and also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision of British India...

 (presently in Chamarajnagar District of Karnataka

Karnataka

Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...

), he was brought up in Dodda Gajanur

Gajanur

Gajanur is a village in Erode district of Tamil Nadu, India. The place is famous as the place of Kannada actor and icon Dr. Rajkumar.where he brought up....

—a place that he used to visit often.