When they made hindi films, South indian directors would frequently invite the North's media. As a result of the makers' consideration of the hindi belt market, it now occurs even for a South indian film's event. The North South split was revived by Bengaluru media just as the respective businesses were realising that the indian film industry was what counted.The media from the North was invited to an event where the kannada movie "Martin," starring dhruv Sarja, was promoting last week in Bengaluru. The local media was hesitant to inform their Northern counterparts about happenings. Unexpectedly, the local media prevented the North's media from attending the event!
They probably don't adhere to the Atithi Devo Bhava (Guest is God) philosophy, which is deeply established in our society. When the event's organisers eventually persuaded the local media to support the event, they reluctantly agreed to make room for the visiting media in the front rows of the theatre where the promotional video would be shown.The North-South divide sparked by Dr. Rajkumar, the then-kannada celebrity, led to what the Bengaluru media did to their northern colleagues. The kannada film industry was not very large. hindi remakes weren't made. The rights to a hindi film that exclusively did business in Bengaluru were only worth between Rs 50,000 and 60,000 for the circuit, also known as the mysore circuit. Dr. Rajkumar was a demigod who forbade the release of hindi movies in karnataka during the so-called Gokak Movement. But that wasn't all.Dr. Rajkumar went ahead and forbade the state from speaking any
language other than Kannada! Shopkeepers and cab
drivers only spoke
kannada when communicating. The trade publication I was working for at the time reported on and criticised Dr. Rajkumar's activities, and as a result, it was also outlawed in Karnataka!
In the early 1980s, I went to Bengaluru to publicise an event. I called "The
indian Express" headquarters. What's this? Whatever I requested, the
phone operator would only answer in Kannada. I was forced to question, "Why the hell do you publish an
english daily if you don't answer a caller in
english," because I had no other choice. Luckily, the
workers at my hotel did not adhere to the directive.
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