Vajramuni

Film career

Actor

Vajramuni was yet another contribution of Kannada professional theatre to the film industry. Like most other actors of his time, he too came from theatre background. Till the '70s, Vajramuni had been active in theatre, playing lead roles in most mythologicals. He probably owes his fine diction, clarity of speech and voice culture to this early training. In the early '60s, Vajramuni had played the lead in Kanagal Prabhakar Shastri's Prachanda Ravana, and it was this performance that propelled him to popularity. Till date, it continues to be one of the most sought-after mythological plays. And for most actors, playing the role of Ravana was one of their life's most cherished dreams. Many have played Ravana's role, but none has matched Vajramuni's histrionics. Interestingly, it was Ravana's role that brought him into the Kannada film industry. Puttanna Kanagal, who was watching the play, was floored by Vajramuni's performance and cast him inMallammana Pavada. Producers insisted that Udaya Kumar would be a better choice to match to Shivaji Ganeshan who played the role in the Tamil version, but Puttanna insisted that it had to be Vajramuni. He finally had his way. Of course, Vajramuni didn't fail Puttanna's expectations and he eventually went on to become the unequalled bad man of Kannada film industry is now history. So much so that villainy and Vajramuni became synonymous. In fact, he did a number of films such as Mayura, Sampathige Saval, Daari Tappida Maga, Premada Kanike, Giri Kanye, Shankar Guru and Akasmika with Kannada's megastar Rajkumar. Needless to say Vajramuni never paled in comparison. Remember the delightful Sudhakara-Ramanna pair of Sipayi Raamu.

Discipline

Vajramuni was villain in films but in real life he was soft natured, friendly natured and was a highly disciplined man. His punctuality is another noted aspect. He spent his last days in Vajramuni estate.