Managluru, Oct 3: Veteran Yakshagana artiste Chittani Ramachandra Hegde passed away at a private hospital in Manipal on Tuesday night, due to pneumonia. He was 84.
He was the first among Yakshagana artistes to receive Padma Shri award. A school dropout who studied up to Class 2, Ramachandra Hegde performed Yakshagana for nearly seven decades and won a national award.
He is survived by his wife, three sons and a daughter. The last rites will be conducted at his village Guddekeri, 19 km from Honnavar, in Uttara Kannada on Wednesday.
Ramachandra Hegde became unconscious after performing the role of Shantanu in “Bheeshmotpatti” prasanga (episode) in Bangaramakki on September 26. Later, he was admitted to a hospital in Honnavar from where he was shifted to Kasturba Medical College Hospital in Manipal on September 29.
His illustrious performance became the subject matter for research works. Keshava Hegde, the author of Yaksha Sinchana, said that Ka. Vem. Shree and Vasudha Hegde obtained their Ph. D by writing on the performance of Ramachandra Hegde.
Ramachandra Hegde’s greatest strength was memorising the “prasangas” as he was not well versed in reading and writing. Many artistes of the present generation have been following the Chittani style of dance, Mr. Keshava Hegde said.
A recipient of many awards, including the Rajyotsava award, Mr. Hegde was known for performing the roles of Bhasmasura, Kaurava, Keechaka, Rudrakopa, Kamsa, Magadha and many other villain roles.
His son Subrahmanya Chittani, also a Yakshagana performer, said that Yakshagana was his father’s life.
Mr. Hegde had described Yakshagana as a “collective form” that came alive with everybody, from the veshadhari (artiste) and bhagavata (background singer) to the chande and maddale (percussion) players.
The kidnapped schoolboy was rescued by the police and reunited with his parents. Son of a gift shop owner from Basavanagudi area in Bengaluru, Chirag has reportedly told police that decided to make some quick money to spend on cricket betting and gambling after learning kidnap tricks from the ‘Crime Patrol’. According to police, Chirag reached a private school around 3pm on Tuesday on a Bounce rental bike and zeroed in on a fourth standard student who was walking out of school. He told the boy he was his father's friend and that he required help to search for a relative who had gone missing. The boy believed Chirag and rode pillion on the bike. Chirag then engaged the boy in conversation and learnt about his father's business and got his mobile phone number. He then made a call to the boy's father, demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him against approaching cops. However, the boy's father alerted Cottonpet police and special teams were formed to crack the case. While Cottonpet inspector Venkatesh TC's squad verified CCTV footage in and around the school, Chamarajpet inspector BG Kumaraswamy's team started tracking the suspect's mobile phone movements. An hour later, the suspect's location was traced to a hotel on the Lavelle Road-St Mark's Road stretch. Police rushed there, rescued the boy and arrested Chirag.
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Condolence.. God may give strength for family to bear his loss
Great artist. Biggest loss for us
Rest in peace
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