Gandharva Gaana: A Celebration of Dr Rajkumar movies' musical journey

Bengaluru: "Gandharva Gaana" a coffee table book written by Jagannath Jois is a celebration of the musical legacy of Kannada film super star actor, singer Dr Rajkumar. The book is a compilation of interesting facts about music in the career of Dr Rajkumar. In his illustrious career of over five decades,  Dr Rajkumar starred in 208 movies.

A culmination of hard work for several years:  Gandharva Gaana Chronicles the facts, figures and the credits of each of the film with lyrics of each song. The book is a culmination of hard work of several years.  The original research spanning the entire career of the legend is not only worth reading but also analysis by Dr Rajkumar fans.

In a free wheeling chat with R . Manjunath Chavan, Gandharva Gaana author Mr Jagannath Jois shared his experience about making of the book 

...I hail from a musically inclined family from Beeruru in Chikmagaluru district, Karnataka. It was natural for me to appreciate fine things in life arts, books and culture. As a result of which I used to watch Kannada movies. It was obvious, that Dr Rajkumar was my favourite actor singer. I was in awe of him not only as an actor but also as a singer. 

Since my academic days , I had nursed an ambition to document his phenomenal contribution to Kannada Cinema. 

As I was busy in my personal and professional life it was difficult to manifest the desire to reality. Post my retirement from Banking Sector in 2016, I resolved to fulfill my long over due dream and thus was born the concept of documenting the legend's musical journey.

The scope of the project was to document musical score , lyrics and the film director credits of each of the movie starring Dr Rajkumar. 

I was aware of the fact that over eighty thousands of pages of content about the legend was already available. It was imperative that "Gandharva Gaana" book stood out in the intellectual quotient index as well as the market dynamics.

While the scope of the book was well defined it was important for me to present the content in a new dimension and perspective. 

...I was fortunate to have mentor in the order of Doddahaulluru Rukkoji, a colossal in the annals of Kannada Cinema Journalism. He set the right mode and mood to the project. As a matter of fact, he is the chief mentor in making of this book.

Since I had the knowledge of the rich literature of the land like Ramayana,  Mahabharata, Daasa Sahitya, Works of Sarvagna, Basavanna, modern literature, contemporary millennium world literature I planned to connect the dots with the lyrics of Dr Rajkumar songs. The idea was to explore and expose the band width of the treasure house of Indian culture, literature with that of cinema literature. 

Apart from documenting the musical legacy I decided to add finer elements of each of the movie with a template of music director,  lyricist, singer and film director. As a part of the content, indexation with the movie number of the legend's film career was also documented.

The content of the book had to be contemporary that called for few observations that co-relate with the values of the epics Ramayan and Mahabharat. I have made efforts to juxtapose the same in few chapters.

Dr Rajkumar sang all genres of songs film,  devotional, Daasa Sahitya, Janapada, Light Music, Kannada Pride songs . Name it he had sung . To document all the songs, lyrics was not only daunting but also herculean. 

But the support I have got from my entire family members has made this dream come true. 

And I express my gratitude to each of the support that has come in this regard" the author Jagannath Jois said in conclusion. 

Well, Gandharva Gaana book is an excellent intellectual property for the sheer content quality. But the fact that, the entire Jois clan invited Dodda Hulluru Rukkoji to their abode "Jenu Gudu" to honour him and acknowledge the monumental work about Dr Rajkumar makes a statement by itself.

That, virtues, moral values and grace make the man that he is. It also reflects the Manodharma of the person. And, Mono Dharma is the preamble for creative faculty to express in all its flow, fidelity and integrity.

Jagannath Jois's Gandharva Gaana is a glaring example of each of the faculties, morals taught by the legendary Dr Rajkumar through his professional and personal life . 

May the tribe grow and glow.....

- R. Manjunath Chavan.