Rajendra Singh Babu

Film Director, Producer, Writer

Born: 22nd October 1952, Mysore, Karnataka

Rajendra Singh Babu is known for his Kannada films but not many are aware that he ventured into Hindi films too.

It must have been sometime in 1983-85. I was in Std 8 or 9. All of us at school (Baldwin Girls) were very excited because we were going to be a part of a film! About 100 of us, or maybe more, were taken to the neighbourhood Bangalore Military School (now called Rashtriya Military School) on Hosur Road for a full day's shooting. No classes! What fun it was going to be! We were told to be dressed in our school uniforms, blue pinafores over a white half-sleeved shirt, with tie and belt. When we reached, we found that there were an equal number of girls in green pinafore - from Bishop Cotton Girls or Cathedral School (I can't remember!).

We were all made to sit in an auditorium, the blue pinafores on one side of the centre isle and the green pinafores on the other. The scene was a prize distribution function. Padmini Kolhapure was the winner of a big trophy, and she was to receive it from the chief guest (who I think was her father), played by Dilip Kumar. She was dressed in neither blue nor green, but a red outfit. We were to shout "We want speech! We want speech!". And Padmini had a few lines to say after this. The film was called Aag Ka Dariya, and SV Rajendra Singh was the director.

We were requested not to crowd around the actors. Those who wanted autographs were asked to give a sheet (labelled with our name), on which the actors would sign. Like this, I got the autographs of Padmini Kolhapure and Dilip Kumar.

For the director Rajendra Singh though, there was no restriction. I guess directors are not mobbed the way actors are. I was able to slip a sheet of paper to Rajendra Kumar and ask him to sign, and he graciously obliged.

Bangalore, Circa 1984

Coming back to the film Aag Ka Dariya. As you can imagine, we eagerly awaited its release, but this never did happen. We heard that the film had run into problems and I had assumed that it was never finished, until in December 2013, when I saw a news item that indicated the film would be released in 2014. Wonder if the scene we shot ever made it past the final crop!