Mangalore: K R Rai - The Radio Voice that Ruled the Roost
by Florine Roche - Mangalore
Mangalore, Apr 7: Kalkadi Ramananda Rai, better known as K R Rai to the numerous radio listeners of undivided Dakshina Kannada District is only a distant memory henceforth. The baritone voice that entertained radio listeners donning the roles of Kenchanna, Thyampanna, Manjanna , Ajjayya and the booming tone as the Senior Announcer of All India Radio, Mangalore in the last three decades has bid goodbye to the final broadcast journey of his life recently leaving a vacuum that can never be taken by any one else. Known for his inimitable style of presentation and his hold over the Tulu language laced with a rustic tinge, Rai had endeared many a listener to radio.
He was and will remain the first and only radio star (radio jockey), a radio celebrity of the coastal area. At a time when radio was ruling the roost and even now people equate All India Radio with K R Rai, which stands testimony to his popularity and the distinctiveness he attained. K R Rai’s popularity stemmed from the fact that he had successfully touched the hearts and souls of common listeners by being one among them through the medium of radio.
Rai had joined All India Radio, Mangalore in 1978 as an Announcer at a time when radio was the only mass entertainer. That was the time when the people in the coastal area had the financial capacity to buy a transistor and listen to radio programmes. Soon after K R Rai became a household name, a radio star, which the masses adored and respected. He felt the pulse of the rural masses and responded spontaneously to their needs, hopes and aspirations through radio. Credit goes to him for using the world “solme” for the first time over radio and popularizing it, thus taking Tulu towards greater heights of glory.
It was the popular Tulu serial “Kenchanna Kurlari” that brought K R Rai name, fame and popularity. As Kenchanna, the role he donned in this Tulu weekly serial was close to the lives of numerous rural folks who identified themselves with the simple Kenchanna. He reached the people with simple Tulu language spoken by them and his conversation was educative, informative and laced with a touch of comedy. He certainly took it as a challenge of making the spoken Tulu language radiogenic and succeeded immensely. Says Shankar S Bhat, retired Announcer of All India Radio who worked with Rai for almost three decades “K R Rai had that innate ability to think in Tulu language and express it. The flow of language and ideas was natural and spontaneous and the rustic and rough feeling in his booming voice proved to be a boon. He had played a great role in popularizing radio with his matchless talent and stylish presentation”. The popularity of the serial was so great that people used to wait with bated breath for this programme every Sunday evening never giving it a miss.
In fact the roughness or the frequency of Rai’s voice was so loud and clear that he had to keep a distance of at least 1½ feet from the mike. Rai used to tell this joke of how he was perplexed when the selectors at the time of audition had advised him to be soft and speak with a toned voice.
Born in Kalkadi village of Belthangady Taluk, Rai was endowed with rich natural talent and he made use of the medium of radio to demonstrate his multifarious abilities. The rural upbringing had given him enough insight to the lives of farming community, their problems and the challenges they faced and this was evident in the programmes he presented. “Thyampanna Mahiti” was another popular series where important information was given to farmers everyday and it exhibited the knowledge Rai had about agriculture and related issues. “Maathina Manjanna”, the other weekly serial in Kannada was equally popular demonstrating his hold over both Kannada and Tulu language.
When the first Tulu News Summary was started in Akashavani a few years back, Rai was the natural choice to air and it was his booming voice that gave credence to the news items aired. Rai also had enormous talent for producing good programmes giving vent to his scripting abilities. The radio feature “Kaada Baduku” he produced based on the lives of a tribal sect Malekudiyas, won him a national certificate of merit award.
Rai was also a gifted theatre personality and with his command over Tulu he dabbled in theatre by writing and directing a Tulu play “Ajjer Lakkyer”. Though technically it was a good play due to some blunders committed by people whom Rai trusted fully, the whole experiment proved costly to him and he never fully recovered from this blow.
Despite his humungous contribution to Tulu Rai had a dejected man as he had an inner feeling that he never got the due recognition he deserved when people with lesser talent and contribution hogged limelight in the pretext of contributions to ulu. Though he never aspired for name and fame, in the last few years of his life, somewhere inside he had that feeling of being exploited by these very opportunists who had come to occupy places of eminence in the name of Tulu.
It was family tribulations that proved to be the undoing of Rai’s talent as he was trampled and crushed under the weight of carrying the load of family problems. The home atmosphere was not at all conducive to flourish his talent fully and ultimately Rai succumbed never to recover from it to bid goodbye at the age of 55, after a brief illness.
The general feeling among his own colleagues is that even radio could not do full justice to his myriad talents. Nonetheless he made use of the radio medium to reach people in his own incomparable style and people still remember the man and the voice that touched them through radio waves everyday. Rai is no more but the vacuum he left behind will continue to haunt radio listeners in the days to come.