Bagalkot witnessed a ‘star-studded’ rally on Monday. For a while, the locals as well as the returning officer were confused as it looked like Sandalwood stars Upendra, Sudeep, Ravichandran, Duniya Vijay and even the late Rajkumar and Vishnuvardhan had arrived at his office.
‘Upendra’ was filing his nomination papers as BSP candidate, while the others had arrived in his support. It took a while for the officials to figure out that all of them were lookalikes of the popular actors and appear in Kannada films as sidekicks to the stars. ‘Upendra’ is R D Babu, who runs an orchestra and a computer training centre in Bagalkot. He has acted in a few Kannada films like Savari, Kalleshi Malleshi, Bindas Hudgi and in the upcoming Bidalaare Yendu Ninna among others. Babu said his resemblance to popular Sandalwood actor Upendra has helped him in his career. “Fifteen years ago, I started sporting the style of Upendra. I studied only up to SSLC and then started working as a newspaper delivery
boy and later became an auto driver. I took advantage of my looks and started participating in orchestras. Soon, I managed to bag small roles in films,” he told Bangalore Mirror.
Now, Babu runs his own orchestra and a computer training institute. He said he spends 75 per cent of what he earns on social work. “I conduct blood donation camps and prosthetic leg attachment camps. We recently organised a cricket tournament and invited Upendra. He appreciated my work and promised to get me a role in his film,” Babu said. When asked about his entourage, Babu said, “Many of them were trained by me and they came to support me. It is not a gimmick. They are my friends who are helping me. When a big film star contests elections, his friends in the film industry help him. It is the same case here. It is not just the look-alikes but real actors will also come to campaign for me. Bank Janardhan, who heads the Supporting Actors’ Association, has promised to come to Bagalkot for a few days to help me in the campaigning.”
