Most of the kids in the 80s and 90s have grown-up reading and imagining the place and characters in novelist RK Narayan's fiction 'Malgudi Days'. According to Narayan's short stories, until now Malgudi was a fictional place in south India where Swami and his friends lived but now, the railway station that belongs to this fictional place is soon to come to life.
'Malgudi Days' was first published in 1943. It was later adapted to a TV show with the same name by legendary Kannada actor-director Shankar Nag in 1986; the show featured many popular Kannada celebrities including Girish Karnad, Arundhati Nag, Vishnuvardhan among others.
According to a news by The Times of India (TOI), the Indian Railways recently announced t hat Karnataka's Arasalu Railway Station will be renamed to Malgudi Railway Station. The renaming is being done to pay homage to Shankar Nag, as some shots of 'Maguldi Days' TV series were shot there. Arasalu Railway Station is located in Hosanagar taluka and it lies on the Shivamogga-Talaguppa railway line. 'Along with renaming it, South Western Railway is planning to develop the station at an estimated cost of Rs 1.3 crore,' reads the TOI report.
"Arasalu railway station was perfectly suited to recreate British-era scenes. Every morning we rushed there to record two shots, one for the English version and another for Hindi. The first shot was taken on the right platform. When the train returned after 20 minutes, the second shot was done in the opposite platform. These are evergreen memories," Master Manjunath, who played the role of Swami in the TV series Malgudi Days, told TOI.
It's noted that in 2011, the Indian Railways had renamed the Yeshwantpur-Mysuru Express as Malgudi Express.
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