Newindpress

Mangalore, Jan 31: P Deepak Rao is a `poster boy’ of Mangalore. Be it any event, there is a picture of Deepak Rao, in a serene composure with hands folded in a traditional namaste and decked in Raja Vesha of the popular folklore Yakshagana, in all publicity campaign materials ranging from huge flexi-sheets to pamphlets.
 
Deepak Rao also appears decked in Pundu Vesha of Yakshagana at some billboards. How does Deepak Rao feel like a celebrity? 
 
Interestingly, Deepak Rao now in Bangalore did not have the faintest clue on his photographs being used on publicity materials of different events. 
 
Deepak Rao, a towering talent in Yakshagana, recalls attending a photo session for a `company’ calendar while completing MBA in a college in 2005. 
 
The calendar came out and everything was forgotten. It was a year ago, he saw his first photograph on the billboards of the Syndicate Bank. 
 
“Now it has gone to extreme,” he confesses and adds; “I see my face at every hoarding in the city that catches my attention.” 
 
His friends had also informed Rao of sighting similar hoardings in Shimoga and Uttara Kannada districts. But his father P Dattananda Rao is not amused. “How can they publish a photograph kept in a private album, in public domain?,” he asks. 
 
Now a publication group and district branch of Indian Dental Association (IDA), which used the pictures of Deepak Rao in their promotional materials, have been served with legal notices.
 
Advocate Udayaprakash Muliya confirming serving the notices on behalf of his client Dattananda Rao says they have claimed damages for harming the reputation of his client and copyright violations. 
 
Interestingly, Mangalore City Corporation which also used pictures of Deepak Rao to promote Pilikula Nisargadhama on city’s outskirts is surely thanking its stars for not being served with legal notice. 
 
The institutions at the receiving end, have not yet responded.