Shivarajkumar: Life sometimes takes us on difficult paths

Shivarajkumar’s Bhairathi Ranagal hit the screens on Friday.  A prequel to the 2017 film Mufti, it features him in an action role again.

“In Mufti, audiences saw who Bhairathi Ranagal is. Bhairathi Ranagal is about the rise of the character,” Shivarajkumar told Showtime in an exclusive interview. The busy actor has about 12 films in the pipeline. 

Shivarajkumar says working in the Tamil films Jailer and Captain Miller last year signalled a new chapter in his career. “I am now playing a special role in a Telugu film with Ram Charan,” he says. 

Opening up about his health, he says, “I have been offered three Tamil films. I am waiting to recover. I am going to the US for treatment. I will be back around the third week of January. Life sometimes takes us on difficult paths. We must face it.” 

Excerpts from the interview:

Tell us about Bhairathi Ranagal.

People liked Ranagal’s character in Mufti but his character in Bhairathi Ranagal will touch their hearts. I play two characters — a lawyer and a gangster. Both wear black, but the lawyer also wears a white shirt. White represents his character and what he stands for in both roles. White stands for purity and clarity. When he gets the clarity is the interesting part. 

How did you prepare for a lawyer’s role?

More than anything, when we connect with the dialogues and the situations, we do a court scene well. Otherwise it falls flat. The dialogues turn into speeches and get dramatic with ‘Your honour!’ and all the poses. It does not work.

After more than 125 films and about 40 years in the industry, what does cinema mean to you now?

Cinema is everything. It is our livelihood. I think of cinema, I breathe cinema. And it is cinema that has taken me places. 

Did you always want to be an actor?

As a child, I wanted to become a cricketer. I was a good athlete, so I thought I would become one. When I did Srinivasa Kalyana in 1974, I was in Class 7 or 8. I played Padmavati’s (Manjula) brother. They put a wig on me and I was a little irritated. (Laughs) Every time I recall my first film, I burst out into laughter. I look at the scenes now and ask my daughter ‘How did this boy become an actor?’ 

From Om to Bhairathi Ranagal, you have been doing a lot of action. 

I like doing it but I have to be careful. It is acting, I cannot really beat up the other person. Also, the situation should demand action. Hitting 10 people on screen is not action. Of course it can be entertaining but there should be a purpose. Otherwise it becomes formulaic and clichéd. 

What elements do you look for in a script?

I look for change. And what that change is conveying. Sometimes I go for the message, and sometimes for what is better in terms of entertainment. I look for a good blend. I don’t like repeating the same stories. I also make sure my appearance isn’t repeated. 

Also from the past four-five years, there has been talk about my eyes. For some characters, the eyes become important. Even (director) Nelson said the reason he wanted to cast me in Jailer was because my eyes made me look like a gangster. This kind of feedback is rare. But it is not deliberate. If the director has done the situation well or if a scene touches me, it automatically shows in my eyes. I think of Appaji (Rajkumar) in such moments. He would tell my mother, ‘He has lovely eyes. He can act using them’. Even Upendra used to tell me that he was a fan of my eyes. 

You’ve been doing a lot of gangster
dramas…

(Laughs) I will be doing a love story, a mature love story. It will be interesting, a family entertainer. We also want to get a big actor to play the heroine. Someone who can play a mature character. The film has a lot of twists. 

What do you think of present day Kannada actors and filmmakers?

There are good efforts but people should come watch them and spread the word. Audiences in other languages are appreciative of new gen talent. The hero doesn’t matter to them, only the subject does. We need that trend here as well. I watched a film recently called Lubber Pandhu, and it was convincing. Even Meiyazhagan, such a wonderful film.

As a lost child…

Shivarajkumar told us two stories from his childhood years:

“I was born 12 years after my parents’ marriage. I was three or four years old when I wandered away on the streets of Chennai. When the family found me, I was wearing no clothes. I pointed to a little boy, to whom I had given them away. In Gajanur, the village my family hails from, I walked into somebody’s house, asked them for food, ate, and slept there. Appaji (his father Rajkumar) came looking for me.

We are a big family. Four or five of us cousins grew up together. I had three mothers growing up — my avva, father’s mother, my mother, and Nagatthe (father’s sister).