A little boy's dream

S Nanda Kumar speaks to celebrated Kannada film actor Srinath, on his time in the industry and his association with acclaimed film director Puttanna Kanagal.

The year was 1950. A seven-year-old boy called Narayana Swamy, walking past a small conservancy lane, on his way to school in Bangalore’s Basavanagudi area, was watching a man pasting a Kannada film poster on a wall.

Curious about what was happening, the little boy asked the man who the person in the poster was. The man told him that it was a movie poster, and that the person in it was the ‘hero.’ The little boy replied, “One day I will have my photo in such a poster!” The billboard man playfully cuffed the boy and told him to concentrate on his studies. But the dream was stuck in the little boy’s head, and about 25 years later, it was to come true. Narayana Swamy, christened Srinath by director SKA Chari, played the main lead in the film Madhura Milana. “When that film was released, I went and watched them putting up a poster with my picture in it in the same area. I cried when I saw it,” said Srinath. That little boy’s dream came true, and Kannada cinema got one of its most enduring actors.

Dr Srinath’s (as he is better know today) grandfather, C N Sastry, an eminent lawyer, regularly put up mythological plays in which all the little children played roles. The young Srinath got his first taste of acting then, and the sound of applause never left him.

From stage to screen

The love for the stage took him to acting in numerous Kannada plays, side by side, with his elder brother C R Simha and other actors who went on to make a name for themselves in Kannada films. Before long, he became an integral part of Gopinath Dasa’s famed Prabhat Kalavidaru. It was a play that brought him to the notice of noted Kannada film director SKA Chari. V V Giri, who was then governor of Karnataka, expressed a desire to see a mythological play. Educationalist M S Ramaiah, who ran a cultural group, conveyed this message to Gopinath, who readily agreed to put up a play. Both Simha and Srinath were given important roles. But as luck would have it, Simha, who was away in Mumbai on an educational tour, missed his train to Bangalore. The play was to take place the next day. In the midst of the crisis, Srinath stepped in and told the director that he would play his brother’s role as well, since the scenes were far apart. And since they had regularly rehearsed the play at home, he knew Simha’s lines as well. The day was saved, the show went on, and at the end of it, when the director made an announcement about it, the delighted Ramaiah called Srinath to the stage and gave him Rs 500 as a token of appreciation. This incident made the newspapers, and SKA Chari, who read the report, wanted to cast the young man in his film. Telephone calls were made, and Srinath was cast for Madhura Milana.

Although Madhura Milana was Srinath’s first big break, for the record, his debut was a small cameo role in KSL Swamy’s Lagna Patrike that starred Dr Rajkumar and others. “It was a small mythological scene that came before the beginning titles, and many of my friends who went to see it missed my appearance as Manmatha! In order to prove that I really was in the film, we all went to Shanthi Theatre, waited out one entire show, and after confirming from the projector operator that there was indeed this scene, we all saw the next show with me and my friend Gangadhar appearing on the screen as Shiva and Manmatha!” Srinath exclaimed, laughing.

After Madhura Milana, many more films came his way. But they were not enough to give the young actor the conviction that he could earn a livelihood out of it. And since he was a beginner, he did not have much of a choice in selecting roles. “I was not paid much in those days. I had already got married, my wife Geetha was pregnant with our first child, and I was wondering how I could support them. And in those days, only if one was a star could one be choosy. And the man of the moment, who was creating stars with his films, was Puttanna Kanagal. But although I had already done 31 films and had spent five years in the field, I never got a role in his films.” The call from Kanagal for a lead role never came. “I made up my mind to apply for a job with the State Government. My brother Simha was already working in the Song and Drama division of the government. I mentioned this to director KSL Swamy, who had already given me many good roles in his films. He did not approve of it and asked me to wait a while.” Around this time, Swamy had been asking Kanagal to make a movie for him, and was adamant that he also cast Srinath in the film. Kanagal was not a man who could be dictated to, but Swamy was insistent. “This actor has already worked in so many films, and he has already been moulded. I need fresh talent,” Kanagal told Swamy. But Swamy persevered.

Srinath was called for a meeting with Puttanna, and like in a film script, the director told him, “Come back after you have slimmed down.” A dejected Srinath thought this was a nice way of Puttanna saying that he could not work in his film. Funnily enough, senior artiste Shivaram, who had been responsible for getting Srinath to act in the cameo role in Lagna Patrike, and a guest appearance in Kanagal’s Sharapanjara, convinced him that this was a test, and persuaded him to jog with him every morning. When Srinath presented himself to Kanagal after three weeks, he looked him up and down, smiled and said, “Good! I see you are really interested. You will work in my film.” And that was the big break Srinath was waiting for. The film was Shubamangala, with the eternal Kannada hit song Snehada kadalalli... that is popular to this day. “I can never forget what Shivaram and KSL Swamy did for me,” Srinath said with affection in his voice.

There was no looking back after that, and many big offers came his way, and Srinath was finally able to pick and choose. More importantly, he could now sit back with the confirmation that he could earn a living from films. Another big milestone was the same Puttanna Kanagal’s Manasa Sarovara.

Television has also made this man a household name with his shows and serials. This jovial, easy-going 68-year-old actor, who is affectionately called Pranaya Raja (King of Romance), is bubbling with enthusiasm, and has even planned to direct a film soon. “I am working on the script. And like my mentor Puttanna Kanagal, I am consulting many experts from different walks of life. I don’t want to say anything more on it. Let us see,” he said smiling mysteriously. Funnily enough, after living in other parts of Bangalore, he now lives in Basavanagudi, a stone’s throw away from his childhood home, where his journey into acting started. It is also very close to the small lane where the little boy saw the man putting up a poster, and promised to himself that he would also have his face on a poster.