Aparna Vastarey: Not just the ‘voice of metro’

Aparna Vastarey, who died last week, debuted in a Puttanna Kanagal film and compered stage shows with literary and cultural significance.

If you live in Bengaluru and have taken the metro, you will be familiar with a lilting voice that says, ‘Railu eega Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Nildanakke talupalide. BaagilugaLu edakke tereyalide…’ 

Actor, TV presenter, anchor and the voice behind Namma Metro announcements, Aparna Vastarey died of complications from lung cancer last week. She was 57. 

Aparna made her acting debut in Puttanna Kanagal’s last film ‘Masanada Hoovu’, in 1985. She played Parvati, a poignant character who is deceived by her lover and ends up in the clutches of a brothel house. 

Aparna came from a middle-class family. Her father was a senior Kannada film journalist and naturally her interest in Kannada film, theatre and culture grew from there. After her film debut in ‘Masanada Hoovu’, Aparna moved on to act in plays for the Kannada wing of Doordarshan — DD Chandana. She eventually became a TV presenter for various shows on the channel. She even worked as a radio jockey with AIR and AIR FM Rainbow. 

Aparna then started acting for television in serials like ‘Moodala Mane’ directed by Vaishali Kasaravalli which aired on ETV Kannada. She also played (Rocking Star) Yash’s sister in the serial ‘Preeti Illada Mele’.

Actor Padmaja Rao, Aparna’s friend and co-star in the shows mentioned above, describes her as a strong personality. “She was an inspiration for me to buy a car,” she tells Showtime, adding how 20 to 25 years ago, owning and driving a car was a liberating experience for a woman. 

Padmaja, who used to stress over her dialogues and continuously practise them while shooting ‘Moodala Mane’, recalls a vivid memory from the sets when they shot a high point scene with Aparna in focus. “I assumed it would be a busy day for her as well,” she laughs. However, she recalls it being one of the most enjoyable days on set. “Appu (as Aparna was fondly called) advised me how we must not think about a scene for the whole day, else we could turn senile. Mega serials go on for years and we’ve to perform the same role of crying, screaming and screeching. And how if we get involved in it completely, we can have emotional breakdowns. I was quite surprised by her advice. I observed her that day. She was mostly relaxed, but the minute she was called for rehearsal, she would get serious,” she shares. 

Padmaja continues, “Vaishali ma’am said she can finish it in a single take if she wanted but tears should roll down her cheeks, or she could take a break in between. But Aparna finished it in a single take. After the scene, she took about 10 minutes to get out of the mood and then we were back laughing and having fun again.” Padmaja describes it as an important lesson in her professional life.

Donning a black robe, Aparna also played lawyer Sheela Prasad opposite T N Seetharam in ‘Mukta’ and ‘Mukta Mukta’, both directed by Seetharam. 

She was also seen in films like ‘Sangrama’ (1987), ‘Inspector Vikram’ (1989), ‘Onti Salaga’ (1989) and the recent ‘Grey Games’ among others. 

Aparna also appeared in a number of other roles on television, the most recent being ‘Maja Talkies’, a sketch comedy show. She played the role of Varalakshmi along with Srujan Lokesh. She was also a participant in the reality show ‘Bigg Boss’. 

Fluency in Kannada language

Known for her fluency in the Kannada language, Aparna compered for a host of government, private and public events. 

Recalling her relationship with Aparna, singer and composer M D Pallavi says, “I’ve known Aparna for at least 20 years now. We met at events where she was compereing and I was singing. She was such a veteran in compereing. Despite the chaos backstage, she had a unique way of speaking. Anybody who has attended Kannada events and programs can recognise Aparna’s voice very well. She was also someone who loved music, poetry and literature.”

Hampi Utsav, Dasara Utsav, and Kannadave Satya program were among the many programmes Aparna and Pallavi were a part of together. 

T N Seetharam says Aparna had a unique quality of knowing everything about a person who she had to talk about at an event. “Her voice had a sense of affection for the language she spoke which she articulated very clearly,” he adds. 

Tryst with Namma Metro

In recent times, Aparna is more known for her voice announcements on Namma Metro. 

According to the short documentary, ‘Echoes of Namma Metro’ by Faces of Bengaluru (FoB), Aparna received a call asking for her voice samples for Namma Metro, about 12 years ago. She sent lines from a Kannada newspaper and soon got selected. She was given a long script and she recorded her lines, but metro services did not begin for a long time. 

“One fine day when the metro services from Baiyappanahalli to M G Road began, I was quite excited how my voice would be heard on the metro but I didn’t take the metro for a long time. One Deepavali, I finally decided to take the metro experience and I was really very happy and proud to hear my voice,” she says in the documentary.  “I’m glad I could be a voice to Namma Metro,” she signs off in the film. 

“When we screened the film at BIC, someone from the audience said, ‘her voice leads a lot of people to the right directions’,” says Vikas Badigar, director of ‘Echoes of Namma Metro’ and founder of FoB. 

(The documentary is available on FoB Documentaries YouTube channel)