Shankar Nag
Shankar Nag | |
|---|---|
| Born | Shankar Nagarkatte November 9, 1954 |
| Died | September 30, 1990 (aged 35) Near anagod davanagere, Karnataka |
| Other names | Shankar Anna, Karate King, Auto Raja |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, director, producer, screenwriter,television anchor |
| Years active | 1977 to 1990 |
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) |
| Spouse | Arundathi Nag |
| Parent(s) | Sadananda Nagarakatte Anandi |
| Relatives | Anant Nag (brother) |
| Website | http://www.shankarnag.in/ http://www.rangashankara.org/ |
Shankar Nagarkatte (9 November 1954 - 30 September 1990), known as Shankar Nag, was an actor and director of Kannada cinema. He also directed and acted in the teleserial, Malgudi days, based on celebrated novelist R.K.Narayan's short stories. Besides these, he was actively involved in Kannada theater activities. He co-wrote 22 June 1897, an Indian national award-winning Marathi film.
Career as an actor
Early Career
Shankar Nagarkatte was born on 9 November 1954 in Mallapur village in Honnavar (Uttara Kannada), Karnataka. His parents were Anandi and Sadanand Nagarkatte. His elder brother is the popular Kannada actor Anant Nag. After completing formal education, Shankar moved to Mumbai. In Mumbai, he was attracted to Marathi theater and immersed himself in theatrical activities. Incidentally, he met his future wife, Arundhathi during a drama rehearsal.
Shankar Nag then shifted base to Karnataka. His elder brother Anant Nag had already established himself as an actor and urged Shankar to act in films. He was offered a role of a mercenary by Girish Karnad in the 1979 epic movie, Ondanondu Kaladalli, which was loosely based on Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, Seven Samurai. The film portrayed the Indian Martial Arts Kalaripayattu. Ondanondu Kaladalli went on to be a critical and commercial success and Shankar Nag tasted success with his very first movie. The film was screened at the Delhi International Film Festival and Shankar Nag won a National Award for his performance as a mercenary in the film. The same year Shankar Nag starred in a Romantic movie titled I Love You in which he played a womanizer who later repents for his mistakes. This movie too did reasonably well at the box office and Nag received critical acclaim for his performance. Shankar Nag got a major commercial break through his next film Seetha Ramu of Abbaiya Naidu, which catapulted him into star status. The film was a major blockbuster, and was remarkable for its extraordinary scientific theme of Brain transplantation, imagined back in 1979, which is practically not possible to achieve even today.
Rise to Super stardom
After the huge success of Seetha Ramu, commercial film producers took notice of Shankar Nag and he began acting in typical masala movies. Shankar was an unconventional hero with an unshaven face, distinct swagger, dark eyes and had a rough voice. Although he had never undergone any martial arts training, he earned the sobriquet of Karate King. After giving 3 consecutive hits in 1979, Shankar Nag continued his streak of success with hits like Preethi Madu Thamashe Nodu (1980), Moogana Sedu (1980), Muniyana Madari (1981), Jeevakke Jeeva (1981), Bharjari Bete (1981) co-starring Ambareesh, Nyaya Ellide (1982), Kaarmika Kallanalla (1982) co-starring Vishnuvardhan. He also won critical acclaim for his performances in these movies. After giving 10 hits in a short span of 3 years, Shankar Nag was rapidly rising to super stardom. He just needed one more big commercial success like Seetha Ramu to get into the league of the Top stars. At this point of time, he starred in a film titled Auto Raja in 1982, which catapulted him to Superstar status and made him a darling of masses and Auto Drivers. Auto Raja was a huge commercial success and made Shankar Nag a mass icon. With the stupendous success of Auto Raja, Shankar Nag's craze doubled overnight and he had easily overtaken big stars like Vishnuvardhan and Ambareesh and became the second biggest star of Kannada cinema at that point of time, behind Rajkumar. In 1983, Shankar Nag directed, produced and starred in Nodi Swamy Navirodu Hige which focused on the lifestyles of the middle class population of Bangalore. The film was both a musical and commercial hit. The same year, he also gave hits like Chandi Chamundi and Gedda Maga. 1984 proved to be Shankar Nag's best year, as he gave 4 box office hits in that year such as Thaliya Bhagya, Indina Bharatha, Ganda Berunda (co-starring Ambareesh, inspired by Mackenna's Gold) and Apoorva Sangama (co-starring Rajkumar). From 1979 to 1984, in a span of 6 years, Shankar Nag had given around 20 box office hits, which proved that his box office appeal was bigger than Vishnuvardhan and Ambareesh during that period.
Career Downfall
While Shankar Nag had a very successful career from 1979 to 1984, his career started to decline from 1985. Famous Villain Tiger Prabhakar turned into a hero and became a star during this period. Rajkumar's son Shivrajkumar and V. Ravichandran were also rapidly growing to be stars with back to back hits. Shankar Nag was somewhere lost out in the race due to competition from the new born stars from 1985 to 1987 and most of his films failed to make any impression during this period. Most of the times when his movies failed, he used to turn towards stage plays and theater activities.
Comeback
After the rough patch from 1985 to 1987, Shankar Nag re-invented his mass fan following from 1988 to 1990, with successful Cop films like the Sangliana series and C.B.I. Shankar. It was the film Sangliana which came in 1988 that gave him the much needed break, in which he essayed the role of the real life super cop H. T. Sangliana. Shankar Nag stuck to his cop image and starred in C.B.I. Shankar in 1989, which was also a box office success. The same year, Shankar Nag also acted in Sunil Kumar Desai's suspense thriller film Tarka which gained wide critical acclaim and was moderately successful at the box office. He then starred in the sequel to Sangliana titled S.P. Sangliana 2 in 1990, which went on to be a Super Hit at the box office and was more successful than the first part. A third installment in the Sangliana series with Shankar Nag was in production, but was stalled after Shankar Nag's death in September 1990. However, a third installment titled S.P. Sangliana 3 was made in 1997, with Devraj playing the role of Sangliana, who was incidentally the antagonist in the first two installments.
Directorial Career
Shankar began his directorial in 1980 with Janma Janmada Anubandha. He next directed Minchina Ota in 1981, a heist film which depicts the life of a criminal who is on the run after escaping from prison. It won him wide critical acclaim and seven State Awards, including the Best film. The same year, Shankar Nag directed and starred in Geetha. Songs composed by Ilaiyaraaja went on to be all time chart-busters and are still widely popular. Although the film wasn't commercially successful, it has achieved cult classic status in the following years. In 1983, Shankar Nag directed, produced and starred in Nodi Swamy Navirodu Hige which focused on the lifestyles of the middle class population of Bangalore. The film was both a musical and commercial hit. He also directed Hosa Teerpu and a hindi film Lalach in 1983. In 1985, Shankar Nag directed Accident, which is considered as one of the path-breaking landmark films of Kannada cinema. Accident received the National Award for Best film in 1985 and bagged the Rajata Kamala too. The same year, it also won the Karnataka State Award for Best film and a few more categories too. Critics call it one of the first films depicting corruption in public life and the futile struggle against it. The movie struck the right balance between commercial and art cinema and is considered as a "bridge cinema". Shankar Nag directed Ondu Muttina Kathe for Rajkumar in 1988. Riding on high expectations, Ondu Muttina Kathe received mixed response upon release, however, ended up doubling its investment. Over the following years, Ondu Muttina Kathe has achieved cult status and is considered as one of the most technically advanced films of the 80's era of Kannada cinema. Although other than Nodi Swamy Navirodu Hige and Ondu Muttina Kathe none of Shankar Nag's directorials were commercially successful, yet they brought National recognition to Kannada cinema and many awards and honors such as National Awards and State awards. Shankar Nag's directorial films were successful in making the entire Nation look forward to Kannada films.
Malgudi days
Shankar did not limit his efforts to cinema. He was equally immersed in theatre and television. Malgudi Days is the best example of Shankar's oeuvre on television. Prior to globalization, Doordarshan was the only broadcaster in India. In addition to programme production, Doordarshan used to invite private producers to produce television serials. Shankar accepted the offer and directed Malgudi Days, based on the collection of short stories by R.K.Narayan in 1987, under the banner of Padam Rag Films. Well known actors Vishnuvardhan and Ananth Nag appeared in the serial. Master Manjunath, who essayed the role of impish Swami, became a household name.
The music, accompanied by the nasal twang "Tananaa tana na naa" was composed by L. Vaidyanathan. The teleserial was shot in Agumbe, Shimoga district, Karnataka. Shankar went to direct another teleserial, titled Swami in the same year. Malgudi days has been rated as one of the finest serials ever to be made in the history of Indian Television.[citation needed]
He anchored the Parichaya program on DD1-Kannada, in its starting days.[citation needed]
Shankar retained an interest in theatre. His brother Ananth Nag and he founded SANKET, an amateur theatre group, which still produces plays. His first ever directorial effort in Kannada was Anju Mallige by Girish Karnad. He continued with productions like Barrister, Sandhya Chhaya. Sometime here he was joined by T N Narasimhan who wrote and co-directed Nodi Swamy Navirodu Hige which had, apart from himself, his wife Arundhati Nag and Ramesh Bhat in the cast.
Death
Shankar Nag died in a car crash at Anagodu village on the outskirts of Davanagere town on 30 September 1990, while proceeding to Lokapur in Bagalkot district of Karnataka with his wife Arundhati Nag and daughter Kavya, in the shooting of his film Jokumaraswamy.[citation needed] Sundarakanda was his last film as actor and was released a few days after his death. It's a belief among his many ardent fans that Shankar Nag would have changed that face of Kannada Film Industry had he lived longer.
Selected filmography
As a Director
- Janma Janmada Anubandha - 1980
- Minchina Ota - 1981
- Geetha - 1981
- Hosa Teerpu - 1983
- Lalach - 1983
- Nodi Swamy Navirodu Hige - 1983
- Accident - 1985
- Watchman - 1986
- Malgudi Days (TV series) - 1987
- Swami (TV Series) - 1987
- Ondu Muttina Kathe - 1988
As an Actor
As a writer
- 22 June 1897 (1979) - Marathi
- Geetha (1981) - Kannada
- Parameshi Prema Prasanga (1985) - Kannada
References
- http://www.ourkarnataka.com/Articles/sreesha/shankarnag.htm
- http://www.viggy.com/english/current_rangashankara.asp
- http://www.rangashankara.org