Anant Nag reminisces his 50-year journey in cinema Premium

Anant Nag, tall, lanky and handsome, has been in the film industry for 50 years. He has portrayed every role with élan and intensity, evoking sympathy and hatred. He has worked in commercial and parallel cinema, and is still sought-after in his 70s. He humbly accepts the comparison to Amitabh Bachchan, but believes the legend has done more work than him.

When he entered the world of film, Anant Nag was lanky and handsome. Whether he played the mean, selfish son of a landlord in Shyam Benegal’s Ankur, the conniving brother in Kalyug, or the romantic pilot in Puttanna Kanagal’s Bayalu Daari, he portrayed every role with  élan and intensity. He could evoke sympathy as a lovelorn youngster as well as hatred for his negative roles. He was capable of tickling our funny bone with his comedy turns in films such as the Ganeshana Maduve series.

Though he was a newcomer, the audience saw him sharing the screen space with legendary actors of his time like the late actor Kalpana and Julie Lakshmi. If his commercial films ran houseful across Karnataka, he also worked in parallel cinema in Kannada (Minchina Ota, Accident, Nodi Swamy Naavu Iradu Heega) and Hindi (Nishant).

He was part of the iconic television series, Malgudi Days, directed by his late brother Shankar. The two brothers were the main propagators of Kannada theatre in Bengaluru in the ‘70s and ‘80s. They even founded the amateur theatre group — Sanket. Despite his success in cinema, Anant always made time for theatre.

From his debut in PV Nanjaraja Urs’ Kannada film Sankalpa to KGF Chapter 1, Anant has been there and done that. He has worked with legends and budding directors.

This year, he celebrates 50 years in the film industry. Even today, he is a busy man. The actor is being felicitated by fans and organisations for the remarkable milestone.

Amidst this hectic schedule, Anant, speaks to The Hindu over a call about cinema and what it means to him starting at the very beginning.

“I grew up in two ashrams — one in Uttara Karnataka and then in Dakshina Karnataka. I led a sheltered life and was adept at the life in the ashrams. Academically, I was in the top five ranks always.” Things changed drastically for Anant when the family moved to Mumbai. “School was in English medium. I could not cope and felt lost. Suddenly, I was at the bottom of the class. I chose arts, I was unsuccessful, tried literature, failed there too.” Anant tried to join the Army, but was rejected as he was underweight. “I lost interest in academics, and was thinking of going back to the ashram.”