Slowly but steadily climbing the ladder of fame

After making her presence felt in Hostel Hudugaru Bekagiddare Archana Kottige looks forward to the release of Elra Kaaleliyatte Kaala

Archana Kottige ventured into the Kannada film industry in 2018 and is slowly, but steadily making her mark. Born and brought up in Bengaluru, she comes from a family that stressed the importance of academics. Archana was studying to become a chartered accountant when she says she got fed up with numbers.

“I did complete my BCom and it was during this time that I got distracted. I would read about film auditions on virtual platforms and out of curiosity, give auditions and return to my studies.”

The actor, an alumni of Jain College, VV Puram and Christ University says, “Entering films was no easy feat for me. I did not have any connections and my parents were wary of me joining films. Women in cinema are usually seen as glamourous props. I worked with a local theatre group and my parents had seen me act on stage. That gave them the confidence that I might succeed as an actor and they decided to encourage me.”

Archana completed her education and her parents also set out certain rules for her cinematic entry. Archana has done cameos in films including Vasthu nan Prakara, was cast as a leading lady in Dear Sathya, and came to her own in her latest release, Hostel Hudugaru Bekagiddare.

When she auditioned for Hostel... Archana identified with one of the characters, Smitha. “I found physical similarities with my on-screen character. For instance, the character has a mole on one of her knees, and so do I.” After the audition, Archana was told, all the characters had been cast. “Later in the evening, I was added to the WhatsApp group, where the story and characters were unfolded and then there was no looking back”.

Having no idea of the filmmaking process, Archana decided to take a crash course in digital filmmaking at the LV Prasad Film and TV Academy while parallely auditioning in every casting call she got to hear about. “When I faced the camera, I realised that filmmaking was so different from what I had studied theoretically. It took me a while to understand how it works in the real world. I soon got to understand the process and got into the groove.”

Acting a scene in a room and on location is very different, Archana says. “One gets used to it over time, though initially, I found myself tongue-tied.”