On my pinboard - Ramesh Aravind

Engineer-turned-actor Ramesh Aravind has proved that he is a multi-faceted personality over the years. Apart from acting, directing and writing, he has also ventured into television to host the show ‘Weekend with Ramesh’.

‘Pushpaka Vimana’, his  100th film as a hero in the Kannada film industry is in the making and will see him play the role of a father who is extremely fond of his little girl. He is childlike and is easily excited by the smallest of things. The film delves into the relationship between a father and daughter. 

The actor never shies away from attempting anything new. At present,  he is working on his directorial project , ‘Gandu Endare Gandu,’ starring Ganesh and Shanvi.

1 | Author
Stephen King
“I owe a lot to my habit of reading which I developed early in life. I read a lot of non-fiction. One great thought, an interesting play of words or a well-written poem can delight me. Some of my favourite works are ‘On Writing’ by Stephen King, ‘The Art of Looking Sideways’ by Alan Fletcher and ‘Ideas’ by Peter Watson. All these have enriched my thinking. My library is full of different books. I enjoy reading English, Kannada and Tamil literature. I go through phases of different interests. Sometimes, I read about spirituality and psychology and at other times, my interest could be Economics. The more I read, the more I realise how little I know.”


2 | Music
Ilayaraja
“I wish I knew music because it is such a beautiful gift. While shooting songs for my films, I browse the internet to get an idea of the best music videos and admire the musicians’ craft. Ilayaraja and A R Rahman top the list of my favourites. All the music directors and singers whom I lip sync to are very special people. The way the newbies experiment with sound is also a joy. It’s a great pleasure to sit in music sessions deciding on the right tune for a song, get the lyrics written, choose the right voices for it and make sure that the rerecording is in tune with the mood of the scene.”

3 | Food
Falafel with pita bread
“I am a very poor eater. But that doesn’t stop me and my family from going out on weekends to different restaurants and trying all kinds of cuisines. I relish falafel with pita bread and always enjoy variations of that. Whenever I travel abroad, I relish Mediterranean and Mexican cuisines. But as I grow older, I seem to enjoy most what I ate as a child, which is simply a South Indian meal with fried chips or ‘appalam’.”

4 | Inspiration
My parents
“My father Govindachari and my mother Saroja have always inspired me. My father is an extremely hardworking person and my mother is very calm. My inspiration could also be fuelled by a smart quote, painting, song or even the cover of a book. One’s upbringing, education and personal experiences can prompt different creative responses from the same source of inspiration. It’s important to be inspired but it is more important to put that inspiration into memorable action.” 
                                                             

5 Travel
Canada
“I wish to see the whole world. My job takes me around quite a bit. As a family too, we like to take off once in a while to new places. We enjoyed travelling to Switzerland and Canada last winter. We are planning a vacation to Japan or China this year. We enjoy travelling together as we rarely get time to spend as a family otherwise.”

6 | Actor
Shankar Nag
“One film that has stayed with me till date is ‘Nodi Swamy Navirodu Heege’ directed by Shankar Nag. He was a brilliant actor and director who blended art and cinema very well. In college, I enjoyed performing skits which led to my entry into films. I grew up watching many Tamil comedy plays and serious Kannada plays that were popular at that
time. Today, in between directing two projects, I try to catch up on some theatre. I find so much new talent in theatre which I try to introduce into my films. I prefer to go to Ranga Shankara to watch plays and unwind. I love standup comedy.”