Sudharani: I faced camera first when I was just three

Sudharani had her first brush with showbiz as a toddler when she was featured in a one-reel advertisement for a biscuit brand.

She was just three when she got a role in ‘Kiladi Kittu,’ starring Vishnuvardhan and Rajinikanth. Her first film as a heroine was opposite Shivarajkumar in his debut ‘Anand’, which was a huge hit.

Sudharani has also acted in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Tulu films. She has worked in about 150 films, a majority of which has been in Kannada. She was awarded the state best actress award twice, for ‘Panchama Veda’ and ‘Mysore Mallige’.

She tells her story to Showtime.

Family of academics

Sudharani hails from “a conservative Brahmin family.” She was born to H S Gopalakrishna and Nagalakshmi, who lived in Malleswaram, Bengaluru.
“Most of my father’s family was into academics and many are doctors. I wanted to be a doctor too. I also wanted to be a vet and didn’t know the difference between the two. I remember saying that the first half of a day I would take care of humans and the next half I would treat animals,” she recalls, laughing.

Her parents loved movies. “A movie outing a week was mandatory. After we were back, we would sit over a cup of coffee and discuss the film,” she says.
Her family greatly admired Dr Rajkumar. “We would meet him every summer when we visited my uncle, the lyricist and dialogue writer Chi Udayshankar, in Chennai. Whenever Rajkumar films were released, we would play games connected to them,” she says.

Her mother Nagalakshmi was a singer and artist and loved knitting, while her father read a lot. “My childhood was colourful. We always had people visiting us and our house used to be bustling with activity. My brother Murali was an animal lover and we had lots of pet dogs, birds, rabbits, cats and squirrels. Our house resembled a mini zoo,” she says.

Schooling days

She studied in a convent school, St Thomas, at its Malleswaram and Seshadripuram branches.

“I always wanted to try a mint candy that looked like a cigarette but my father refused to buy it for me. I remember crying a lot, hoping he would budge,” she recalls.

Reading books — comics and fiction — was a favourite pastime. “We used to get Deccan Herald even then, and I remember the cartoon strip Blondie. I used to cut and paste it and create a comic book,” she says.

Facing the camera

Sudharani was two and a half years old when she faced the camera for a Kwality biscuits advertisement.

“A family friend referred me and my brother to advertising honcho C R Rao. We made our debut. The cameraman of the ad suggested my name to the director of Kiladi Kittu,” she says.

Her brother played the younger version of Rajinikanth in the film. “Our entire family came for the shoot in Mysuru. Murali and I did many funny things where we stayed, including going up and down in the lift an entire afternoon, as it was new to us,” she says.

On the first day of shoot for Kiladi Kittu, in a scene which was about child marriage, Sudharani was decked up as a child bride.

“When the groom is tying the ‘thali’, his father drags me away. I was shocked and cried a lot. Senior actors Leelavathi and Pandari Bai comforted me, showered me with chocolate and ice cream,” she says.

Sudharani always felt at home in the Kannada industry.

“I do feel at times that I could have focused a bit more on the other industries, but, I have no regrets since I’ve done good work here,” she says.

Sudharani has worked with several actors. “Shivanna is my favourite. We made our debut together. We knew what we had to do; that was the kind of synchronisation we had,” she says.