Endearing roles

in conversation

The 75-year-old actor was waiting on the road outside his residence to ensure that I had not taken the wrong turn, when I went across the City to interview him for Sunday Herald. After ushering me into his drawing room, and ensuring that I was comfortably ensconced on a sofa, M P Venkata Rao, one of the senior-most actors in the Kannada cinema, theatre and television industry, began a conversation that took us back decades.

Interestingly, for someone who has worked for more than 50 years as an actor — he stepped onto the stage in 1959 — he had absolutely no interest in acting while he was in school or college. Venkata Rao studied in National High School and College, and gleefully admits that he was never on stage as an actor even in inter-section drama competitions, normally the stepping-stones to serious theatre.

 “I was active as a student volunteer whose duty it was to help escort people who had been invited to school and college functions. But I was never near the stage. I did not have any interest in watching plays.” A friend of his, Natesh Nayak, had even cast him in a small role in an inter-section drama competition that the National College Histrionics Club was famous for. But the young Venkata Rao was so nervous that he began to pray for the play to be cancelled — and when it rained a bit on the day of the competition, he took the opportunity to play truant.

Great teachers

But the Histrionics Club of National College had him stepping onto the stage at another inter-section drama competition in 1959. This Club, which has produced many famous actors and directors, had Prof H Narasimhaiah (known simply as ‘HN’) and B N Narayana (famously known as ‘Make-up Nani’) at its helm. “These two people played a large part — ‘HN’ for being there to pat me on the back, and Nani for encouraging me to go on stage and teaching me the basics of acting. Nani is my guru. Till my last breath I can never forget Nani. He was a remarkable person who not only brought me onto the stage, but also taught me, in a breathtakingly simple manner, the basics of acting. He also taught me discipline and punctuality.”

And what was that simple acting tip? “Nani told me, ‘Acting is simple kano! All you have to do is to become that character. It’s nothing remarkable — you just (become) the role, that’s all…! ’ Such a difficult thing to do, but he made it sound so simple. He would say an actor had to keep his eyes and ears open, and record whatever was going on around him in the world.”

The actor, who has worked in ‘new wave’ Kannada films and with various directors including Puttanna Kanagal, recalled the early days of television serials. Bengaluru did not have a TV station then, and serials were recorded at the SJP College in a studio there, and sent to Hyderabad for telecast. “In those early years, we did not have 1,000 or 2,000 episode serials. There were 16 episode serials, or multiples of 16. So, one had 32, 39 or 52 episode serials. Most of them were weeklies. The directors had to use this limited canvas to tell their stories — crisp and short.” 

Television was also a new phenomenon, a novelty. “People had access to audio-dramas (through radio). Now they had an opportunity of seeing ‘visual drama’ — so they were all excited and interested. And that interest would also be kept alive by the serial directors of those days, by making sure they did not unnecessarily stretch the story, or adding impossible situations… So viewers would enjoy watching.” He feels that some early serials like Maya Mruga and Janani set the trend for a new kind of serial which lasted months. These serial makers were aware that they were introducing a new trend of mega-serials in television, and ensured that they retained the new, huge audience that they had attracted by keeping the storyline tight and interesting. This was in the late 1990s. With the advent of more and more satellite channels, he feels that things began changing.
 Commercial elements

And this might have led to successful serials being extended, sometimes even crossing the 1,000-episode mark. When asked about such mega-serials, he said wittily, “For us artistes who want remuneration and (shooting) dates, what is happening is wonderful! You will get enough of both. But do you get happiness from your acting? It’s a big question mark. Think about it — whether it is to do with your personal or professional life — whatever is short is always so sweet.”

Venkat Rao has himself worked in numerous serials that have crossed the 1,000-episode mark. “Sometimes I may not have been able to see the serial for 15 days. I have found that it has not moved forward — it is right where it was. The situation has transformed the audience into one that has to just sit and watch. Perhaps one of the answers for the present state of affairs is commercial reasons and TRPs…” He points out that directors like Girish Kasaravalli had sustained long-running serials, like Gruhabhanga, with meticulous homework and a clear picture of the full story. And the audience had appreciated it. He says many ‘comedy serials’ were much more original than the ‘serious’ ones. “They show what is happening in our homes in a funny, crazy manner. So why don’t we do that for the serious ones — just show what is happening in our homes, rather than try and depict what is happening in Delhi or Mumbai or America in a Banashankari home.”

His message for the TV industry? “The industry is so huge — technicians, producers, directors, artistes — but this applies to all of them: when you are creating something, don’t keep success in mind, and run after it. Whatever you want to do, do it with commitment and sincerity.”