Actor-turned-neta goes from rags to Rajya Sabha

The chosen one

By 1980, Eshwar Gowda was just 17 and so wayward that his parents had given up on him. The teen lived a delinquent lifestyle in the bylanes of Bengaluru’s Srirampura.

His father Shivalingappa wished his son was never born whereas mother Nanajamma miserably lay on the railway track to die.

Eshwar promised his mother that he would mend and lead a good life. She gave him Rs 500 and sent him to Mantralaya in Andhra Pradesh, the final resting place of Raghavendra Swamy. Eshwar spent three months there and everything that happened in his life thereafter was, in his own words, “a miracle.”

Eshwar became Jaggesh, the acclaimed actor and a household name in Karnataka who is now poised to represent the state in Rajya Sabha as the BJP’s candidate.

“Sometimes, fortune doesn’t walk. It kicks its way in,” is how Revenue Minister R Ashoka, who was instrumental in Jaggesh’s entry into the BJP, describes the actor’s tryst with lady luck.

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Born in 1963, Jaggesh started his film career in 1980. He became an assistant director to K V Raju and Rajkishore in 1982 while studying BSc His acting debut was a small role in 1983’s Ibbani Karagithu.

“I got married at 20 and I had no work,” Jaggesh tells DH. “There was abject poverty.”

Such is his devotion to Rayaru that he still visits the Raghavendra Swamy Mutt in Malleswaram where he spent his pauper years.

Before making a name for himself in cinema, Jaggesh made headlines with his marriage to Parimala in 1984 - he was 21 and she 16. Her father was a Tamil Nadu politician. Her family filed six cases against Jaggesh and he moved the Supreme Court for relief.

His first lead role was Bhanda Nanna Ganda (1992). But the big break came the same year with Tarle Nan Maga, a runaway hit that left audiences in splits with Jaggesh’s comedy. His knack of making people laugh with perfectly timed jokes earned him the moniker Navarasa Nayaka.

His 42-year film career also saw controversies in the form of tiffs with other actors. Plus, Jaggesh has faced flak for his stand against dubbing.

His political debut in 1999 with the Congress was accidental, he says. “I was a full-time artist. But, somehow it became inevitable.”

In 2004, he contested his first Assembly election from the Turuvekere segment, his native, and lost. In 2008, he contested again and won. However, he resigned and joined the BJP during the Operation Lotus that year. He did not contest the bypoll. “I was hurt over the way I was used. What I expected and what I got were two different things. So, I joined the BJP,” Jaggesh says. He became an MLC, KSRTC vice-chairman and party spokesperson.

His third election was in 2018 as BJP’s candidate from the Yeshwanthpur constituency. He lost.

Jaggesh was hoping to become MLC for the second time. The BJP had other plans. “His wish was to enter Parliament once in his life as a Lok Sabha member from Tumkur. He wanted a five-year term, but now he’s getting a 6-year term in the Rajya Sabha,” Ashoka said. In Rajya Sabha, Jaggesh plans to raise Bengaluru issues. “Some of the things I have in mind are traffic and overall management of the city. The city that once collected Rs 500 crore in taxes now mops up Rs 3,500 crore and it can go up to Rs 5,000 crore,” he says.

Jaggesh wants to devote 90% of his time to Rajya Sabha. “The other 10% will be for my bread and butter - the movies. Unlike other actors, I don’t work 365 days. I have a good market even today," he says. "I still charge Rs 2 crore.”