‘Gattimela’ comes to an end for kannada actress Shruti

After a marriage lasting a decade with her husband kannada film director Mahendar, actress Shruti applied for divorce in a family court on Tuesday. She said, “I have filed for divorce today. There are numerous personal problems between me and my husband which led to the divorce. However, I don’t want to wash my dirty linen in public. Please reflect on what I am undergoing as a woman in such a situation.”

Sources said politics played the spoilsport between the couple. Her husband had joined the BJP during the last year’s Assembly elections. Mahendar was in fact nominated as the party candidate from Kollegal. However, he lost the elections. Kannada actress Shruti, who later joined the saffron party, was made chairperson of Karnataka State Women’s Development Corporation, while Mahendar did not enjoy any such power. This could have been one of the reasons for differences between the couple, said a source.

SEPARATE CAMPAIGN
Though both of them are BJP members and Mahendar himself was a candidate of the party in the last Assembly elections, the two did not participate together in the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. A source said, “Shruti participated in the campaign for nearly 30 days. She travelled without him. Mahendar was not with for even a single day.” When the wedding between Shruti and Mahendar was announced, a fan produced snaps with the actress and claimed that he was married to her. Shruti and Mahendar had to get out of Bangalore in a secretive manner to get married.

LOVE MARRIAGE
It was a love marriage between kannada actress Shruti and Mahendar. Shruti was still Priyadarshini when she first met Mahendar at the Chamarajnagar railway station where the latter was collecting tickets. Both have claimed to be childhood friends. In 1990, Shruti started her career with a small role in ‘Aasegobba Meesegobba.’ The same year, Dwarkish cast her in ‘Shruti’ from which she also got her new name. She went on to act in more than 100 films in Kannada apart from Tamil and Malayalam. Meanwhile Mahendar made a mark as a director and has more than 20 films to his credit. Shruti took semi-retirement from films and married Mahendar on Jan 25, 1998. She made her comeback acting opposite her husband in ‘Gattimela’ (wedding music). The last film the couple worked together was ‘Akka Tangi’ that was released this year.

Humour sells in Kannada films

Humour sells. Has always been so. And with very few takers for villainy these days, what with real life having more than enough of it, humorous movies are in great demand. This is being reflected in Sandalwood remunerations. The ones who get paid the highest are not the kannada stars with fancy titles as prefixes, but kannada comedy actors who are paid by the day. While ‘Lovely Star’ Prem, ‘Action Star’ Murali and ‘Royal Star’ Ajai Rao command Rs 20 lakh plus per film, it is Rangayana Raghu, Sadhu Kokila, Komal, Sharan and other comedy actors who are really raking in the moolah. These ‘A’ list comedy actors are being paid Rs 1 lakh plus per day, and unlike the lead actors appear in dozens of films a year.

Industry insiders say that their yearly earnings could match top kannada stars like Vishnuvardhan, Puneeth Rajkumar, Upendra and Sudeep who are content with acting in a couple of films a year. Only Shiva Rajkumar, Darshan and a few others with a continuous stream of films would beat comedians in the numbers game.

‘Mukhyamantri’ Chandru, Umashree and Doddanna are also in the Rs 1 lakh plus per day bracket, but political commitments and health reasons do not permit them to take up projects by the dozen like the others. Bullet Prakash and director Omprakash Rao are the other comedy actors close to this category.

FRESH BLOOD

“Earlier also, there were comedians who had star value. Directors used to book Balanna (Balakrishna) and Narasimha Raju before they took the call sheets of lead actors. They were considered more important than the lead actors for those films,” said senior film critic A S Murthy. “Today, what is fuelling the demand for comedy and character artistes is the profusion of youngsters. Fearing that newcomers cannot carry the film on their shoulders all alone, a strong supporting cast is selected. This is the reason for their demand,” he added.

BRANCHING OUT

Komal started his career as a lead actor. But just a couple of films later, he was relegated to being a comedy actor which he was not happy with. He even demanded that he be called just an actor and not a ‘comedy’ actor. Life has come full circle for him after ‘Mr Garagasa.’

He played the lead in the hit film last year and is now concentrating on playing lead roles. He is now directing his own film ‘Chamkaisi Chindi Udayisi.’ Sadhu Kokila started as a music director and has also directed a few films, but he is most in demand as a comedy actor.

SOME FEEL LEFT OUT

Luck has not favoured everyone though. Actors like Jai Jagadish, Sundar Raj and Ramkrishna have been in the industry for more than three decades. They have played lead roles themselves. But they do not command the same kind of remuneration like some of the comedy kings. “I do not blame those who are earning good remuneration, but being ignored after being around for decades feels like an insult. Some directors like S Narayan understand our abilities and give us good roles and pay decent remuneration, but I am ashamed at how many others treat us,” said senior actor Sundar Raj. Jai Jagadish also echoes a similar sentiment. Being a senior producer himself, he has his hands full, but feels indignant about being offered roles in other films with nominal remuneration.

THE RS 1 LAKH BRIGADE
comedy actors who command Rs 1 lakh plus per day include Sadhu Kokila, Rangayana Raghu, Komal, Sharan, Doddanna, ‘Mukhyamantri’ Chandru, Umashree, Bullet Prakash, Omprakash Rao.

Non-comedy actors who command Rs 1 lakh plus per day include Anant Nag, Avinash and Kishore.

The below Rs 1 lakh category is dominated by comedy actors like Sanket Kashi,Karibasavaiah, Michael Madhu, ‘Kurigalu’ Prataph, Rekha Das and others. But most often they are not in the position to demand a specific remuneration.