Actor-turned-politician Upendra, tried hard to express his gratitude to his mentor Kashinath. As Upendra spoke about the late actor, who set his own trend and mirrored the hypocisy of the society with his films in his eight-decade career in Kannada cinema, his voice chocked with emotions. Standing at APS college grounds, where the mortal remains of Kashinath was kept for public viewing, an emotionally charged, Upendra, said, “I am yet to digest the fact that Kashinath is not amongst us. He was everything for me and is responsible for what I am today.”
It is not just Upendra, who was mentored by Kashinath, but also Sunil Kumar Desai, music composer and writer V Manohar, Abhinaya, Vanithavasu, Kaminidharan, Bank Janardhan, actor-turned- politician Umashree — who describe working with Kashinath as “being trained in Kashinath’s school of cinema”. And, each of them was overwhelmed when asked to speak a few words about their mentor and guide.
Upendra rightly pointed out, “With the demise of Kashinath, it is curtains for a unique chapter in the history of Kannada cinema. It is difficult to fill the vacuum created by him. And many, including his friends, knew he was suffering from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a type of blood cancer.”
Kashinth’s close friends recall that the actor even struggled to speak during the shooting of Oll Munsami , in which he was essaying role of a Swamiji. In spite of it, he had assured his colleagues with, “this illness is bothering me. But, I will recover soon and do more films.” Just two days before his death, the actor dubbed for his upcoming film, despite a terrible cough. Such was his commitment for cinema, which he had loved since childhood.
“Kashinath introduced me to the industry and showed me the way to grow. My dream of making a movie with him did not materialise,” said an emotional Upendra.
In his four decade old film career, Kashinath has acted in over 40 films and directed 16. He was a rare film maker, a one of a kind. Besides directing, he also wrote dialogues, songs, and scripts.
In the late Seventies, when Kannada cinema was clearly divided between commercial and art and hero worship ruled the roost, Kashinath created his own genre, where he changed the perception of a protagonist and anti-hero and carved a niche for himself. He also showed that, it is the story and content that matters, not the hero or heroine. Besides mirroring basic instincts of a generation, he bitterly criticised social practices such as dowry and also touched upon subjects, which were considered a taboo. Many even accused him of damaging Kannada cinema. Yet, undeterred by criticisms, Kashinath continued to tread his own path and became a cult figure of a different kind.
Though he made his debut as a director with the comedy drama Aparoopada Athithigalu (1976), his talent came to the fore with Aparichita (1978). This film introduced talents such as Shobha, Suresh Heblikar, MV Vasudeva Rao, Sundar Krishna Urs and Kokila Mohan. This film was later made in Hindi as Be-Shaque starring Mithun Chakraborthy. His landmark film Anubhava, starring Umashree (now minister for Kannada and Culture) and Abhinaya, created ripples in Kannada films because of its content. “Some were embarrassed, some criticised, while some secretly felt that Anubhava was their own experience,” were the words of the later actor at his last press meet. This film too was made in Hindi starring Shekar Suman.
Most of Kashinath’s later films, were comedies and featured him as a hero. Being an admirer of Charlie Chaplin, he was appreciated for contesting the conventional perception of what a hero should look like and behave. And, with Chowka , he proved his acting provess again.
Interestingly, most of the titles of his films began with the Kannada alphabet “A” — Aparichita, Anubhava, Avale Nanna Hendti, Avane Nanna Ganda, Ananthana Avantara, Ajagajantara, Appacchi.
Suresh Heblikar, who knew Kashinath for 35 years and essayed the lead role in Aparichita, recalls how they made a short film Asima in early 70s. “When he narrated story the of Aparichita shot-by-shot, I felt I was watching the movie on a screen. Such was his precision. He was 26 years old at that time and was a total genius. But, the tragedy is that the Kannada film industry failed to recognise him or his talent. Kashi never ever made a film for money. Each film of his had a message to the society,” said Heblikar.
