Veteran actor Satyajith was in the news in the past few months for having lost his left leg to gangrene. He spoke to people and the press about his struggle during this “low” in his life. Now the actor is back in the news for his new film, Divangatha Manjunathana Geleyaru, where he plays a police officer. Directed by Arun, the film also has Rudra Prayag, Sheetal Pandya, Shankaramurthy and Avinash Muddappa in prominent roles.
The actor, who has acted in more than 650 films, started off as a bus driver. “I was an only child, my parents were uneducated and lived a simple life. We lived hand to mouth and I could not afford to study beyond class 10,” says Satyajith, who recalls helping his father with odd jobs to “keep the kitchen fires burning. I also learnt to drive a lorry, an auto and a taxi. I was offered the job of a driver for ₹126 a month for a manager in a big company. I always wondered if this was all there was to life or if there was more,” says the actor, who is a huge fan of Mohd Rafi and would sing his songs as a hobby.
Soon he took up a job as a bus driver with KSRTC and travelled across the State for 13 years. It was during his free time that he kept his acting and singing passion alive, besides anchoring shows on stage and winning the best actor award for a play where he played a cruel police officer. “I was into mimicry and was so good in acting that friends suggested I take up acting as a profession. I was fluent in Kannada, Hindi, Urdu and Marathi. That boosted my confidence and I started thinking bigger — trying to get into cinema.”
Satyajith says he knew in his heart he could never play a hero due to his “harsh face. I was not trained in acting nor was I an educated man. Yet, to pursue our dreams, we took a Hindi play to Mumbai for the Prithvi Theatre fest. Nana Pathekar also was there with his Marathi play Purush . He watched our play and liked my performance so much that he came backstage, introduced himself and offered me a role in his film Ankush as he wanted everyone from a theatre background to act in it.”
The film did well and Satyajith was asked to shift base to Mumbai. But, the very thought of moving gave him the “chills as I was married with a family. Mumbai seemed a big, alien city to me then.” So he went back to his driving job. “It was a surreal experience for I was working as a driver and had people recognising me or calling me and telling me how much they liked my acting in Ankush . The two seemed very different worlds.”
One fine day, a producer from the Kannada film industry traced him to his bus depot and offered him a role in a Kannada film as a villain. And there was no looking back for Satyajith. “I had 10 films on hand. I quit my job as a driver and cinema enveloped me in its arms.”
He acted in hit films such as Bandamukta , Anthima teerthe , Athiratha Maharatha and Apthamithra. “Those days, I was the only well-built villain, besides Prabhakar, who could fight. Earlier villains such as Dinesh or Balakrishna did not fight at all. It was either Prabhakar or me who were pitted against Ambareesh and Vishnuvardhan.”
Satyajith took a break from negative roles after he met Dr Rajkumar. “ Annavaru saw me act in a serial called Sahana. Impressed with my acting in an emotional role, he told me to give up villainous roles and try my hand at comedy and character roles. That advice ensured that I would not get typecast. I am grateful to him as I was able to explore various roles and did not repeat myself as an actor.”
Satyajith was soon acting in films such as Appu and Abhi and many others featuring Puneeth Rajkumar and his career soared skywards till gangrene hit his left leg. Now he is completely recovered, and back in the acting ring. “Except for my leg, I am perfectly fit and can do anything, once my prosthetic leg is on,” he says beaming.
