Having worked in around 200 films and 20 serials, actor Ashalatha is no novice to the screen. In Kannada cinema, right from 1977, when she made her debut with a small role in Ondu Premada Kathe , she has been one among the consistent crop of supporting actors that are part of most releases even to this day. She has played the entire spectrum of female supporting roles right from daughter, sister to the mother.
But it is in the more intimate world of television that Ashalatha says her popularity has peaked. Known as ‘Archanana Amma’ after her work in Jokali , she is today famous through ongoing serials such as Charulatha and Nagini .
Excerpts from a phone conversation:
How did your tryst with the world of acting begin?
A few years before 1977, when I was roughly ten years old, my family took me to Madras during my summer holidays. My mother B. Rajamma was herself an actor who had worked in both silent films as well as a few talkies. In Madras, we went to attend the shooting of B.R. Panthulu’s Krishnadevaraya . M.V. Rajamma knew my mother and told her that they were looking for a child artist to play the younger version of one of the ministers. That was the first time that make-up was put on my face! It hasn’t stopped since.
It has been a career that is full of supporting roles.
When I started out, the opportunities to play the lead actor were rather less. I was roughly 15 when I was cast in Ondu Premada Kathe and I was playing my age in the film. Gradually, I ended up getting similar roles of the younger sister or the daughter. Maybe it was because of my age back then. There were popular actors like Rajkumar, Uday Kumar, Kalyan Kumar etc. There were no teenage heroes like there are now. Today’s heroines are lucky that way. Also, I don’t think us supporting artists had the personality to be the heroine of a film. I have no regrets. I think I’ve got good roles throughout whether it is Banda Nan Ganda (1992) , Tumbida Mane (1995) or Naga Kala Bhairava (1981) to name a few.
How did a career in television begin?
It began with a serial for Doordarshan. It wasn’t something that I had planned or sought. Then I worked for S. Narayan’s teleserials, Balaji Telefilms, a few more projects along the way..all the way up to Nagini for Zee Kannada. The good thing about television serials is that they ensure you have work for at least four to five years. And that is immensely helpful for actors like me in supporting roles. How else can we eke out a living being an artist? Even if it is a major character in a film, work lasts for about ten days at the most. Nowadays, with the quick pace of shootings and productions, work is even more compartmentalised and short.
Television that way is like a government job. At least, it ensures a consistent pay for a longer period of time.
What do you think about the kind of roles on television today?
There is a need for what I call ‘mixed’ or grey characters. Sometimes, it is too disturbing to see how they portray women in serials. Yes there are evil people in our society but when depicting a negative character in the television format, it is important to show him or her changing for the better. Then you will be setting the right example.
Is there scope for such nuanced characters?
Very rarely. By the time that can happen, most serials have run their course. Every serial has started to show women as horrible people or extremely sacrificial beings. But strangely that is what is getting us TRPs they say.
How do you then pick roles?
I look for strong roles. Like Jokali , for instance which showed how much a mother struggles for her children. And the impact of such roles is immense. I was once called into a delivery room in a hospital because the mother-to-be wanted to meet ‘Archanana Amma’. I had to go!
So, the responsibility too is huge.
Yes, I am concerned that negative roles too have an equally strong influence. Television fosters an intimate relationship with the audience.
What has the Nagini experience been like?
It is a good subject and I think the director has chosen the right actors for it. My character, of the mother or the grandmother Triveni has not yet opened up. So I’m waiting to see where they take it. When I was cast I was told that my character belongs to the Nagini lineage.
