The best part about being a character actor is that you never run out of options to portray characters on screen. The best example of this is Ramesh Bhat. The man who started off as an actor on stage went on to act in many plays and worked with stalwarts like BV Karanth.
“I always got the lead role in plays such as Hayvadana and Jokumaraswamy . Along with plays, Karanth started making films too. His first film was Chomana Dudi and then Kadu . It was also the same time when friends and colleagues started foraying into films. I was never interested in films as I was well settled and had a flourishing business,” states the actor who took to acting only as a hobby.
In stages
“It was Shankar (Nag), who pulled me into films, telling me there was a bright future in this field and ample opportunities,” he says.
Gradually Ramesh made his foray into films. While he has portrayed various characters on the small and big screen, people still remember him for his role in Shankar Nag’s Minchina Ota.
Luck by chance
“I got that role by fluke. I was working with Shankar in the production team and one day the actor, who was supposed to act as the policeman did not turn up as he was busy with other projects and Shankar cast me in the role. That is how my cinema career started,” shares the actor.
After that, Nodi Swamy Navu Irodu Heege happened followed by Parameshi Prema Prasanga — both films had Ramesh in the lead. Soon, he says other directors cast him too and Ramesh went on to become one of the most sought-after actors in the Kannada film industry. He has worked in over 500 films now.
Ramesh never “worried much” about his screen time but gave his best shot to every role. Ramesh has bagged a few State awards too.
The reason he is content being a character artiste, says the actor, was “because there were no risks or investment involved in this. All I had to do was go with an empty mind and pocket, do what the director says and return home with the money to feed my family. Gradually I became so busy with roles that I just continued with it." Right now he is thrilled with his role in Bettada Daari which talks about water scarcity.
“The film is powerful and I am happy to be a part of it. I play a villager who lives in a place which has no drinking water at all. The people there have to slog it out to even bring home a pot of drinking water. The character I portray dies as he chokes on his food and there is no water at home to drink. My character’s son takes an oath that he will provide drinking water to the village so that no other man dies like his father. That is the gist of the film,” he explains.
Ramesh is all praise for the film’s director — Ma Chandru — and adds that Bettada Daari is based on a true life incident that happened in a village in Bijapur.
