: At 64, veteran actor Bharati Vishnuvardhan, says she is still in search of a strong script. Having completed 50 years in cinema this week, she says that if a good role comes her way, she would be happy to get back.
The number of films she has acted in doesn’t matter to her, she says. What matters is that she has been able to etch an indelible impression on the minds of viewers.
Apart from Bollywood films, Ms. Vishnuvardhan, born in a Marathi-speaking family, has acted in all south Indian language films. Ironically, she has never acted in a Marathi film. Looking back at her career, she says it was her dream to act in Marathi and Bengali films. However, Kannada films kept her too busy.
Ms. Vishnuvardhan has acted with most of the leading actors of Indian cinema.
Bangarada Manushya , in which she was paired with Dr. Rajkumar created history in Kannada cinema by running to packed audiences in the State. Gandondu Hennaru, Bangarada Jinke, Bhagyajyothi are some of the landmark Kannada films in her career. She has also acted in television serials.
She returned to films through Runamuktalu after a decade-long sabbatical from her acting career after marrying Vishnuvardhan in 1975.
On her late husband, Vishnuvardhan, who died in 2009, she says: “He was a great person, good human being, sensitive in nature, more than anything else, he was a good friend and a caring husband.”
According to her, Love in Bangalore was her the first movie she acted in, and Dudde Doddappa was her first film to be released.
“An artist will never have satisfaction in life, there is always something to achieve,” she says. On the present state of Kannada films, she said: “Change is constant. Art was quintessential then, now it is business that matters.”
