Break on thru the other side

Navarasanayaka Jaggesh narrates interesting anecdotes about his directorial debut Guru

October 09, 2017 03:02 pm | Updated 03:40 pm IST

Life has come full a circle for Kannada actor Jaggesh. He started off as an assistant director, then went on to act in many films till he went behind the camera once again to direct his son Gururaj in Guru.

Popularly known as Navarasanayaka, Jaggesh started off as a villain with Shweta Gulabi , which went on to become a mega-hit. Ever since the versatile actor has wooed with varied roles as a comedian and leading man. He wrote dialogues for most of his roles. The dialogues, loaded with humour with a pinch of double entendre, became so popular that he acquired a cult-like following.

The actor-director-producer narrates the meticulous manner in which he directed his first film Guru — a remake of a Korean film that deals with drug trafficking.

“I came into this industry to become a director and not an actor, but ended up being an ‘accidental’ actor. I started assisting directors such as Raj Kishore, KV Raju and NT Jayram Reddy. I worked in more than 11 films as an assistant director. One day, an actor had some differences with the director and walked out of a film. It was in 1983 and I was asked to step into the actor’s shoes. The film was Shweta Gulabi and it was a villain’s role. That was how I moved from behind the camera to the front.

The film became a mega-hit and I started getting one role after the other and soon direction took a back seat. I became one of the highest- paid character artiste. Later on, I became a leading man.

Back then, I was given the liberty by my directors to write my own dialogues and build my character. As I was passionate about making films, I would be involved in every aspect of filmmaking.

I would write the script and once I was done shooting, I would stand next to the cameraman and observe how he worked, what lights or lens he used. I learnt on the job.

Just watching them became my learning experience. I would even follow the team to the editing room. Those days editing happened only in Chennai. I would spend my money and follow the team, which would explain everything that happened there.

When I became a leading man, I was given complete freedom to build my own script. So that helped me learn how to write the script – where to add the silence, the pause, music or laughter. As I also had the freedom to choose a director that I could work, I chose all new comers to direct my films. That way, I got the opportunity to work as a co-director too.

Then one day, I came across the script of Guru , which belonged to the then CM of Chennai, Karunanidhi’s banner.

As I knew them personally, I requested for the script and they graciously shared it with me. That is how the journey of Guru began.

I chose the film as it is about an innocent youth who gets entangled in drugs and crime. It was my way of telling parents about the challenges of parenthood.

Not many of us monitor our children – where they go, what they do or who they are friends with.

And, most of us never know what our children are up to or what they will end up being. I wanted to show parents how children, if not cared for, can go down the wrong path. I completed the film in 29 days and the dubbing was done in just seven days. That is the difference between our generation of filmmakers and the new. We are like builders.

We start with a plan and go about working out the logistics. We plan the film just like an engineer would plan his building -- meticulously. I believe that my generation was the most organised one and I am proud to have worked with people, some of whom have long gone from this world but have their names forever etched in the history of Kannada cinema.

Working with them improved my knowledge and I learnt to understand the audience pulse, how to capture their attention, how to make them laugh or feel with the characters emoting on the screen.

And I used all that knowledge and made came up with a technique o my own while directing Guru . I did not monitor my actors, nor suppress them or get them tensed. I realised that when an artiste practises a scene 10 times he/she gets exhausted. So I avoided rehearsals. Instead, I would sit like a lecturer and explain the whole scene to them in such a way they would be mentally prepared before going in front of the camera.

We would do a pakka lighting and would tell them it will be just a monitor shot and would actually end up doing a real take. Most actors never realised that the camera was actually on a roll. If we finished shooting early, we would all sit together and share personal stories or discuss cinema.

Even when it came to dubbing, we worked together to make it easy. I would make them repeat one line and sometimes just a few words. We have people who did not know Kannada dub in the language, which is an achievement for me and my team.

Guru did very well in the first week. But in the second week, it faced a tough competition from two other films. Yet, we made our profit. The television also paid us a high price to telecast this film.

When Guru was complete, I was sad that it was over so soon. Then I directed Melkote Manja and now am planning a film on the love story between me and Parimala (wife).

This is the story of my journey and it has been a wonderful one indeed.

As told to Shilpa Sebastian R

This column chronicles filmmakers' first efforts

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