Anant Nag

Anant Nag
Born	Anant Nagarakatte September 4, 1948 (age 63) Uttara Kannada, Karnataka, India
Spouse	Gayathri Nagarkatte

Anant Nagarkatte Konkani Kannada(born September 4, 1948) popularly known as Anant Nag is an actor and politician from Karnataka, India. He is considered to be one of the all time greatest actors in the Kannada film industry with a vast number of commercially successful movies.^{[citation needed]} As a result, he is popularly known as an actor with no-failures, by critics.^{[citation needed]} In addition to Kannada movies, he has acted in Marathi, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi movies. He has also acted in Malgudi Days, directed by his younger brother Shankar Nag based on the stories by R.K.Narayan. His work was much appreciated by critics at that time. He is fluent in Kannada, Konkani, Marathi, Hindi and with a good understanding of Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. The versatile natural acting coupled with the style of speaking (accent of southern kannada with a tint of coastal touch) made him one of the most successful actors in Kannada cinema.

Early life

Anant Nag, one of the greatest Indian actors, was born to Anandi and Sadanand Nagarkatte. He had his early education under the aegis of Ananda Ashrama in Dakshina Kannada district and Chitrapura matha in Uttara Kannada. He was sent to Mumbai for onward education and got involved with amateur Marathi theatre for eight years. He started out doing amateur theatre in Marathi and Kannada.

Film career

Shyam Benegal introduced him into Hindi cinema in his 1973 film Ankur. Anant Nag acted in many of Shyam Benegal's movies after that. Well-known for his mainstream Kannada films, Nag is active in alternative Indian cinema.

His entry into Kannada films was through legendary G. V. Iyer's Hamsageethe. It is one of the most critically acclaimed of his movies and is about trysts of a learner whose greatest search is finding the right Guru.

Nag and fellow South Indian popular actress Lakshmi have been known as an all-time greatest pair in Kannada movies. They acted together in more than 25 films. Most of the films based on Ta　Ra　Su novels and directed by great Duari-Bhagavan, the sad endings of the most of films based on life of middle class young couples made Anant and Lakshmi house hold name in Karnataka.

Although he began his career as an actor in artistic movies, became most popular in comedies due to his versatile acting and natural sense of humour. Ananth Nag kept re-inventing himself with each era. In the 1970s and 80s, he was the darling of the middle-class with his natural acting. He also dabbled in television during this period. In the 90s, he experimented with negative roles (Shanti Kranti) and accepted character roles.

With greatest hits in the films like Ganeshana Maduve, Gauri Ganesha, Udbava, Undoohoda Konduhoda, Beladingala Baale, Hasyaratna Ramakrishna, Yarigu Helbedi, dairya lakshmi, he has been noted for his abilities. These days, he appears in supporting roles in Kannada movies (for example, blockbuster films like Mungaru Male): He has been the favourite choice of most popular directors of Kannada cinema. He is equally popular in supportive roles amongst dignified viewers across the Karnataka. His recent movie Eredane maduve has been a huge hit where he acted in a lead role with Suhasini Maniratnam.

Nag acted in Anahat and it drew rave reviews. Marathi film director Amol Palekar found Nag's sensitive depiction of the king's dilemmas to have greatly enhanced the multifaceted complexities of the film.^{[citation needed]} The character portrayed by Nag has depth and dimension, powerfully drawing you into the core of the story.

Though he is one of the most influential men both from a film and political point of view, he has often been regarded as the finest, the simplest and polite personality. His appearance in front of media or appearances for publicity have hardly been noticed and the association of his name with any controversy has hardly been reported, either with his film or with political career. For these reasons, Nag is considered as one of the most respectable personalities in the real life. Now he is one of the most sought-after actor in Kannada cinemas.

Political career

Staying in Mumbai, in the heady days of Socialism, Ananth Nag was a strong supporter of reformist movement. He identified himself with the Janatha Party and was the star-campaigner for Janatha Party in 1983, 1985 and 1989 elections. He won from Malleshwaram constituency in 1993 and served as a Minister for BDA in the J H Patel's cabinet. His tenure was uneventful, with him being criticized for not catering the infrastructure needs of Bangalore.

When Ramakrishna Hegde, supposedly his mentor was expelled from Janatha Dal, he stayed within Janatha Dal, leading to speculations of divide between the Mentor and Mentee.

In 2004, he contested a very fierce assembly election from Janata Dal (Secular) where he was pitched against the then Chief minister of Karnataka, S. M. Krishna from Indian National Congress, alongside fellow actor Mukhyamantri Chandrufrom Bharatiya Janata Party in the Chamrajpet constituency in Bangalore. However, S.M. Krishna won the election. But, Krishna, disappointed for not being able to win the majority opted not to lead the party and soon became the governor ofMaharashtra.

Selected filmography

Year	Film	Role	Director	Notes
	Sankalpa		Nanjaraja Urs
	Janma Janmada Anubandha		Shankar Nag
1975	Hamsageethe		G.V.Iyer
1977	Bayalu Daari		Dorai-Bhagawan
	Anuroopa		P. Lankesh
	Gayathri Maduve
	Sedina Hakki			with prabakar
	Mareyada Haadu
1978	Premayana	Mohan	Geetapriya	Produced By M Prabhakar, Music By Vijay Bhaskar; Co-actors: Aarathi, Vadiraj
	Kudure Mukha
	Mathu Tappada Maga			acted alongside Rajinikanth
1979	Naa Ninna Bidalaare	Krishna	Vijay	Horror movie
1979	Mududida taavare Aralithu
1981	Minchina Ota	Tony	Shankar Nag
	Bara		M. S. Sathyu
	Matadana		T.N.Seetharam
	Mouni
	Ganesha Subrahmanya
	Ondu Cinema Kathe
	Maneli Ili Beedili Huli
1983	Benkiya Bale		Dorai-Bhagawan
	Ibbani karagithu
	Makkaliralavva mane tumba
	Kaamana Billu			with Rajkumar
	Raamapurada Raavana
	Sukha samsaarakke hanneradu sootragalu
	Daiva Shakti
	Aruna Raaga
	Nodi Swami Nav Irode Heege		Shankar Nag
1985	Accident		Shankar Nag
	Phaniyamma
	Brahma vishnu maheshwara
	Ranadheera		V.Ravichandran
	Gowri Ganesha
	Parameshi Prema Prasanga
1989	Chandanada Gombe		Dorai-Bhagawan
	Ganeshana Maduve
	Yarigu Helbedi
	Challenge Gopala Krishna
	Ravana Rajyadali Rakshasharu
	Gagana (film)		Dorai-Bhagawan
	Hendathige Helabadi
1995	Udbhava
	Ramarajyadalli Rakshasaru		D.Rajendra Babu	Produced By K.C.N.Mohan, Music By M.Ranga Rao; Co-Actors: Shankarnag, Shashikumar, Gayitri, Ambarish, Rameshbhat, Geeta
	Avasthe
	Mathe hadithu Kogile			with Vishnuvardhan
	Golmal Radhakrishna
1991	Shanti Kranti		V. Ravichandran	Co-Actors: Ravichandiran, Ramesh Aravind, Khushboo, Juhi Chawla, Ambareesh; Produced By N Veeraswamy
	Shanti Nivasa
	Naarada Vijaya
	Gowri Ganesha
	Hosa Mane Aliya
	Golmal Radhakrishna Part 2
1994	Nishkarsha		Sunilkumar Desai	with Vishnuvardhan
1995	Beladingala Baale		Sunilkumar Desai
1997	Ganesha I Love U
2000	Yaarige saalathe sambhla
2002	Hollywood			acted alongside Upendra
2006	Mungaru Male		Yograj Bhat
2006	Neenello Naanalle			acted alongside Vishnuvardhan
2007	Sajni
2007	Anupama
2008	Gaalipata		Yograj Bhat
	Naanenu Madlilla
	Aramane
2009	Mr.Garagasa (film)		Dinesh Babu
2010	Pancharangi		Yograj Bhat
	Eradane Maduve		Dinesh Baboo
	Mattondu Maduvena..??		Dinesh Baabu
2011	Paramathma_(film)		Yograj Bhat
2011	Rame Gowda Vs Krishna Reddy