I found my passion for acting in my engineering days: Ramesh Aravind

On Engineer’s Day, actor, director and writer Ramesh Aravind revisits his engineering days in Bengaluru. In a conversation with Bangalore Times, Ramesh shares how a khaki-clad student went on to become one of Kannada cinema’s most beloved stars, how he found his passion in college and why engineering continues to shape the way he thinks. Excerpts from a chat:

‘THE FIRST THREE MONTHS OF ENGINEERING, I HATED IT’
Ramesh took up engineering because his father wished him and his brothers to join the fabrication factory business.“My brothers and I studied mechanical engineering—it saves money when you buy the same textbooks for everyone,” he laughs. But his first impressions of engineering were anything but rosy. “I joined UVCE and for the first three months, I absolutely hated it. Khaki uniforms, the endless technical drawings, and that dreaded T-square we had to carry—it all felt like a mistake. I thought I’d chosen the wrong course,” he shares. But then came a turning point in his college life when a senior discovered that he was interested in writing. “They asked me to put together a skit, and that changed everything. Suddenly, the same campus that seemed dull became alive for me. I realised that if you don’t love your college or your course, it’s probably because you haven’t found that one thing you truly love. For me, it was dramatic. From then on, the next four years were fantastic,” says Ramesh.

‘MY FATHER NEVER QUESTIONED MY CHOICES IN LIFE’
“My father dreamed that we’d join his business. But when I shifted to the cinema, he never once complained. Not even in passing. For the first ten years, I didn’t have the kind of success that engineering could have guaranteed me, but he supported me anyway. That’s the greatness of a parent—letting your child do what they want, even if it means burying your own dreams,” shares Ramesh.

‘CREATIVITY IS FOR EVERYONE, BUT ENGINEERS BRING A UNIQUE EDGE’
With a creative turn in his career, Ramesh believes that engineering has never truly left him. “Engineering is about how things work. And life, too, is about understanding how things work—relationships, careers, money. If you really understand engineering, you can excel in any field. It teaches you efficiency of doing things the best way, at the least cost, and in the safest manner, and that is exactly what cinema needs too,” he says. Even the very basis of cinema, he points out, comes from science. “Persistence of vision—24 frames per second—is what makes moving pictures possible. That’s physics. So when engineers enter the cinema, they already understand the technology, whether it’s VFX or sound. Creativity is for everyone, but engineers bring a unique edge,” adds Ramesh. ‘ACTING IS TOUGHER THAN ENGINEERING’
Ask him which profession is tougher: acting or engineering, and Ramesh answers, “Acting is tougher. Engineering is logical; one can learn it. Acting is about bringing truth to imaginary circumstances, which is extremely hard. Success in acting is even harder. But that’s also why it’s so rewarding, and for me, the love of audiences for over three decades cannot be matched by any other career.”

‘ENGINEERING NOT ONLY GAVE ME A DEGREE, BUT ALSO MY LIFE PARTNER’
Engineering gave Ramesh more than just a degree. “Our theatre troupe would go from one intercollegiate festival to another, and at one such event, I met my Archana, my wife. When a friend introduced us, I liked her immediately. I took her phone number, wrote it with a fountain pen on my palm, and because I was sweating, the ink smudged. I had to use every engineering permutation and combination to reconstruct the digits. Luckily, I dialled right, and that was the start of our friendship that lasted six years before turning into romance. We’ve now been married for 34 years, and I always say this: engineering gave me my degree, but more importantly, it gave me my wife,” he shares.

‘LIFE HAS NOW COME FULL CIRCLE’
Decades later, life came full circle when Ramesh was honoured in the City of Austin, Texas, which proclaimed August 23 as Ramesh Aravind Day. When asked about one of his most unexpected honours, Ramesh shared with a smile, “Despite my high marks, I never attempted the GRE or GMAT, but so many of my classmates went on to build their careers abroad. I never felt the urge to leave India. Today, 15,000 km away, in the City of Austin, that’s where the engineer landed, finally,” smiles Ramesh.