The love I get from Kannadigas is my biggest achievement: Anu Prabhakar

Anu Prabhakar, who recently completed 25 years as an actress, says she is still coming to terms with the idea that she has achieved such a landmark. “A few of us were just talking about the years gone by when it dawned on us that I had, in fact, completed 25 years since my debut Hrudaya Hrudaya on September 16 – it took a while for it to sink in. I could not sleep that night as there were so many memories that came flooding back,” she tells us. She takes us down memory lane and discusses what she feels has changed over the years. Excerpts:

‘My initial days on the set made me realise that I wanted to act for the rest of my life’I shot for Hrudaya Hrudaya during my summer holidays when I was in college. I remember Parvathamma Rajkumar had called my mother home to tell her that I would be the heroine of Shivarajkumar’s film. She had done that for my cousin sister too. Neetu aka Asha Rani was the heroine of Shivarajkumar’s second film and this one was to be his 52nd film. Shooting for that film was when I realised I wanted to do for rest of my life. The number of back-to-back hits sealed my career growth.
‘Kannadigas continue to have a place for me in their heart’
What strikes me the most is the love and affection we get for the roles we play on screen. While I have worked in films across other languages, people still recognise me as a Kannada actress. Even after so many years, Kannadigas have a place for me in their heart – they refer to me as nam mane hudugi – I think that is my biggest achievement.
'Kannada cinema has evolved’One good change we have seen over the years is how much we have improved in terms of technology. Even a movie like Hagga involved so many computer graphics. We could not even think of making a film like that say around 25 years back. Shooting for a double role itself was a huge challenge back then. We would shoot one character, then turn back the reel, shoot again. Everything is a lot more convenient in the digital era.
However, one thing that I do miss is the camaraderie on the sets from back then... Today, I find that people on the set are more aloof. The set was like a huge family, I remember lunch breaks would be about camping below a tree at the shoot location together. There were no caravans and Shivarajkumar himself would be out there serving people food. There was also a stark difference between commercial and parallel cinema. For instance, some films were made exclusively for awards. Today, people make realistic films that end up doing well commercially also. That is a happy change, because you put in the same effort towards all kinds of films.

‘I want to see strong roles written for women’When you look at the characters played by yesteryear stars like Bharathi, Aarthi, Leelavati or Manjula, you see the kind of scope for performance that they films they worked in offered them. Later too, we have had actors like Malashree, Sudharani, Shruti who recreated that magic on screen with their roles. They would be the backbone of their films. Somewhere down the line, roles for women became only about the glamour. I would like to see a change where we have more stronger characters for women. There have been many roles that I could see myself portraying, but thanks to the filmmaker who did, I think seeing me in those kinds of roles led to more opportunities for me too. The only conscious decision I have made is to not portray characters that are beyond my age. I feel that tends to typecast you to such roles.

‘My husband Raghu is my biggest support’The only break I took from work was when my daughter Nandana was born. However, when my next opportunity to act came along, it was my husband Raghu who encouraged me to get right back to it as he understands my passion for the artform. He has been both a friend and a partner to me. As parents, we work out our dates in such a way that we ensure one of us is home for Nandana. We also have my mother and Raghu’s mother as our support system. They are the reason why we are at peace even as we bring up our little girl.


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