A Rendezvous with Ramesh Arvind

There are men in KFI who try to ride on the winning horse; and then there are people who breed such horses. We at Bellitere decided to identify such men and women who are trying to bring about a much needed change in the so called limited market of KFI.

The first one in this series is actor/director/producer Ramesh Arvind. The man who made his KFI debut with K. Balachander’s "Sundara swapnagalu" in 1987 has a lot to cheer about in a career spanning over two decades. The awards he won for acting include Karnataka State Award, Filmfare Award, Screen Videocon Award, Andhra State Nandi Award, and Cinema Express Award. Ramesh Arvind has directed 4 Kannada films and has written the story and screenplay of "Hoomale" which bagged the "Best Kannada film” national level that year.

Apart from awards and felicitations, Ramesh Arvind has been entertaining the Kannada audience in various KFI potboilers. He looks as young and as dashing as we first saw him 20 years ago and in this period, Ramesh has played various roles; an actor, director, and an industry person who gives chance to people from other industries in his films, and so on.

There are plenty of examples for that. “We are using the poems of major Kannada poets for songs in Crazy Kutumba,” says Ramesh. “We are using poems by Kuvempu, K. S. Narasimha Swami, Jayant Kaikini and so on. I was trying to involve a popular Kannada novelist for my next directorial venture. I always feel that when people from other industries come to the film industry, it helps. You get a very uncorrupted view from these people. We have certain mental blocks as to how a film should go, but these people do not have that”

Mental blocks or not, the man is certainly involved in lots of projects with the industry people. “I am currently acting in six movies. They include “3 Guttu 1 Sullu 1 Nija”, “Pretiyinda Ramesh, “Hey Sarasu,” “Krishna Ni Late Age baro,” “Crazy Kutumba”. After these six films, I will be directing a movie.”

Barring a few, most of the above films are stories where Ramesh will play a sophisticated person, an image that clicks with his fans. “Every film of mine has worked extremely well with overseas fans. Among all the Kannada actors, I seem to enjoy a very good run with NRI audience. Maybe that’s because my basic thinking itself suits their thought process.” says Ramesh. His new film Pritiyinda Ramesh tries to cash in on his popularity with overseas audience, especially after films like America America. “Pritiyinda Ramesh is modern, with all modern communication trappings such as emails, facebook, laptop and orkut”. Regarding his own directorial venture, he says “We are doing a subject based on intrigue next time, which I haven’t done until now. It’s not puppy love, but is a matured love story involving intrigue”

But generally, the actor hasn’t been as experimental with his acting career as some of would have liked. In fact, Amruta Varshini is the only notable film where he played a character with a negative shade. “Right from the beginning, I was very skeptical about it. Till then, I was doing the roles of a boy next door who was extremely nice to people. And suddenly, these people were turning me into a killer!” “I said don’t lose money on this project as people will not like it. That was a very bad advice!”

But how does he handle different challenges of acting and directing a movie? “I have maintained that if the role and the director are good, I am open to work with other directors. When I direct a movie, it’s a slow process. But as an actor, I only need 45-50 days per film. After directing Venkata in Sankata, I could complete nearly five films in a period of one year, which is impossible as a director. But I plan to start a new film under my direction on January 14^th. Lots of things have to be ironed out before that. I want to make a stunning film this time around”

Expectedly, direction is personally very satisfying and more creative for Ramesh. “But acting is my first love. So it’s always special. It’s much easier too. Thankfully, I am in a land where I can do both. I don’t have to give up one for the other.”

But then, apart from Rama Shama Bhama and Sathyavana Savitri, none of his directorial ventures have set the cash registers ringing, and Ramesh takes a slightly different approach on that. “Accident was personally very satisfying for me. In fact, when I went to a kid’s reality show as a judge, all the kids came up to me and said that they loved the story of the film. So I think the younger generation loved that story. And Venkata in Sankata became more popular in television telecasts.”

Then, Ramesh slips into a small analytical mode and agrees, “You can’t give a Rama Shama Bhama every time, it’s impossible for any actor or director to repeat such success frequently. Such things just happen and you can’t predict them. We didn’t predict that America America will run for one year” Ramesh also has a different take on the way the Indian film industry works and why very few of them are hits. “In Indian cinema, an actor will do 200-250 films in his career. We keep on churning out films, and that’s our life. We want to make good films every time, but that doesn’t work every time”

Ramesh is proud of his association with Kamal Hassan, which resulted in the legend doing a role in Rama Shama Bhama. “One of the best things that happened in my life was that I met Kamal Hasan. As a kid I had enjoyed his work. I met him casually and I was also a host for the 50^th day function of Sagar Sangam. Then, I started doing small roles in his films and then, one things led to other. Our discussions are always about ideas, stories and so on. I have learnt so much from his with respect to cinema and with respect to direction. It’s a very holy relationship!”

Finally, we wonder how he gets to don so many roles at once and get involved in so many things, “It can be done. One has to be cool about it. There is a saying if you want to get something done, give it to a busy man! If you have time, you have time for everything, and if you don’t have time, you don’t have time for anything. Main thing is concentration.”

That was evident, as he was effortlessly juggling between giving shots for Preetiyinda Ramesh and answering our questions with surprising ease! We thank him for time and we take leave.

More About Ramesh Arvind

• Ramesh’s Official Website
• Ramesh’s Wiki Page