He is a classic case of a runaway village boy smitten by the glitz and glamour of cinema. Hailing from a middle-class Agrarian family located in a remote village Shivamogga, Gowrishankar landed in Bengaluru more than a decade ago as a PUC student. With a local politician’s recommendation letter in his hand, he ran from pillar to post before coming across the director Kodlu Ramakrishna, who also hails from his place. Eventually, Gowrishikar contacted a couple of film directors and started his filmi journey as their assistant.
However, his passion was to act, and he soon made his debut with the film Jokali which royally flopped at the box office. Determined to make a royal comeback, he worked hard establishing his own business and returned to produce and act in his own film. He speaks to Bengaluru Chronicle about his passion for films, his film Raja Hamsa, which is releasing this Friday, and more.
“I was always excited about films and coming from a middle-class rural family, taking up acting as a full-time profession was not easy. While my family was expecting me to do well in academics and find a lucrative job, my heart lied in films. I could not wait any longer and landed in Bengaluru even as I was studying in PUC. All I had was a recommendation letter from a local politician from my place. As Kodlu Ramakrishna sir, also hails from Thirthahali, I tried my best and soon I developed contacts in the film industry and started from the scratch as assistant directors to MS Ramesh and Mahesh sir,” says Gowrishikar.
Before making his debut as an actor, Gowrishikar worked as an assistant for a number of films such as Akash, Arasu, Veera Kananadiga, Valmiki and many more.
“I worked as assistant director in order to learn the art of film making but my main intention was to act and Jokali was my first film. Unfortunately, it did not do well at the box office and I faced a lot of difficulties. This time I decided to produced my own if I ever had to make a comeback. I started a business relating to political advertisement and worked hard to reach a point wherein I could support myself. With the help of a couple of friends, we decided to produce a film under our own banner ‘Jana Mana Creations’, he says.
The film Raja Hamsa meaning royal swan, is directed by Jadesh Kumar, who had so far worked as associate director for films hit like Rajahuli and Rudrtandava. This one also marks the debut of popular TV actress Ranjani of Putgowri Maduve.
“A lot of preparation has gone into the making of the film Raja Hamsa, right from the casting of actors to the content of the film and the technical team involved n it. Joshua Sridhar who has scored the music and senior actors like Sridhar sir, B C Patil sir, and Yamuna madam, who has acted alongside top heroes of Sandalwood actors are making a comeback for the film,” says Gowrishikar. In fact, the actor changed his name from Gowrishankar to Gowrishikar, for his return. The actor says that instead hero-centric subject, they have chosen it to be a family entertainer.
