From the college boy role of the 1980s to the unconventional characters of today, Shivarajkumar has come a long way as an actor, producer, playback singer, philanthropist and a television presenter. Ask the Hat-Trick hero about it, and he says, “Whatever I am today is made by everybody. All the credit goes to the people through whom I am successful today.”
Having worked in more than 100 films, his love for movies is unquenchable. “There is happiness in me. It is not for money to think about. I will be glad to set example for today’s youth and my children who look up to their father. Individually, it matters a lot to my family who would get influenced from me. My father was a great actor and an excellent human being, who shaped my career beautifully as an actor. I want to continue the same to my people. Today my daughter is a doctor. It brings more pleasure when they look up to you,” he says.
Spanning over three decades, Shivarajkumar has entertained people with variety of roles. “It is not over for me yet nor do I consider it as an end by doing a little more than 100 films. Even today, I feel every film of mine is still fresh for me. I still have a long way to go,” says Shivrajkumar.
Being in front of the lens for more than 25 years, he has picked up a number of subjects depending on how the screenplay and the script works for him, and preferred to play different type of roles in each film. So how has he celebrated success and taken failures? “I will be happy if all my films did and do well. I too feel bad when it doesn’t register in the mind of the audience. I keep thinking about what went wrong. Success always becomes a bigger strength and I thank god for having given me higher success rate in my film graph,” he says.
People have obviously noticed him over the years but have his films brought change in commoners’ life? “I think good films have definitely gone to their head. I did few films where the brother-sister sentimental role was the main focus and I am satisfied to learn that people consider me as a role model today as well. Though most of my films are entertainers, a few get inspired with my movies that are based on novels. Reading a book is imaginary; giving life to such novels is something people usually relate to,” says Shivarajkumar, who has been picking up commercial projects of late that also send out a message. “Practically, every channel in India presents about corruption with no proper political system. This has made it difficult for people to gauge the corrupt activities at present. So I prefer to take up subjects, where I can give out a message through entertainment,” he says.
Shivrajkumar is currently working on three projects — 'Lakshmi', 'Andar Bahar' and 'Kaddipudi'. “Laksmi is a revolutionary subject while Andar Bahar talks about inside and outside characters. As for Kaddipudi, it is connected to every location and every human characterisation with a natural shade,” he says.
Having spent most of his life on celluloid, Shivarajkumar is getting younger by the day and loves playing youthful characters and working with young directors. “I see a lot of tempo among the younger directors, which brings a lot of alertness in me. My film 'Kaddipudi' with Soori is quite impressive. There is definitely novelty in the narration and screenplay that can connect to common people,” he says.
Today Shivarajkumar has achieved a lot. But he does yearn to reprise a role which his father had played long ago. “If I can, I would love to relive the character of my father in 'Bangaradha Manushya',” he concludes.