BENGALURU: Prathyaksha Ramakrishna is a 14-year-old upcoming child actor with a deep consciousness towards her civic duties. She has just completed her shoot for her first silver screen performance in a Kannada children’s movie, Sandaas, directed by Ajaykumar A J. During the course of the shoot, Prathyaksha had travelled to a village called Dhanapura for two months to prepare herself for her character in the film. The film is based on an agitation of a girl called Mallama who fasted for three days due to lack of toilet facilities in the village. Prathyaksha is playing the lead role in the film.
During her preperation, Prathyuksha noticed that most people relieved themselves in the open. After engaging with several villagers, she realized that there was a lack of toilet facilities in the area.Prathyaksha herself hails from an agricultural family, based in Tumkuru district, Jaladigere Village. “I myself am from a small village and since I was already earning enough from the shoot, I wanted to do something for people in the village,” she says. She spoke to the producer of the movie and finally came to a decision to give away her pay of Rs 1 lakh to help the village. Her contributions were sent towards Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in January.
Following her father’s footsteps as a theatre artist, her journey started with H Nagaveni’s Gandhi Bandha which was directed by Champa P Shetty. Later she was part of several famous plays like Vaidehi’s Akku, KY Narayanaswamy’s Anabigna Shakunthala and Mallige, which she performed across the country. Her guru who has been training her for these roles is the renowned theatre artist Champa P Shetty.
Prathyaksha also played a guest role named Saraswathi in the movie Ondu Motteya Kathe.
Prathyuksha says that her family has been very supportive throughout her journey. While she has been missing classes at school due to shoots, her teachers have been giving her extra classes to keep up with the syllabus. “I couldn’t have done this without any of them, and I am grateful for their support,” she adds.