Her name is Nakshatra. It means a star in Kannada language. She is the daughter of well-known heroine of yesteryears and currently most sought after character artiste Sumithra and director D Rajendra Babu. A few years ago, her elder sister Uma made debut in Sandalwood with the film `Uppi Dada MBBS’ in which Upendra played the hero role. Her second film was `Kallaralli Hoovaagi’, directed by Nagabharana. Uma played the h e r o i n e role opposite to Vij a y a Raghavendra.
The f i lm won State ward and her perf o rma n c e received a g o o d r e - sponse from the audience.
Re c e n t l y, Uma bids a goodbye after marrying a software engineer.
Now, Nakshatra makes debut in Kannada films with `Sarigama,’ di- rected by Sunilkumar Desai. Sunil Rao and Prajwal Devaraj are the other artistes in the film that’s shooting has commenced at Gopalan Mal last week. Though her parents are not in favour of Nakshatra opting acting as a career, she prevailed them. Nakshatra has promised to her parents that she will not neglect her education. ``I am doing IInd year degree in biotech at Mount Carmel College.
My parents were not inclined me acting in films but I convinced them. I have promised them to complete my degree without any problems,’’ says Nakshatra.
Most of the Desai’s films are known for taking too many days for completion of shooting. How does she manage college and acting? ``I expect my teachers not to chide me if I bunk classes. I know that bunking of class is inevitable because Desai Sir takes many days for shooting. I am confident of managing class as well as acting,’’ explains Nakshatra.
Who has motivated Nakshatra to become an actress? ``No one. Acting in films is my long-cherished desire. I am very happy to get a chance to work under Desai Sir,’’ says Nakshatra.
Does she got any training in acting? ``I never been to any acting class or film institute.
I used to practice at home. My mother gave me a few valid tips on acting,’’ adds Nakshatra.
When contacted, Sumi thra, who acted in more than 700 films in five languages, said that she has tried her best to discourage Nakshatra in selecting film acting as career. ``I and my husband D Rajendra Babu have explained about the diff i c u l t i e s o f film career. We do not want our chi ldren to face problems like how we suffered in the past but Nakshatra is determined to prove her mettle in Sandalwood.
There were offers for Nakshatra from Tamil and Telugu film industry but I avoided them on one pretext or other because I want to her to complete graduation.
I even avoided Nakshatra accompanying me to film shooting,’’ says Sumithra.
Now, we have to wait and watch whether Nakshtra would remain as one of the stars in Sandalwood or not.