Vasishta N Simha has been in Sandalwood for years. But, it is only after Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu’s success that he has truly arrived.
Vasishta is not stuck on playing a hero and is proud of essaying characters with negative shades. And the audience has been appreciative of his acting skills. He’s been busy, bagging film after film, enough to keep him busy for the next six to eight months.
Again, Vasishta has done the unusual and agreed to be part of a short film, The Last Kannadiga. Made under Kalathmika banner, the film has been produced by Sruthi Hariharan and directed by Madan Ramvenkatesh. The shooting is done and the film is ready for its festival rounds.
Ask the actor whether it was the right decision, to take up a short film while he’s riding a peak, and he says that the success only encouraged him to make this film.
“If I had planned to do a short film before I was noticed with Godhi Banna..., I don’t know if this short film would’ve had an impact. Secondly, I was never offered a short film before this,” says the actor. According to Vasishta, it was the team that drove the effort. “The minute Sruthi, Madan and I got together, with a 12-member team under the Kalathmika banner, we came out with many exciting plans,” he says, adding, “We felt that short films will help many creative people, so I decided to be in it.”
The subject, of The Last Kannadiga, too wouldn’t have suited a longer format. “If the audience like our concept, it will be a boost for the entire team,” he says.
In spite of being home to many short film makers, the city has not taken to this format. “The concept has not taken off in Sandalwood,” he says. “Today a few top directors of Tamil Nadu were a part of a TV show Naalayau Iyakunar, which is essentially a short-film competition. Perhaps, if established faces come together to make a short film, the format will do well.”
Why “The Last Kannadiga”?
“We Kannadigas are like tigers, which face threat of extinction. Today, even people who call themselves Kannadigas cannot put in a sentence together in Kannada. I studied in a Kannada-medium school, but the influence of other languages and cultures is so strong that I am not able to be a Kannadiga in any situation. We are therefore an endangered species,” he says.
The film also stars Ravikiran and Jayaprakash.