BANGALORE: Be it Master Manjunath (Malgudi Days) or child actors of yore, Sandalwood has always welcomed young talent. And the latest child sensation to hit the screens is Master Snehith, whose father Soundarya Jagadish introduced him to the silver screen with the song in Mast Maja Maadi. The talented artiste followed it up with a film Appu Pappu and is now all set to appear in Sachin! Tendulkar Alla.
Shuffling between school and movies, Snehith, who is studying in Class 7 at Vidyavardhaka school, plays the character of an autistic child in the film who struggles to make it big in cricket.
"It is a non-commercial entertainer, directed by Mohan Shankar. The star cast includes Suhasini Maniratnam, Venkatesh Prasad and Sudharani. While shooting, I got an opportunity to learn cricket from Venkatesh Prasad and learn acting skills from Suhasini and Sudharani. Initially, I was tense but they very friendly and made me comfortable," he says.
According to Master Snehith, it was a challenging character to portray but he admits that watching few films, attending workshops and guidance from parents and director Mohan made it easy for him.
"My parents got a couple of films based on autistic children and helped me
to understand their behaviour. I also went for a one-week workshop at Abhinaya Taranga," says Snehith, adding, "I understood the
pain of autistic children when I was playing the character. I was moved when I visited a school for autistic children. I cried looking at the pain they go through," he says.
While playing the tough character, Snehith was able to concentrate on his studies too. He says, "My mother and my elder sister used to get the notes at the shooting spot, where I took time off to study. I even managed to take my tests. Now, my classmates keep talking about the trailer of the film and they want to watch the film with me.”
Unlike many child artistes who faded away, Snehith wants to pursue acting. "There are artistes like Kamal Hassan, Sridevi, Puneeth Rajkumar and Vijay Raghavendra who have been child artistes and have done well in their career. I want to follow them. As an actor, I can also play cricket at CCL matches. So many advantages of being a celebrity," he beams.