The much-awaited Kannada film Gilli is set to hit the silver screen on October 2. With this film, Jaggesh’s son, Gururaj will make a debut as a hero in Sandalwood.
Jaggesh’s second son, Yathiraj, who has played small character roles in a few Kannada films, has a full-length role in Gilli, a remake of Tamil hit 7G Rainbow Colony.
It was a surprise for many people when director Raghava Loki, who debuted with the film Satya In Love, selected Gururaj as the hero for Gilli. No one expected Gururaj, known as a bibliophile, to face the camera.
Many Gandhinagar pundits expected Yathiraj to pursue acting as a career. “Initially, I wanted to become a director. Later, I thought why shouldn’t I utilise the opportunity when it comes to me?” says Gururaj, who is optimistic about the success of his maiden film.
Will Gururaj take his father’s advice on film offers? “My father is everything to me. I have learnt a lot from him. He is like an encyclopedia.
I discuss everything with my parents,” he says.
Jaggesh is known as a minimum- guarantee artiste in Sandalwood.
His brother Komal also proved his mettle as a hero in Chamkaayisi Chindi Udaayisi.
Yathiraj has also acted. Now, one more from Jaggesh’s family is debuting in films. Is that too many cooks spoiling the broth? “I never consider it as a disadvantage to have many artistes from one family. I take it as healthy competition. It is nice to see one or the other family member appear on TV channels every day,” Gururaj says.
Gururaj has had basic training in acting at Kishore Namith Kapur’s Acting Institute in Mumbai. Why Mumbai when there are film schools in Bangalore? “No particular reason.
However, I want to make it clear that training at film institutes is a waste. The real training begins from the moment you start acting in a film,” he says.
“The audience has to watch Gilli not because Jaggesh’s son is in it. They have to watch it because it has a great mix of comedy, sentiment, love and action,” Gururaj says.
About his memorable moments, he says, “I can never forget the muhurat shot directed by Upendra sir. The other memorable moment was participating in the five-day shooting of stunt sequences.” He says about the heroine, “Rakul Preeth Singh, is a model and hails from New Delhi. She acted well.” “I have entered Sandalwood as a hero but I want to exit from it only after becoming a success in all segments — direction, script writing and even music composing,” Gururaj signs off.
maheswarareddy@epmltd.com
