With his entry into cinema, he joins the ranks of third generation actors like Vikram Prabhu. Naturally, expectations from Gajesh, grandson of comedy king Nagesh, are bound to run high. But the youngster, whose debut film Kalkandu is ready for release, seems to be prepared to shape his future without depending on his lineage to take him places.
“Whatever one’s genes are, an actor has to work hard to prove himself. So success and failure is in our hands at the end of the day. There will be ups and downs. But how you tackle these phases and rises against what determine your success. This is the lesson I have picked up seeing my thatha Nagesh and father Anand Babu’s careers,” he says. Gajesh adds, “Thatha was a stickler for punctuality and discipline, which is what I intend to imbibe for my career.”
When director AM Nandakumar was looking for a fresh, innocent face for Kalkandu, he chanced upon Gajesh and thought he was apt for the role. The film is loosely based on a real incident. Says Nandakumar, “One of my friends Ayappan made a small mistake which cost him dearly in life. After making a donation and finally managing to apply for an engineering seat, he made a small error in his application form. Instead of 555 he wrote 55 and thereby lost the seat he had worked so hard to get. This is the spark that led to Kalkandu. What happens when the hero finds out that something that is dear to him is given to someone else is the story.”
Gajesh, for his part, has danced around and romanced heroine Dimple Chopade quite ably, as the songs and trailer at the audio launch proved.
He is aided in his escapades by an ample star cast of Ganja Karuppu, Swaminathan, Mayilsamy, Manobala, Settai Senthil and Jennifer. The film is produced by Rattinam fame Rajarathnam Films and has music by Tamil Padam fame Kannan. The lighthearted film is slated to be the right debut for the nimble-feet hero, who is looking forward to joining the industry, albeit with his feet firmly in the ground.
An apt advice was given by P Vasu at the audio launch, who said, “Your thatha Nagesh’s name is your credit card and dad Anand Babu’s name is your visiting card. It’s now in your hands how you use them.”