BENGALURU: It was with suspense thriller ‘Aparichita’ in 1978 that well-known actor-director Kashinath announced his arrival in the Kannada film world and made his mark as a trend-setting director. This film was acclaimed critically and commercially, and nobody could stop the growth of this puny man from Kundapura, and, as one film critic fondly remembers, the 1980s was even referred to as ‘Kashinath Yuga’ in Sandalwood.
In a film career spanning more than four decades as an actor, director, producer, screenplay writer and music composer, he made his audience and his diehard fans sit up and laugh through his cinematic creations as well as his portrayal of characters either as a hero or a character artiste. His unconventional looks never stood in the way of achieving cinematic success.
Lacking in looks or even screen presence, this science graduate from Vijaya College who switched over to the tinsel world made his presence felt in a variety of roles, be it comic or serious. During his college days, he used to play female characters in mythological plays. Joining a troupe (Asima) later, he was exposed to film-making and then there was no stopping him. He started with short films and went on to to make his first full-length movie ‘Aparoopada Athithigalu’ in 1975.
As an actor, he had 40 films to his credit and he also directed 16 films of different genres. ‘Anantana Avantara’, ‘Avale Nanna Hendathi’, ‘Aatanka’, ‘Shhh!’, ‘Ajagajaanthara’, ‘Meese Hottha Gandasige Demandappo Demandu’, ‘Avane Nanna Ganda’ and ‘Manmatharaja’ were some of his popular movies. Kashinath’s forte was comedy, romance, suspense and drama. His directorial ventures were different from the usual melodramas, with a strong storyline and lots of double entendre dialogues that would convey a message — socially awkward, sexually suggestive or criticising a social problem.
Kashinath sometimes even shone over other actors through his dialogues. One cannot forget his unique style of dialogue delivery that was fast and full of double entendre. Replete with social innuendos, his dialogues, which could be interpreted in many ways, were considered by many as vulgar and crossing the limits of decency.
Taking the parallel path in Sandalwood, most of his films highlighted the problems of the day - in fact, a parody on the prevailing issues in the society. He lampooned many people through characters portrayed in a comical manner and in his own style. Three of his Kannada hits - ‘Aparichita’, ‘Ajagajaanthara’ and ‘Avale Nanna Hendathi’ were re-made by him in Hindi. He went on to produce more than 10 Kannada, Telugu and Hindi films.
From the 1970s to 1990s, his yeomen contribution to Sandalwood will always be remembered and etched in public memory, his fans and colleagues say. If ‘Anubhava’ was his first movie in 1984 as an actor, his last movie was ‘Chowka’ in February 2017. In his long and eventful career, the multi-faceted personality played godfather to many budding actors while he was humane and down to earth in his approach to life and his career.