KALABURAGI: He has been the unappointed Mukhyamantri (chief minister) for the last 43 years, all because of the main character role he donned in the play by the same name. For Chandru, this role that he landed by chance has brought fame and political fortune. Till now, the play has been staged 801 times, and has been seen by 13 chief ministers from R Gundu Rao to Basavaraj Bommai.
Narrating how he started his career as an actor, the 70-year-old said he belongs to a backward class community and his parents were not rich. He was working as a clerk at Bengaluru University in 1975 earning a meagre salary of Rs 415 per month. When he was drinking coffee at a canteen, he met theatre director Prasanna, founder of Samudaya. “He invited me to play the role of a police officer, who is a villain, in the play Tayee (an adaptation of English play Mother). That was my debut.
After a couple of years, I joined Kalagangotri and started directing plays along with eminent theatre personality Rajaram,” he said. On playing Mukhyamantri, Chandru said well-known Kannada actor late Lohitashwa wanted to stage and enact the main role in the play that was directed by Chandru and Rajaram. But after eight days of staging the play, Lohitashwa fell ill. But he asked Rajaram not to stop the show and to find someone to replace him till he recovered. “Rajaram asked me to don the role. But I put a condition that I would not deliver the dialogues by rote and would make up my own lines. I mixed humour in my dialogues and people loved it. Even after recovering, Lohitashawa did not want to play the role, and I continued,” he said.
“As it was a political drama, we were facing threats. In the first year, then chief minister R Gundu Rao came to see it, and there was a large posse of policemen outside the theatre. We were scared that Gundu Rao would ban the play and arrest us. But after the show, he came backstage and appreciated us. He told us that politics shown in the play was too sanitised and what happened in real life was far worse. He said if we met him, he would tell us everything,” Chandru said.
“Influenced by my role, CM Ramakrishna Hedge made me an MLA in 1985 by fielding me as a Janata Party candidate from Gauribidanur. BJP made me an MLC from 1998 to 2010. I was the chairman of the Border Area Development Authority. I was in Congress for a few years. Gulbarga University conferred an honorary doctorate on me. Politics now is 100 times worse than what is shown in the play,” commented Chandru. “I was fed up with all three major political parties, and I joined the Aam Aadmi Party recently. I am now president of the publicity committee in AAP,” he said. “I am still playing the role and the play is staged at least three times a month in different parts of the country,” he said. The TV series, Agnisakshi, where he has a major role, has run for over seven years. He has acted in over 525 films, Chandru said. “Now, I am active in all four fields — drama, TV serials, films and politics and will be active till I enjoy good health,” he signed off.