From sombre to comic, the infinite range of Anant Nag

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Actor Ananth Nag with wife Gayatri Ananth Nag in Mangaluru in September 2023.

Actor Anant Nag at an interation programme organised by Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy in 2011.

Actors Anant Nag, Shabana Azmi, and Amol Palekar in Kanneshwara Rama.

Actors Anant Nag and Rekha Rao in Hamsageethe.

Director Rishab Shetty and Anant Nag during the shooting of Sarkari Hiriya Prathamika Shaale Kasargodu.

Moments after Anant Nag’s name was announced for the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the veteran actor responded to a question about the momentous occasion with his trademark wit. In a delightfully matter-of-fact response to reporters, Anant Nag said he “felt normal, was breathing, was alive”, and, as far as he could tell, “nothing else was happening inside his head.”

Perhaps, he had been somewhat prepared, after receiving the Padma Bhushan. Experiencing that excitement and anticipation had prepared him for another major honour.

Fittingly, Anant Nag is the second actor after Dr. Rajkumar to win the country’s highest award in Kannada cinema. The thespian was among the artists who inspired Anant Nag in his early years. Anant Nag has described the legendary actor as his “mundina doni” — the boat that went before him — paving the way for aspiring actors like him. If Anant Nag was in a pond, he once said, Dr. Rajkumar was already in the sea. 

Before establishing himself as a dependable actor in mainstream Kannada film, his acting was shaped by socially-conscious Hindi movies of Shyam Benegal and M.S. Sathyu (Bara). Benegal, who cast Anant Nag in Ankur, Nishanth, and Manthan, was impressed by his ability to express complex emotions with realistic elegance. 

Anant Nag, with an experience of over 50 years, is a self-aware actor. After his early stint with theatre, during which he performed in more than 50 plays across different languages, he made a smooth transition to cinema. In an exclusive interview with The Hindu, the veteran had said that mainstream filmmakers called his subtle portrayal “Bengali style of acting.” Despite these comments, he remained steadfast in his approach. This conviction helped him move effortlessly across roles.

“Popular author Yendamoori Veerendranath had challenged that one of his stories, Venello Adapilla, would be impossible to adapt to cinema. But Sunil Kumar Desai adapted it into a classic film Beladingala Baale (1995). It was Anant sir’s acting that made the adaptation look seamless,” Suri says.

Wide reading, impeccable pronunciation, and deep respect for the language made Anant Nag more than just an accomplished Kannada actor. “I see him as an ambassador of the Kannada language,” says Yogaraj Bhat, who worked with the actor in the iconic Mungaru Male (2006).

As he grew popular, Anant Nag’s strong dialogue delivery became one of the hallmarks of his acting. “For someone who rose up the ranks delivering lengthy soliloquies in theatre, remembering dialogues wasn’t a great task,” he had told The Hindu. 

The story goes that his famous monologue on saving Kannada government schools during the climax of Rishab Shetty’s hit directorial Sarkari Hiriya Prathamika Shaale Kasargodu (2019) was a single take.

Anant Nag was not afraid to take risks, even when he knew a film was ahead of its time. His collaborations with his late brother Shankar Nag, including Accident and Minchina Ota, reflected that instinct — films that ventured beyond the familiar even when their unconventionality made them uncertain bets.

As effortless as he may have come across in humorous roles in the Ganesha series by Phani Ramachandra, the actor had revealed in his interaction with The Hindu that his comic timing came from practice. 

“Delivering a funny line is a careful balance between rushing through it and slowing it down. You have to know how each word will land and the impact it will create.”

For audiences outside Kannada cinema, however, Anant Nag is perhaps best remembered as part of Malgudi Days, the beloved television series directed by Shankar Nag based on R.K. Narayan’s stories. His performances in the series introduced him to viewers across India, adding another dimension to an already remarkably diverse body of work.

Anant Nag reinvented himself by collaborating with new-gen filmmakers. “He is the scientist of acting,” says director K.M. Chaitanya, who collaborated with the actor for his thriller Aatagara (2015). “On camera, it would look like he had done nothing. But when you watch it on the screen, it was pure magic.”

His performance in Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu (2016) as an old man suffering from Alzheimer’s is considered to be one of his all-time best. For filmmakers such as Hemanth Rao, he is an actor who can turn a complex character on the page into a living, breathing presence on screen. He is an actor who remained unique by “doing it his way”.

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