At audio release of Edellu Manjunatha

Jaggesh recalls his humble beginnings

The audio release of Guruprasad's second movie Eddelu Manjunatha earlier this week was a grand event for the film unit.  The film coincides with the silver jubilee of Jaggesh, who plays the lead role in it. Jaggesh was also the hero in Guruprasad's debut movie, Matha, which was well received by the critics though it did not that well commercially.

The dignitaries who graced the event included V. Santhakumar, journalist turned producer of the film, co-producer Mr. R. Manjunath, Egna Shetty, Veena Bhat, dancer, Tabla Nani who has a good role in the film, music director Anup Celin.

Some of the catchy numbers are Manegobba Manjunatha Made in India, Ba Chakori and Arathi Etheere Kal Manjenge. Ashok dons the camera for the film for the first time, while choreographer is Chandra Mayuri and Narahalli Gnanesh the editor.

The function began with some promos of the film shown on screen. Addressing the press, Guruprasad revealed that the idea for the film came to him at the Press Club when he was chilling out with Sanath Kumar who was captivated by the story and volunteered to produce the film. When he approached a popular hero with the script, the response was disappointing and later, he sounded out Jaggesh who readily agreed to don the role.

Later, Sanath Kumar revealed that he and Guru had a lot of differences during the shooting of their first film, Matha, but all that became a thing of the past once the film was completed. He said it was a great learning curve for both of them and hoped that Eddelu Manjunatha would be a bigger success.

A smiling Jaggesh then recalled how he entered the film industry 27 years ago. In the eighties, he was paid Rs 45 a day, and used to borrow money for petrol and take his wife out on his Luna. "I never planned my life, never bothered about my future," he said, adding that he had left everything in the hands of God. Jaggesh also recounted the hardships he went through at the time. When he attended a shoot in his second hand Fiat car that he had bought from the Gujili, people used to laugh at him. He was asked to carry some of the unit's luggage and the light man in what his director called "dabba". He had to carry his own lunch box to the shoot. Then one day, a journalist called KS Nagesh wrote about him in the papers and it gave him a lot of self-confidence. After that, there was looking back, said Jaggesh.

Comparing the present day Kannada industry with the time when he entered it, Jaggesh said would be almost impossible for a person like him to get a break in films. Nowadays, you have to know at least butler English, have a good dress sense, and drown yourself in a well of perfumes, he remarked. Today, it is not unexpected for a newcomer to be paid Rs 8-9 lakhs, he said, while he was paid a pittance in the eighties, he said.

About his new film, Jaggesh said he had great expectations from the director, Guruprasad and expressed the hope that Eddelu Manjunatha would bag an award. Guru had all the makings of a Puttanna Kanagal, he said. On his role, Jaggesh said he had done dubbing of 9 hours with 16 varieties of voice modulation, a personal record. The meeting concluded with sumptuous dinner for the participants.