Growing up being a movie fan in the 80s and 90s was always weird. Especially if you secretly wanted to be an actor. I wanted to act and direct films from when I was probably 3 or 4. By which time I'd seen "nODiswaami naavirOdu heege" maybe a 100 times. Why was it weird? (thread) Shankar Nag and nODiswaami are the reason I wanted to be in films. People might think his best work was Malgudi Days, but for me, I liked Malgudi cuz he made it. Died in a car crash a couple of months short of 36 years of age. I'm around the same now. He was driving drunk. 2/n

Anyone who knows me will know of my disdain for superstardom. What little remnants were in me; of that unabashed kind of love for a 'star' will die today with Ambareesh. Our Rebel Star. Quirky, abrasive, occasionally naive even, in his desire to help people... While he's popular for his macho depictions, I will remember him differently. Him, along with Vishnuvardhan were superstar heroes who weren't afraid to appear vulnerable on screen. Films ended with the characters lost, defeated..

The early 90's were also the era of the Rural hero, a macho farmer, land owner who championed the cause of those who worked for him.Ravichandran is a particularly Popular hero of these times.With a trailing panche & curved moustache, divine music from Hamsalekha, he stole hearts This was infact such an important image for Ravichandran, that even he played a city boy, he turns to the village tests his mettle as a farmer, and succeeds to validate his position as hero in some films. This, along with Ambareesh's films marks the strong Mandya identity.

The reason I bring up Singeetham is to move on to the transition between the 80s and 90s, and how the State and establishment became a lens to view the city. This man had no issues negotiating his linguistic, cultural and aesthetic identities clearly. Nor did he pull any punches. Take Jwaalamukhi for example; Rajkumar plays a firebrand Journalist/activist involved in a criminal court case being fought to expose the crimes of man of great power in the town. Of course, for me Jwaalamukhi will be remembered for this earworm of a song:

The 80's and my initiation into Kannada pichchars and bengaLoor:
Before my parents showed me my city, or Doordarshan bengaLooru kEndra did. My Bangalorewiki was one single movie and it's title song: I've seen this film maybe a few hundred times, my parents had taped a telecast of the film, and everytime I fell ill (which was a lot) I would watch the film morning till evening. Over. And. Over again. Needless to say, I'm a diehard fan of The Nag, Shankar Nag.