Shiva Rajkumar: 'Cinema Is A Wonderful Space, Where We Can Be People We Can Never Be In Real Life'

The actor speaks about his long career in Kannada, his childhood and growing up years, working in the Tamil film industry, and what he hopes to contribute to cinema.

Shiva Rajkumar

IT'S been nearly four decades — 38 years to be precise — since a grown-up Shiva Rajkumar entered the movies with Anand (1986). And, even today, his reverence for his chosen field and respect for the camera has not gone down one bit. The bonafide star is visibly happy over the huge success of his latest action-rich Bhairathi Ranagal a prequel to 2017’s Mufti. The film is now being released in dubbed Tamil and Telugu versions too.

The film is packed with whistle-worthy moments and the 62-year-old actor, the son of late Kannada superstar Rajkumar, has given it his all. You have to tell someone that seven years separate the movies — the actor seems to have picked up exactly where Mufti began, without any change in body language or reduced intensity in the fight sequences. And he puts that down to “Devaru kotta vara (God-given gift)”.

The actor has a long waiting list of movies including Arjun Janya’s 45 and Hemanth M Rao’s Bhairavana Kone Paata and is to take a month’s break to handle a health issue. Even before people could speculate, he was upfront and told them he was unwell and seeking treatment. “Why make fans anxious? Better to tell them, alva?”

In a phone interview, as he’s driving back home from a promotional exercise, Shivanna (as he is more endearingly known) speaks about his long career in Kannada, his childhood and growing up years, working in Tamil, and what he hopes to contribute to cinema. Edited excerpts below:

Your filmography is varied — you mix up action roles with emotional subjects. You made an entry into Tamil with a cameo in Jailer decades after you became a star in Kannada, and charmed a new audience... What keeps you going?

I’m not being modest, but I think I enjoy my profession. Cinema is my life, and I really look forward to every workday. See, the industry is such that you’ll get some very good roles, some middling ones. Some films work wonderfully from start to finish, and some you know midway that they are not shaping up properly, but you’ve signed up and you go with the flow. You can’t cheat with your performance. Luckily, till today, even my flop films have collected reasonably well. Producers have not suffered a major loss.

Over the years, I’ve constantly changed my look depending on the character, and even if I play a gangster again, it is different from the previous one. So, primarily, do your job with love; you’ll reap the benefits later.

You’re no longer Shiva Rajkumar the star but the audience’s own Shivanna. How did you handle this transition, from being a distant star to a brother figure?

I think it began sometime after Thavarige Baa Thangi (2002). Now, everyone calls me that. But, I think I never allowed anyone to put me on a pedestal. I treated my fans with great dignity, not as a set of people who adore or serve me. They are fellow humans first, right? You might be running a factory where you employ people and pay them. They might be dependent on you, but you can’t disrespect them.

In this case, fans only give love. But yes, sometimes, I do get angry when they dictate things to me and tell me to do only a certain genre of films. I then tell them to come sit during script discussions (laughs). But that anger is fleeting. I don’t pretend, I’ll even apologise. Make-up is for cinema, not in life.

You come across as very philosophical in life, someone who lives in the moment. How did you reach this state of mind?

I believe everyone born in this world has to suffer, as much as they enjoy life. And, death is the ultimate truth. I knew this even before my brother Puneeth’s sudden passing, but it got reinforced after that. It was a very traumatic phase, but we have to accept things.

We might want to enjoy something, but we should also understand what we are enjoying it for. You cannot go overboard with anything. Life is a great teacher, it keeps giving you lessons. You have to be aware enough to observe.

You had a pretty regular upbringing in Madras, growing up in a city far away from the one where your father was a superstar. Is that one of the reasons you’ve managed to stay real?

I think that has more to do with how we were raised. Both Appaji and Amma raised us in a joint family, and we did not get any special treatment.

We lived with my father’s sister’s kids and Amma’s family, and there were about 40 people in the Madras house. The tree we grew under raised us differently. We were taught humility, culture and logic, and that money was not there for the asking. We learnt how and what to spend money on. We went to school by bus. I went by bus (12B and 25C) to college (New College and FTTI). And, even though my friends knew I was Rajkumar’s son, they never treated me differently. And so, my father’s fame never really touched our lives. We did not know how to show off. There was simply no need. I firmly believe this background is why I am very practical in my thinking.

Also, I live for today, because no one knows what happens tomorrow. Various incidents in life have only reinforced this thought.

How was it to make your Tamil debut in your 50s, in a cameo for a film with Rajinikanth?

The offer for Jailer came so casually, but the way Nelson (director) made it, I simply could not refuse it. Plus, there was Rajini Uncle. How can one possibly say no? He’s seen me since I was 14 and has a close relationship with our family.

I was shooting for Bairagee (2022) when I went to meet Vijay on the sets of Beast directed by Nelson. He later told me he loved the style with which I walked in, “gangster maadhiri”. I was surprised that someone who had not seen my films saw me as a gangster. I told him I would do the cameo.

But, we have always stayed in touch with folks from Tamil films. I really like Dhanush, with whom I acted in Captain Miller (2024). In fact, in 2015, he even sang ‘No Problem’ for my Vajrakaya.

When did you realise you have a fan following for your eyes? Of late, there’s so much talk about how sharp they are…

(laughs shyly) I am thoroughly embarrassed when people tell me this. When I was growing up, Appaji apparently used to tell my mother that my eyes were good and that I could speak using just them. I knew all this through Amma, for Appaji would never praise us directly. He would just kiss our foreheads, hug and leave.

Much later, Upendra told me that he loved my eyes and the spark in them. That’s how Om (1995) started.

But now, I do hear of comments on social media about my eyes, and “onthara naachke aagathe (I feel a certain embarrassment)". I have always had the same eyes, what’s new now?

But, I am glad I never heard of this before. If not, it would have restricted me. You can’t always express through your eyes. The content should demand that kind of work. There should be something to express, no? This works well in emotional scenes — for example Mufti, Jailer, Bhairathi Rangal, Thavarige Baa Thangi. In Thavarige there’s a scene with Radhika, who plays my younger sister, where she refuses to return to her maternal home till she sets right a wrong, and I have to look at her wondering how she grew up so much. Sometimes, these things just happen. You cannot question it, because that’s the magic of cinema.

Cinema still charms you, yes, but at 62, you’re still acing stunt sequences and action blocks?

I think this energy I still have is a God-given blessing, and so I believe it should be expended and not stored. Energy will keep decreasing with age, and you should never regret that you did not do something when you could have. Energy is a gift, so use it.

At the same time, I love the work of the new actors on the block. If you stick to the old, how can you create a new generation of stars? The industry should grow, and everyone should try their luck. Everything in life can be replaced and should be replaced. Directors, actors… no one is permanent. Someone will take their place. So, be respectful of each other.

You recently announced you would be travelling abroad for surgery because you’ve not been keeping well…Why did you decide to be upfront about it to your fans?

For some time now, there have been rumours of all sorts on social media. And so, we decided we would address them because all those enquiries came from a place of love. There’s no point in hiding or lying. I’ve already undergone some treatment. Why confuse people and make them anxious? Also, I need all their prayers to recover soon.

The doctor told me that I might have side effects, but I continued to work. My colleagues have adjusted their schedules so we can wrap up the shoot sooner.

My colleagues and friends Sudeep, Yash, Dhruv Sarja, Ganesh, Vijay and Dhananjaya — have all been motivating.

Bhairavana Kone Paata your partnership with Hemanth M Rao is much looked forward to because his films follow a different trajectory…

I have admired Hemanth’s work and loved the storyline he came up with. It’s about what moral a person stands for, and fights. I loved the character’s range, and am looking forward to beginning work on this and my other movies.

What does cinema mean to you after all these years, first as a child artiste and later as a hero?

It is life itself. It is a wonderful space, where we can play as many characters as we want, where we can be people we can never be in real life. And, the best part? You don’t have to carry them home. So, I get to be an actor but also get to fulfil my role as the son of Rajkumar, the brother of his siblings, Geetha’s husband, father of Nirupama and Nivedita. I leave home as a character and return as a person.

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