Exclusive! It’s important to be with the common man and not be restricted by the four walls of stardom: Dhananjaya

Daali Dhananjaya’s rise to the stupendous stardom he’s enjoying now has been far from easy. The actor had a fair share of failure in his career, before finally tasting the sweet fruit of success. Today, he is a busy actor-producer, having expanded his horizons into Tamil, Telugu and even Malayalam cinema, while his debut venture as producer, Badava Rascal, was very well received and is now streaming on Voot Select. Amid his busy schedule as an actor, with films like Head Bush, Once Upon a Time in Jamaligudda, among many others, he’s left no stone unturned to promote his first production, taking the cast and crew along the length and breadth of Karnataka to meet and greet fans. Now that the film has concluded its theatrical run, Dhananjaya is back home briefly and we caught up with the actor for a quick chat about all things Badava Rascal, his decade in cinema, the learnings along the way and how he used those experiences to make team work the focus of his production house.

Watch the entire video interview here:

“I’ve had a great journey in cinema so far. The last 10 years have been about immense learning. As an aspiring actor, most of us think about meeting a director, getting a good script and becoming a superstar almost overnight. But this doesn’t happen so easily; it takes time to be able to pursue your passion and taste some form of success. This is a journey that requires a lot of patience, perseverance, and a lot of hard work. You need to focus on what you need to do 24x7. In fact, my process has always been about wondering what next. If I had a release on a Friday, I’d wait until Monday and then think what do I do now? There’s no point in dwelling in the past – this happened, it didn’t work out, so let’s work on the next one. I kept dreaming and working and putting in a lot of effort in all my films. Along the way, though, there have been instances where I have had creative differences with the filmmakers I collaborated with and today, looking back, I want to thank them because my interactions with them have been learnings about what to do and what not to do. I never stopped learning and the fact that I learnt something or the other along the way has stood me in good stead and contributed to whatever success I am enjoying today as an actor and producer,” says Dhananjaya, adding that he’s always held Swami Vivekananda’s mantra for success – purity, patience and perseverance – close to his heart.

The actor is acutely aware that irrespective of how good an artiste one is, at the end of the day, numbers matter. “At one point of my career, I was doing back-to-back flops and it felt as if people in the industry were losing hope on me. They can’t be blamed. But I believe that a film’s success or failure depends on many factors and not one individual. It is always about team work and Badava Rascal proved that. If an entire team works honestly for the greater good of a film, it will reach its desired audience and to great effect. Today, when I consider a film/role to take up, I first try and understand the people that I have to work with. I need to like their thought process; the script and the rest of the formalities come thereafter – I need to like the human being who is making the film and be convinced of his craft and passion towards it. If we don’t develop a connect like this, I think the efforts of the team will fail. Badava Rascal, in that sense, was a celebration; enjoyed the process of making the film, which I had seen with my earlier films Tagaru, Popcorn Monkey Tiger and Rathnan Prapancha as well,” reasons Dhananjaya.

What was it about Badava Rascal that he thought he should produce it as the first venture for his banner? When I read Shankar’s script, I could totally relate to it. Today, if Badava Rascal is a big hit, it is because the middle-class and the lower middle-class audience connected to the subject, every scene and dialogue in it. They loved the family emotions, the friendship and so on and so forth – a film about a common man will always connect with audiences. Irrespective of the scale on which you are presenting it, the emotions are all the same, and I thought that if I, someone who comes from a middle-class upbringing, could connect to this story, everyone else would too. My confidence was also boosted by the strength of the cast and crew that came together to make this film,” says Dhananjaya.

The common man connect, though, did not end with just the content of the film. The actor-producer has been taking his film to audiences across Karnataka along with the entire team. “I have always enjoyed playing common man characters, be it Rathnakara in Rathnan Prapancha or Shankar in Badava Rascal. I was also hell-bent about being honest with my audience about what we were bringing to the table. It is a film about the common man and it had to reach the common man. And this approach pushed fans to get creatively involved in the promotion of the film. All our promotional material on social media went viral and people appreciated the fact that we were meeting them to tell them more about the film. It is very important to be with the common man. As actors, once you’ve had a bit of success and stardom, we tend to get lost within the four walls of our homes. I believe that we need fresh air and be with the people; that’s where you get new experiences and learnings. Inspiration to create something new will actually come from your interactions with people. We explored this with Badava Rascal and today, I can proudly say that I have a very good emotional connect with my fans. I am blessed and happy that it worked out and that they connected with my journey as an actor and the content we had in Badava Rascal,” he signs off.