If not Aniketh, Raj B Shetty would have played THIS role in Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye

After playing a father avenging his daughter in Toby earlier this year, Raj B Shetty will be seen as a terminally-ill patient Aniketh, dealing with end-stage gastro-intestinal cancer in Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye. Aniketh, though, is not the protagonist of this tale, it is Prerana (Siri Ravikumar), the counsellor at the palliative care centre that he comes to live out his last few days. While the film is an exploration of Prerana’s life – both personal and professional – her bond with some patients, especially Aniketh, is the crux. The film also features Gopalkrishna Deshpande, JP Thuminad and Balaji Manohar in pivotal roles, and, interestingly, it is one of their characters that Raj would have chosen to play if not Aniketh.

In a special promotional video of Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye, Raj was in conversation with his co-star Siri, during which he said that if he had not played Aniketh, he would have done JP Thuminad’s role. Although Raj did not elaborate on the character, he did go on to shower praise on JP, who was most recently seen in a pivotal role in Sapta Sagaradaache Ello Side B. “JP is a good actor and I love working with such artistes. As an indie filmmaker, I prefer working with relatively newer names, who are talented and deserve a moment in the spotlight. A film will turn out a lot better with genuine talent. Say, if you go behind a popular name, it comes with a certain baggage. Audiences see them in a pre-set image and will have a notion about what he/she will bring to the table. If it matches their expectations, they are okay, but if it doesn’t, they become disappointed. The advantage of new talent is that if they bring something amazing to the screen, audiences will not see the actor, but the character,” explains Raj.

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Talking about his character, Aniketh, Raj added that to carry off a terminally-ill vibe, he had to sport a rather subdued look with less energy, for which he went on a minimal calorie diet for the duration of the shoot. “My physique is such that I don’t gain or lose weight easily. As Aniketh, though, I had to look a little different. I wanted my eyes and cheeks to be more sunken, for which I went on a diet about 15 days prior to the shoot, which continued during the making of the film also. But as soon as we were done with those sequences, I went back to eating healthily,” he says, adding that playing Aniketh was not very tough otherwise, as he had some of Raj’s real-life traits, like, for instance, the love for books.

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Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye, which has been produced by actress Ramya for her banner, AppleBox Studios, is releasing in theatres on November 24.