Raghavendra Stores star Jaggesh on early acting days: I was called a 'footpath dialect artist'

Over the course of his 43-year-long career, actor Jaggesh has risen through the ranks completely on his own terms. As someone who began his journey in the 1980s as a bit player, it took him nearly a decade to warrant a film of his own and when it did happen, the audience had already grown fond of his very 'quirky' style. There was something unconventional about the way he spoke, the way he moved around and just the candour with which he carried himself. 

However, it wasn't all smooth sailing for the 60-year-old star because when was just starting out, the Kannada Film Industry wasn't particularly conducive or welcoming of his brand of acting. 

"When I was starting out, the industry was very conservative or orthodox in its approach. It was the writer's medium and as an actor, if you misspelt a word or rearranged their order, the backlash was huge. In fact, I was condescended to as a 'footpath bhaashe kalavida' (footpath dialect artist) because, according to them, I spoke terrible Kannada. And some even wrote that listening to me was nauseating - I would wonder why they said something like that about me. But over time, the same films have been played on TV close to 10,000 times and short clippings are available on the internet as well. But the truth is that I felt the writing and the dialogue delivery at the time were slightly archaic and did not connect with the audience - so when I introduced the real, street twang into it, people around did not accept it immediately. It took time, no doubt, but I got my rewards - the best being Dr. Rajkumar himself clapping and cheering me on, saying how well I spoke Kannada at that rapid pace," said Jaggesh in a recent interview with a YouTube channel.

Jaggesh will present this quirky, inimitable self of his in the upcoming Hombale Films production, Raghavendra Stores. Santhosh Anaddram directs the film and Shwetha Srivatsav plays the female lead.