Anant Nagarkatte (born September 4, 1948) popularly known as Anant Nag is an actor and politician from Karnataka, India. He is considered to be one of the all time greatest actors in the Kannada film industry with a vast number of commercially successful movies.^{[citation needed]} As a result, he is popularly known as an actor with no-failures, by critics.^{[citation needed]} In addition to Kannada movies, he has acted in Marathi, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi movies. He has also acted in Malgudi Days, directed by his younger brother Shankar Nag based on the stories by R.K.Narayan. His work was much appreciated by critics at that time. He is fluent in Kannada, Konkani, Marathi, Hindi and with a good understanding of Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. The versatile natural acting coupled with the style of speaking (accent of southern Kannada with a tint of coastal touch) made him one of the most successful actors in Kannada cinema.

Early life[link]

Anant Nag, one of the greatest Indian actors, was born in Konkani Saraswat Brahmin family of Anandi and Sadanand Nagarkatte. He had his early education under the aegis of Ananda Ashrama in Dakshina Kannada district and Chitrapura matha in Uttara Kannada. He was sent to Mumbai for onward education and got involved with amateur Marathi theatre for eight years.^[1] He started out doing amateur theatre in Marathi and Kannada.

Film career[link]

Shyam Benegal introduced him into Hindi cinema in his 1973 film Ankur. Anant Nag acted in many of Shyam Benegal's movies after that. Well known for his mainstream Kannada films, Nag is active in alternative Indian cinema.

His entry into Kannada films was through legendary G. V. Iyer's Hamsageethe.^[2] It is one of the most critically acclaimed of his movies and is about trysts of a learner whose greatest search is finding the right Guru.

Nag and fellow South Indian popular actress Lakshmi have been known as an all-time greatest pair in Kannada movies. They acted together in more than 25 films. Most of the films based on Ta　Ra　Su novels and directed by great Duari-Bhagavan, the sad endings of the most of films based on life of middle class young couples made Anant and Lakshmi house hold name in Karnataka.

Although he began his career as an actor in artistic movies, became most popular in comedies due to his versatile acting and natural sense of humour. Ananth Nag kept re-inventing himself with each era. In the 1970s and 80s, he was the darling of the middle-class with his natural acting. He also dabbled in television during this period. In the 90s, he experimented with negative roles (Shanti Kranti) and accepted character roles.

With greatest hits in the films like Ganeshana Maduve, Gauri Ganesha, Udbava, Undoohoda Konduhoda, Beladingala Baale, Hasyaratna Ramakrishna, Yarigu Helbedi, dairya lakshmi, he has been noted for his abilities. These days, he appears in supporting roles in Kannada movies (for example, blockbuster films like Mungaru Male): He has been the favourite choice of most popular directors of Kannada cinema. He is equally popular in supportive roles amongst dignified viewers across the Karnataka. His recent movie Eredane maduve has been a huge hit where he acted in a lead role with Suhasini Maniratnam.

Nag acted in Anahat and it drew rave reviews. Marathi film director Amol Palekar found Nag's sensitive depiction of the king's dilemmas to have greatly enhanced the multifaceted complexities of the film.^{[citation needed]} The character portrayed by Nag has depth and dimension, powerfully drawing you into the core of the story.

Though he is one of the most influential men both from a film and political point of view, he has often been regarded as the finest, the simplest and polite personality. His appearance in front of media or appearances for publicity have hardly been noticed and the association of his name with any controversy has hardly been reported, either with his film or with political career. For these reasons, Nag is considered as one of the most respectable personalities in the real life. Now he is one of the most sought-after actor in Kannada cinemas.

Political career[link]

Staying in Mumbai, in the heady days of Socialism, Ananth Nag was a strong supporter of reformist movement. He identified himself with the Janatha Party and was the star-campaigner for Janatha Party in 1983, 1985 and 1989 elections. He won from Malleshwaram constituency in 1993 and served as a Minister for BDA in the J H Patel's cabinet. His tenure was uneventful, with him being criticized for not catering the infrastructure needs of Bangalore.

When Ramakrishna Hegde, supposedly his mentor was expelled from Janatha Dal, he stayed within Janatha Dal, leading to speculations of divide between the Mentor and Mentee.

In 2004, he contested a very fierce assembly election from Janata Dal (Secular) where he was pitched against the then Chief minister of Karnataka, S. M. Krishna from Indian National Congress, alongside fellow actor Mukhyamantri Chandru from Bharatiya Janata Party in the Chamrajpet constituency in Bangalore. However, S.M. Krishna won the election. But, Krishna, disappointed for not being able to win the majority opted not to lead the party and soon became the governor of Maharashtra.

Selected filmography[link]

Tamil[link]

• Nattukku Oru Nallavan

Marathi[link]

• Anahaat (Film by Amol Palekar with Sonali Bendre and Deepti Naval)

Hindi[link]

• Yuva
• Ankur
• Gehrayee
• Mangalsutra
• Kalyug
• Raat
• Nishant
• Manthan
• Bhumika Awarded
• Kondura

End in the tele serial Malgudi Days directed by his younger brother Shankar Nag. Eradene maduve

Malayalam[link]

• Swathi Thirunal

Awards[link]

• Karnataka state film awards

|| 1979-80 || || Template:Best Actor || || Minchina ota || |- || 1985-86 || ||Best Actor || || Template:Hosa neeru || |- || 1994-95 || || Best Actor || || Template:Gangavva Gangamayi || |-

• South Filmfare Award

|| 1979 || || Best Actor || || Template:Na ninna bidalare || |- || 1981 || || Best Actor || || Template:Bara || |- || 1990 || || Best Actor || || Template:Hendthigelbedi || |- || 1991 || ||Best Actor || || Template:Gowri Ganesha || |- || 2008 || || Best Supporting Actor || || Template:Tajmahal || || - Nomination || |- || 2008 || || Best Supporting Actor || || Template:Aramane || ||- Nomination ||

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Anant Nag at the Internet Movie Database
• Kannada song acted by Ananth nag