Anant Nag

Anant Nagarkatte (born 4 September 1948), better known as Anant Nag, is an Indian actor whose predominant contribution has been in Kannada cinema. He has acted in over 300 titles which includes over 200 Kannada films and Marathi, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi films. He has featured in theatre plays, parallel cinema and television shows. He is considered to be a versatile artist in Kannada cinema.

Nag made his feature film debut through Sankalpa (1973). His foray into parallel cinema was through Shyam Benegal's Ankur (1974). His commercially successful Kannada movies have been Naa Ninna Bidalaare (1979), Chandanada Gombe (1979), Benkiya Bale (1983), Hendthige Helbedi (1989), Ganeshana Maduve (1990), Gowri Ganesha (1991), Mungaru Maley (2006) and Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu (2016).

He acted in Malgudi Days, a Doordarshan aired television series based on the stories of R. K. Narayan. He is a recipient of six Filmfare Awards South and five Karnataka State Film Awards. He is the elder brother of acclaimed director and actor Shankar Nag.

Early life
Anant Nag was born in a Konkani-speaking family on 4 September 1948 to Anandi and Sadanand Nagarkatte in the Chowpatty suburb of Mumbai. He has an elder sister, Shyamala and his younger brother was Shankar Nag.

Nag did his early schooling in a catholic school in Ajjarkad, Udupi, Ananda Ashrama in Dakshina Kannada and Chitrapur Math in Uttara Kannada districts of the erstwhile Madras State (now Karnataka). In class 9th standard, he was sent to Mumbai for further study. He attempted to join the armed services but was rejected by the Army for being underweight and by the Air Force for poor eyesight. He was drawn towards the theatre movement of Mumbai and he was selected to act in Konkani, Kannada and Marathi-language plays which he did until he turned 22.

Theatre
He began his career with Konkani plays. He went on to work in plays of Satyadev Dubey, Girish Karnad and Amol Palekar. For a period of about five years, he acted in Konkani, Kannada, Marathi and Hindi plays.

Film and Television
Following a theatre career in Mumbai, Nag made his film debut with Sankalpa, a 1973 Kannada film. Nag then grew to become a core part of parallel cinema, which was at its peak in the 1970s and '80s. Being introduced to director Shyam Benegal by theatre director Satyadev Dubey, he starred in six of Benegal's films: Ankur(1974), Nishant (1975), Manthan (1976), Bhumika (1978), Kondura (1978) and Kalyug (1981).

His arrival into Kannada movies was through G. V. Iyer's Hamsageethe (1975). Anant Nag plays the role of a disciple of carnatic singing. The film went on to win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada.

Anant Nag acted in 13 episodes of the television series, Malgudi days which were based on the stories by R. K. Narayan and directed by his brother Shankar Nag.

His portrayal of an Alzheimer's patient in Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu (2016) has received critical acclaim and contributed to making this experimental movie, a commercial success.

Personal life
Nag married Gayatri on 9 April 1987. They have a daughter, Aditi.

Political career
He was an MLC, MLA and a minister in J. H. Patel government. In 2004, he unsuccessfully contested the Chamarajpet constituency, Bangalore assembly election from Janata Dal (Secular). He was pitched against then Chief minister of Karnataka, S. M. Krishna from Indian National Congress and fellow actor Mukhyamantri Chandru from Bharatiya Janata Party.