My uncle’s daughter Surekha is my wife. My marriage was an arranged one by my parents and it was held in Srikakulam. My re-entry into films happened immediately after my marriage. I went to a Challenge 100 day function with my wife and in-laws. Interestingly, my wife’s name and Chiranjeevi wife’s name is also Surekha. He felt very happy. I have two kids Aadi (actor) and daughter Jyothirmayee (doctor).
Popular director Tatineni Prakash Rao made ‘Samsaram’ film with NT Rama Rao and Jamuna as the lead pair. A Tamil boy Sekhar acted as a child artiste in that film and for him they searched for a dubbing artiste. They conducted an audition and finally , Sivaram, the greatest sound recordist, selected me. At that time, dubbing was also a combination in the morning session with NTR and afternoon session with Jamuna. There was no escort for me as my parents wanted me to go on my own. That was my first dubbing to Master Sekhar in ‘Samsaram’ in 1974. I made my debut as a child artiste in ‘Devudu Chesina Pelli’ directed by Tatineni Rama Rao and Atluri Purnachandra Rao as producer. Sobhan Babu and Sarada were the lead pair. I played a blind boy in the film. The film was released in 1975. I went on to act in a few films as child artistes. My last film as a child artist was ‘Sneham’ directed by Bapu, a remake of Hindi film ‘Dosti’.
Entry as an actor from Challenge
After completing my studies I entered into films as an actor with ‘Challenge’ film in 1984. Chiranjeevi, Suhasini and Vijayashanthi were the lead actors and directed by A Kodandarami Reddy. I played the role of a ward boy in that film and I am very happy that my entry as an actor was with Annayya Chiranjeevi. Most of the shooting was in Visakhapatnam. The film is based on Yandamuri Veerendranath’s novel Dabbu to the power of Dabbu’. I had a key role in that film and never looked back from there.
Police Story is memorable in my life
After ‘Challenge’ I did many films, but I got a good break with the film ‘Kalikalam’ in 1991. This Telugu film remade in Kannada with the title ‘Kumkuma Bhagya’ in 1993 marked my debut in Kannada. Actually, this film paved the way for me to act in the ‘Police Story’. After my debut in Kannada film, I acted in another film ‘Lockup Death’ (1994) in which I got to know Thriller Manju, who is the action director for that film. Later, Thriller Manju turned into a director with ‘Police Story’ for which they chose me as the lead. I played cop Agni in it and the film was a sensation in 1996. I never looked back in Kannada after that and did many Kannada films. Even till today people remember the film and call me Agni, IPS. It was one of the landmarks and most memorable films in my life. I continue to act in many Kannada films. After the ‘Police Story’, I acted in 54 Kannada films as lead actor.
Bond of brothers
My two younger brothers Ravi Shankar and Ayyappa Sharma are now settled as dubbing artistes and actors. Ayyappa acted with me in ‘Police Story’ and he wrote a story which I liked. I asked him to narrate it to Rockline Venkatesh. We tried Vishnu Vardhan and Ambarish, but they didn’t do it. So we approached Vijayashanthi and she agreed to do it. The film ‘Ayudha’ was released and it became a superhit. Along with me, Sithara, Vijayashanthi, Raghuvaran, Arun Pandiyan acted in the film which became a big hit. Later, Ayyappa tried making some films, but wasn’t successful. He got a break with the film ‘KGF’ as an actor and he is a busy actor now. Ravi Shankar too is busy as an actor and dubbing artiste both in Kannada and Telugu. After ‘Arundhathi’, with the ‘Bommali’ dialogue, Ravi Shankar became unstoppable. We are all busy as actors and dubbing artistes in both Kannada and Telugu. I am going to introduce my son Aadi in Kannada next year. I am also successful in television which I did for the last few years.
Made a biggest mistake
I started dubbing for actor Suman in the film ‘Tarangini’. Then to actor Rajasekhar for ‘Vandemataram’. For both these actors I gave my voice for many years. But after the ‘Police Story’ (1996), I didn’t do dubbing in Telugu for a few years which I feel was a big mistake. They tried with some other dubbing artistes. Once my mother passed away, she wrote about me in her diary. She felt bad that I stopped dubbing in Telugu and she expressed the hope that I would continue it. She wrote that the family mostly relies on dubbing. The government too gave away Nandi Awards to dubbing artistes. So, once again I started dubbing for Rajasekhar with the film ‘Evadaithe Nakenti’ (2007). The other bad thing that happened is that I produced a film ‘Eswar Allah’. The film got acclaimed, but didn’t do well at the box-office, and I lost some money on it. To clear the debts I had to accept whatever films came my way. It took four to five years to clear the debts for that film. And after that I decided not to produce any films.
