Anant Nagarkatte (born 4 September 1948), popularly known as Anant Nag, is an actor from Karnataka, India. Reputed for his natural, under-playing style of acting, Ananth has carved a niche in Kannada filmdom.Kannada cinema . 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. He is fluent in Kannada, Konkani, Marathi, Hindi.
Anant Nag was born on 4 September 1948 to Anandi and Sadanand Nagarkatte in the Chowpatty suburb of Bombay (now Mumbai), in the erstwhile Bombay Province (now a part of Maharashtra State) of the Dominion of India.Born into a Konkani-speaking family, his family settled in Shirali, a village near Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada of Karnataka State. He had an older sister, Shyamala, and a younger brother, Shankar.
Anant had his early education under the aegis of Ananda Ashrama in Dakshina Kannada district and Chitrapur Math in Uttara Kannada district of the erstwhile Mysore State (now Karnataka). After class 7, he was sent to Bombay (now Mumbai) for further education where he studied till class 11. This was when he was drawn towards the theatre movement of Bombay and he was selected to act in Konkani, Kannada and Marathi-language plays which he did until he turned 22.
Once in Bombay, thanks to his good looks, he was suggested by theatre personalities Prabhakar Mudur and Venkatrao Talageri to participate in theatrical plays. His first role came in a play when he played the role of a Hindu monk, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, that proved to be a success among the audiences. He then played a role in a play based on the life of sage Gautama Buddha. Following these, he played important roles in plays in Konkani and Kannada languages, the latter mostly with directors K. K. Suvarna and Girish Karnad.
In Karnad's play Yayati, Nag played the role of Pururava. He also played major roles in Hindi language plays of Amol Palekar and Satyadev Dubey's socially and politically relevant plays. Around this time, in the early 1970s, he received two film offers, in P. V. Nanjaraja Urs' Kannada film, Sankalpa; and Shyam Benegal's Hindi film, Ankur.
Following a theatre career in Bombay, Nag made his film debut with Sankalpa a 1973 Kannada film. Shyam Benegal introduced him into Hindi cinema in his 1973 film Ankur. Anant Nag acted in many of Shyam Benegal's movies after that. Although he is well known for his mainstream Kannada films, Nag is also active in alternative Indian cinema.
His entry into Kannada films was through legendary G. V. Iyer's Hamsageethe. 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 popular actress Lakshmi are a hit-pair in Kannada movies. They acted together in more than 25 films. Most of the films based on T. R. Subba Rao's novels and some of them directed by Dorai-Bhagavan. Right from late 70's, Chandanada Gombe, Naa Ninna Bidaalare (1979), Benkiya Bale, Ibbani Karagitu, Makkaliralavva Mane Thumba, Mududida Taavare Aralitu, Amma and other movies turned out as blockbuster hits that made Anant Nag and Lakshmi household names in Karnataka. Both the actors have signed a new film together in 2013 called "Gulmohar" directed by Devanuru Chandra that has already started shooting.
Beginning with New-Wave artistic movies in early 70's, Ananth Nag branched into commercial cinema.Comedy in Narada Vijaya, Suspense in Kuduremukha, Action in Minchina Ota showed his comfort in different genres. He also dabbled in television during this period. Starting with Jhenkaara in 1994 where he acted as fathre to hero Kumar Bangarappa, He started accepting character roles. In the 90s, he experimented with negative roles (Shanti Kranti).
He held his own with matinee idol Rajkumar in the movie Kamana Billu. Bhakta Prahlada, in which Rajkumar played Hiranya Kashyapu and Ananthnag as Narada muni was a big success.
His comedy-streak was showcased in Ganeshana Maduve, Gauri Ganesha, Udbava, Undoohoda Konduhoda, Beladingala Baale, Hasyaratna Ramakrishna, Yarigu Helbedi, dairya lakshmi. Ananth Nag is a first-choice not just to old-crop directors but also young directors like Yogaraj Bhat inMungaru Male, Gaalipata, NagaShekar in Aramane, Pawan Wodeyar in Googly (film). Yogaraj BhatEredane maduve has been a surprise 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.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.
In 1979, Nag was shooting for Narada Vijaya while Gayatri was shooting for Auto Raja with Shankar Nag in Chamundeshwari studios. With time, cupid struck and love blossomed between them. They married on 9 April 1987.They have a daughter, Aditi.
