Cinema VinesVeteran actor Anant Nag will be honoured with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2024 on September 22 at the 72nd National Film Awards ceremony in Gujarat. The award recognises his five‑decade contribution to Indian cinema, following last year’s Padma Bhushan. Nag is only the second Kannada performer to receive the Phalke, after Dr. Rajkumar.
Born in 1948 in Uttara Kannada, Nag spent his early years in a religious math and ashram where his parents worked. A move to Mumbai in his early teens exposed him to the city’s vibrant theatre scene of the 1960s and 1970s, where he performed in Konkani, Kannada and Hindi plays. He later transitioned to film with the 1973 release Sankalpa, playing a rationalist opposed to religious faith. A year later he joined director Shyam Benegal, appearing in six landmark New Wave films such as Ankur, Nishant, Manthan, Bhumika, Kondura and Kalyug, roles that showcased his ability to portray complex, grey‑shaded characters.
Nag’s career also spans commercial cinema. He acknowledged that a full‑time career in parallel cinema was challenging, leading him to accept mainstream projects. His first major commercial hit was Bayalu Daari (1977), a romantic lead that opened the door to further successes like Chandanada Gombe, Benkiya Bale and Naa Ninna Bidalare. He frequently played vulnerable middle‑class protagonists based on popular novels, and his on‑screen partnership with Lakshmi was particularly well received. Despite competing with superstar fan clubs of Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan and Ambarish, Nag chose not to embrace the action‑hero persona, steering clear of the typical star cult.
An important chapter of Nag’s career involved collaborations with his younger brother, the late Shankar Nag, a maverick of Kannada film and theatre. Together they worked on films such as Accident, Minchina Ota and Nodi Swami Navirode Heege, and the television series Malgudi Days, which brought them national acclaim. Nag reflected on this partnership in his memoir Nanna Thamma Shankara. After a lean period in the late 1990s, he returned to acting in the 2000s, mostly in supporting roles.
