City Pulse

Shankar Nag road is about two kms away from the Electronic City flyover. The road is slightly inconspicuous and one most probably will take the road parallel to Shankar Nag road to get to the interior of Bommanahalli.

The road is named after Shankar Nagarkatte. He passed away in a car accident on 30^th September 1990 aged just 35.

Contributions:

While doing my research, I realized that not many people even knew that there was a road called Shankar Nag Road in Bengaluru! Many people, though, knew the theatre,”Ranga Shankara” which was built to fulfill Shankar’s dream of allowing people to experience theatre.

Shankar’s last name, despite the road being called Shankar Nag road, is Nagarkatte. Shankar was born on 9 November 1954 in Uttara Kannada, Mysore State. His parents were Anandi and Sadanand Nagarkatte, and his brother is Kannada film actor Anant Nag.

Shankar was interested in theatre and acting even when he was young. He loved watching movies and enjoyed theatre. After his schooling, he moved to Mumbai where he acted in Marathi dramas. His brother Anant Nag, urged Shankar to act in a Kannada movie ‘Onanodu Kaladalli’ directed by Girish Karnad. The epic movie was a big hit. It was just his debut movie yet it earned Shankar an award at the National film festival. His acting career spanning just 12 years saw him act in almost 80 Kannada movies.

Along with his brother Anant, Shankar began to direct movies as well. 

Apart from his movies, Shankar is remembered for the legendary series Malgudi Days. Doordarshan, then the only major T.V channel in India approached Shankar to direct the T.V, based on R.K Nayarayan’s novel of the same name. The T.V serial was appreciated widely and is still regarded as one of the best serials produced in the country. Encouraged by the number of viewers Malgudi Days garnered, Shankar went on to produce his next T.V serial ‘Swami’, also based on one of R.K Narayan’s books.

His movie Autoraja became so popular among Bengaluru's auto drivers, that to this day, many auto drivers have a sticker of him on the back of their autos.                                                                       

While shooting for Jokumaraswamy, Shankar met with a fatal accident. The whole Kannada film industry, along with Shankar’s fans mourned his death.

The accident nearly killed his wife, Arundhati too. Despite the accident, she showed immense courage,and will power, and went back to the film industry to act. She turned many of Shankar’s ambitious ideas into reality.

Shankar produced, acted and directed numerous movies in his short, but illustrious career. He will always be remembered for his roles in the movies, Auto Raja, Minchina Ota and of course Onanodu Kaladalli, amongst others.

For Bengalureans, Shankar Nag road will be a reminder of a man who brought the Kannada film industry to the forefront of Indian Cinema.

Contributed by: Meena Iyer, 9-D, Sri Kumaran Children’s Home CBSE 

References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shankar_Nag#Malgudi_Days

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shankar_Nag#Filmography

• http://www.in.com/shankar-nag/profile-252631.html

Know your City is conducted in collaboration with the students of Sri Kumaran Children's Home. The main aim of the project is to create an awareness among Bengalureans about the history of the city's roads and streets.