I got to learn from 76 years of experience in 26 days for free in Savaari 2

Srinagara Kitty is never in two minds when he wants to call a spade a spade. He’s honest, upright and believes that the film industry is where he will always be. Having acted in 23 films, he makes no bones about accepting failure. Ahead of his next release, Savaari 2, he talks about acting in the sequel and how Girish Karnad inspired him…
You were in Savaari and are in Savaari 2 as well — any connection between the two films? There’s no connection between the two films at all.The only similarity is that my character was named Gaali Seenu in the first part, and here again I’m called Srinivas, also known as Seenu. The character in the previous film was a small-time thief with no family, but his intentions were good and he helped everyone. In this film, he has everyone — his parents and girlfriend, who is daughter of the home minister — but he’s still a thief. He wants to make easy money. He’s the kind of guy who wants to get married to a rich man’s daughter and ‘get settled’. He hatches a plan to make big bucks — as much as `300 crore — through which he meets the characters played by Girish Karnad and Karan Rao. Once again, this is a road film.
Tell us about your experience about working on the film… Working with Karnad was a great thing. He’s not just a big name in cinema, but he’s also one of our literary greats. It was wonderful working with him for nearly 30 days. It took us a couple of days to warm up to each other on the set. But I got to learn from 76 years of experience in 26 days for free in the film. My co-star is Shruti; she’s a fabulous actress. She’s a natural in front of the camera — nothing she does seems made up; there are very few like her. This is the second time I’m working with Jacob (Varghese). He’s very enthusiastic and lives and breathes cinema. He made this film without any compromises, he understood each actor on the set so well. People have seen his previous films Savaari and Prithvi and have liked them. Savaari 2 is a very different kind of film compared to his previous projects. There’s another lead pair in the film. Karan is a model-turned-actor, he’s acted well and it doesn’t seem like his first film. He’s paired opposite Maddhurima, who I didn’t get to work with in any scene. But when I saw the film, I saw that her performance is really commendable. There’s also Abbas and Telugu actor Jeeva. Both of them are very seasoned artistes.
Your career has shown that you do a lot of experimental cinema, like Inthi Ninna Preethiya, Tony, Savaari, Mathe Mungaaru and Sanju Weds Geetha, mostly with young directors… It keeps me motivated. I cannot do stereotype roles. In our industry, there are only 5-6 actors whose films run on the basis of their names. I’d rather do films that make people look forward to me as a performer. Even if this is just a small audience, it makes a difference. Take a look at a film like Inthi Ninna Preethiya or Mathe Mungaaru or Savaari or Sanju Weds Geetha — they are all remembered not because I acted in them, but because they were good scripts. This is how I’m making a place for myself in this industry, so that people will say, ‘Oh, is that a Kitty movie? Then it must have a different story.’ I’ve been around long enough, so I realize that even some commercial cinema under my belt is a must. That said, no one has survived in this industry with as many flops as I have had. Eventually, it’s about being passionate about cinema and, for me, that is all that I know I can do to make a living.
You’re also not a part of the so-called camps in Sandalwood either... I don’t understand any of these camps. For me, this is the Kannada film industry and we’re all here to do good films. I don’t think there is any problem that cannot be solved with proper dialogue. In these camps that you mention, it is more the people in between who add spice to everything before it reaches the other person. If we discount these people in between, I frankly don’t see any problems.