'Will act till my age and mind permit'

BENGALURU: It was December 1978. Artistes of Kala Gangothri, a theatre group, panicked when TS Lohitashwa was diagnosed with typhoid. Lohitashwa, an English professor then, was to play the main role of 'Mukhyamantri' in the eponymous play. It was the debut show and they had spent almost Rs 4,000 to host it at Ravindra Kalakshetra.
Doctors advised Lohitashwa not to take the stage for a couple of weeks.The show must go on, decided Kala Gangothri, and told a 28-year-old actor to take over the role. That youth, HN Chandrashekar was a little hesitant as the character had 700-800 lines of dialogue and portrayed a wily, opportunistic politician. Besides, there were only two weeks left for the show. He took up the challenge, won over the audience and earned the nickname 'Mukhyamantri Chandru'.
Since then, the play has been a huge hit all over the country, and abroad too. On Sunday, Chandru and his team will stage the 600th show in Bengaluru. The actor, 63, told STOI he would continue acting till his age and mind permits.
In an hour-long chat, Chandru recalled various incidents in his life as a theatreperson, politician and TV actor. "In 1985, I was in Chennai for a film shoot. One night, I got a call in my hotel and the person introduced himself as the PA to the then chief minister Ramakrishna Hegde. I thought my artist-friends from the other room were playing a prank. I told him, 'It's quite late and enough of these jokes'. But the person said he was indeed the CM's PA and handed over the phone to Hegde himself," he recalled.
"I love playing this character. My tenure as a politician helped add colour to the character," he added.