Note: I wrote this in Gandhadagudi Forum as a response to someone who asked what has Shankar Nag done. Hence it is not written like an article.
1.
Personal charm: Why Raj Kumar became so legendary? He was much more than just an actor. People considered him as a role model in real life. Same with Shankara, he was much more than an actor. One more similarity is that he was simple and humble like Raj Kumar. Like Raj, he was a sweet, soft and genuinely likable guy. Again like Raj Kumar he would come on time to sets, he would treat everyone nicely without showing starry airs.
One or 2 Examples:
Ramesh Guru Raj Rao had to compose music for one Shankara's plays. Shankara was already a star by then. When Ramesh tried to address Shankara with bahu vachana, Shankar interrupted and told, "Ayyo adella beda, Shankara anta kareeri."
They were in Calcutta for the play. They had booked a flight ticket only for Shankar. He gave the ticket to someone else and came with the troupe in a train.
Another day, my relative who was working in the film industry was going in a city bus near Shivananda circle, suddenly one guy came running with a bag in his hand, jumped and got on the foot-board. He was taking something to a film lab for processing. In the next stop or something he got down and started running. That guy was someone who was already a BIG star! Shankara it was!!
2.
Metro : He had seen the tube in London and had conceived the same for Bangalore. Some say that he brought engineers from Japan/Germany to get the survey done for the plan, some say he got it done from the Geological survey department. Whatever it is, he did get a survey done and submitted the report to the Govt of Karnataka during the times of Rama Krishna Hegade/Bommai. He spent 4-5 lakhs from his pocket for this project in those days(This is like spending 20 lakhs today). How many actors will spend 10-20 lakh for the metro project or any public work?? How many have such visions? Even chief ministers did not have such visions.
3.
Low cost housing: He saw the ideas of an Austrian company called EVG, those guys were using some sheets with which you could construct houses with just 45000 Rs in those days. What a socialist!! In a country with 25% people near the poverty line it was such a good idea. Our poor people can benefit a lot from this idea even today. He had actually built one model house in Yelahanka, adu eegloo ide ante. His plan was to work with HUDCO and get this done. Nam politicians ishtu olle kelsa ella yelli madtare? KFI will not even dream of such things, they are busy making money using remakes!
4.
Sanket Studio: All the recording work was being done in Madras those days. Shankara was the first one to start recording here. He saw the studios in Mumbai and did something similar in bangalore. He was the first guy to start computerised Sound recording in Kannada. He brought musicians and technicians from Madras and asked them to train local guys about how recording is done. If local guys are doing this and we have so many studios in Karnataka, say thanks to Shankara!!
5.
Theatre: He also had formed a theatre group called Sanket. He directed plays like Naga Mandala, Barrister, Sandhya Chaaya, Nodi Swaami navirode heege and all. His dream was to build an intimate theatre in Karnataka and make it affordable to all.
Arundhati Nag realised this dream with Ranga Shankara. The ticket cost is just 100 Rs or max 200 Rs just because it was Shankar's dream to give it at low cost. Theatre rent is just 2500-5000 Rs for people who are performing. They can easily charge 10000-15000 Rs. It is a high class, posh theater with great sound and light systems, but they have kept it affordable. This also is because Shankara wanted to help artists by giving low cost options. Arundhati just realized his vision.
The stage concept is also different there, it is a thrust stage. This is also a fulfilment of Shankar's dream I guess, he wanted it to look like the intimate theatres he saw in foreign countries.
6.
Farmhouse/Dairy: He had an idea for dairy farming/farm house. He bought some place in Singasandra/ Hosur road and actually did dairy farming.
7.
Country Club: This was another dream that he actually realised. This is the precursor of the resorts that we have today. This was meant for hi fi society folks.
8.
Medi-vac idea: Shankar had a project to give medical facilities to villagers by having diagnostic centres near villagers and by giving some pick up drop service using helicopters, I am not sure what the exact plan was. But he had an interesting idea.
9.
Nandi betta: He saw some amusement park in Canada and thought of having one such near Nandi betta with garden, theme rides and stuff. He also wanted a rope way to Nandi betta and wanted to build a 5 Star hotel on top of betta. This rope-way/ theme park can be implemented even today.
10.
Brick factory: Power plants were producing a waste called Fly ash. Shankara came across a plan to produce bricks using this fly ash. He wanted to use wind mills or something, there was a plan to do that without using electricity. Paperwork was done for this, but he passed away after that. His idea again was to help the poor with cheap bricks for building houses.
11.
Garment factory: He had another idea to make textile and export it to foreign countries. not sure if there was anything unique about it.
12.
Fly overs/ underpass: He had also suggested that Bengluru needs Fly overs and underpasses to handle the increasing traffic. He had shared the idea with Rama Krishna Hegade. He told this 15 years before SM Krishna thought of having fly overs after the damage had already been done. What a visionary!!
13.
Multiplexes: This was another idea he had. Not sure how true it is. If it is true then he was 25-30 years ahead of his times!!
14.
Malgudi days: With this he got a never before kind of acclaim all over India. It became a sensation. Perhaps he is the only director from KFI to get a nationwide acclaim like this. Puttanna, Upendra, Desai and all were limited to Karnataka/South India. They did not get national level recognition like he did. This gave him the much deserved satisfaction, he was finally happy that people accepted his talent.
15.
Bridge cinema: This guy made bridge films like Accident, Ondu muttina kathe and Minchina Ota. This was even before the likes of Pawan Kumar and Rakshith Shetty and all were born. These films were neither fully commercial, nor were they ART films. There were ART films and there were commercial films in Kannada, Shankara probably bridged the gap with bridge films.
16.
Intellectual/International level exposure and ideas: Shankara was friends with YNK(Celebrated editor of Prajavaani, guru of Jogi and Vishweshwar Bhat), Girish Karnad and such. He used to watch world cinema in those pre internet days. He used to read authors like Bertolt Brecht (Germany), Gabriel Garcia Marquez(Argentina), Pablo Neruda(Chile), Steinbeck(Ondu muttina kathe was based on a novel by him), Dostoyevsky(Russia) and such. He would read Nobel prize winning authors like Albert Camus and such.
He was getting these international level ideas and it was very difficult for people here to appreciate his ideas as people here were not that advanced like him. My relative who worked in KFI those days told that people in his friends circle were also no match for his intellectual level, they were not able to appreciate his ideas. Probably people like YNK and Girish Karnad were matching this intellectual wavelength that he had. Sorry, no such luck in film industry!!
This was a bit like Srinivas Ramanujan telling his Maths theories to people in Govt office in Kumbha Konam, they did not get head or tail of what Ramanujam was telling, they could not understand that he was having world class ideas. Finally Professor Hardy gave that recognition to him in England. Shankara also must have felt like that - a wrong man in a wrong place, way ahead of his times.
16.
Multi faceted director: Shankara would act, write screenplays, read and direct. He wore other caps also. He would take a harmonium and start singing. He would start designing the sets. Would come with innovative set ideas with the budget constraint he had. No distributor was ready to buy Anantha Nag/ MS Sathyu film Bara. Like a producer/distributor he made sure that the film got a theatrical release. Shankara had also written a travelogue after visiting Singapore.
17.
Speed, Energy: He was moving like a huchch naayi(mad dog) running inside a rocket on fire!! His thinking was even faster, by the time others got started with a Yamaha bike this guy would have reached Hassana in a bullet train. He did all these things listed in a span of 10-11 years. This is not the story of an 80 year old grandpa. He did all this at the age of 36. Not to forget, he acted in some 90+ films. Imagine doing these many projects, coming with these many ideas and acting in 90 films in a span of 10 years. He seemed to have 48 hours in a day.
18.
Awards and Accolades: Shankara was in the league of Kasaravalli and Naga Bharana in this aspect. I think Kasaravalli, Naga Bharana and Shankara are the Top 3 award winning film makers of Karnataka. He won 2 National awards. Accident won the Indian Silver Lotus at the National Film Awards. Also, it won the State award for the best film. Won 7 State awards including Second Best Film and Best Screenplay. Nodi Swami navirode heege - Again won the state award in the best film category.
"22 June 1897" is a Marathi film written by Shankara. This film won the Indian Silver Lotus at the National Film Awards. This film has been included in the selected collection of Indian films in the US Library of Congress. This film should have come in Kannada.
19.
Hrudayavanta: Did not take proper money for half of his films. As per Anantha, he did not get paid properly for 45+ films. At least 35+ he himself gave concession seeing producer's problems. For some he got 30-40% payment, for some he got 50-60%. Some he did not take anything. Only hero to help so many producers I think. Being the hero in 90+ films he had a big loan when he died. Arundhati took 10 years to clear all the loans. This was partially due to the investments he had done on his dream projects and partially because he was not strictly taking money from producers.
Note: I have compiled the info from 15-20 different resources to form what I think is a coherent whole.
