I do what I do for the people who love me: Jaggesh

Sandalwood’s reigning king of comedy is back at doing what he does best — making people laugh. Jaggesh’s set out on his latest offering, a film called Double Decker — which seems to spell trouble for the character he plays, from the word go.

For Jaggesh, art is a passion, but that does not necessarily mean restricting it to comic roles. “I have so many other scripts I would like to see as films. I want to be able to highlight a variety of issues through my films, I want to be able to bring forth thought-provoking tales. But that is not meant to be,” states the actor. For this star, it is the audience that decides what he ought to do. “Every time I meet people, they spell out this single agenda that they have in mind for me — to make them laugh. When I analyse my career, I find that my biggest successes were all those that did just that. Which is probably why my work is bound by expectations today,” he says.

But Jaggesh also happens to know exactly what’s good for him. “I do feel bad at times. I feel ‘I’ will remain the only one who has a vague idea of the kind of calibre I could have fit into. But then again, I face a lot of pressure from the audience. Today, I am considered as the minimum guarantee hero by producers who continue to cast me because of this audience. Even today, my films have the same kind of opening they had at the onset of my career. And to maintain my position in the industry, I have no issues about doing what it takes. I make people laugh. I don’t haggle behind awards and recognition. In fact, after I became a politician, I witnessed how exactly people win these awards. Awards are not respectfully given, they are requested for and taken. That’s not for me. I do what I do for the people who love me. I write for them, I act for them and I update my film-making skills for them,” says Jaggesh.

Speaking of buying awards, Jaggesh says that a lot of the youngsters in the industry believe that publicity is what will work for them. “This may hurt people, but instead of making a show of themselves, youngsters should concentrate on doing a good job on screen. You perform, you win the love of people, and that’s how you become a star — not because of the number of times you get featured on television and entertainment newspapers,” he says.