Arundhati Nag (née Rao; born 1955/1956) is an Indian actress. She has been involved with multilingual theatre for over 25 years, first in Mumbai where she got involved with Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA), and did various productions in Gujarati, Marathi, and Hindi theatre, and then in Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and English, in Bangalore.
Following her marriage to Kannada actor-director Shankar Nag (1980–1990), her association with theatre continued in Bangalore, where she performed several plays in Kannada: Girish Karnad's Anju Mallige, 27 Mavalli Circle based on the famous play Wait Until Dark, Sandhya Chayya (Jayant Dalvi), Girish Karnad's Nagamandala, and Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage as Hulaguru Huliyavva. She also worked in several Kannada movies: Accident (1984), Parameshi Prema Prasanga (1984) and Nodiswamy, Navirodu Heege (1987).Arundhati Nag Profile and Interview mumbaitheatreguide.com.
Nag built a theatre space in Bangalore: Ranga Shankara. Frontline, Volume 21 – Issue 24, 20 November – 3 December 2004.Dream of a theatre The Hindu, 21 November 2004. She is a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2008), the Padma Shri (2010) and the National Film Awards (57th) in 2010.Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi.
Career Nag's career spans over 40 years of theatre, film and television. She is the founder and the Managing Trustee of the Sanket Trust, established in 1992, which runs Ranga Shankara, a theatre space in Bangalore.Ranga Shankara
The annual Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival, now in its twelfth year, has become a regular feature on Bangalore's cultural calendar. The Hindu, 16 November 2004.
Nag continues to be actively involved in theatre: her most recent works include Girish Karnad's "Bikhre Bimb" (Hindi) and "Odakalu Bimba" (Kannada).
Her last major movie was The Man Who Knew Infinity (2016), in which she played the mother of the mathematical wizard Ramanujan. She has also appeared in Hindi movies including Paa (2009), "Sapnay" (1997) and "Dil Se" (1998), Kannada movies including Golibar (1991), Jogi (2005) and "Andar Bahar", and Malayalam Da Thadiya (2012) and Drama (2018 film)
Personal life Nag was born in 1956 in Delhi, stayed in Netaji Nagar. Her family moved to Mumbai when she was 10. At 17, she met Shankar Nag, also a theatre artist. Six years later, the two got married and moved to Bangalore. Shankar became a well-known film actor, and later a director, most remembered for his TV adaptation of R. K. Narayan's Malgudi Days (1987). They had a daughter together, Kaavya.
In 1990, Shankar died in a car accident. Arundhati continued to act in theatre, and began to work towards realising her dream of a theatre space, which in 2004, finally materialised into Ranga Shankara, which is today one of India's premier venues for theatre.
Filmography
Actor Year Film Role Language Notes 1979 22 June 1897 Marathi 1983 Nodi Swamy Navirodu Hige Jaya Kannada 1984 Accident Maya Rani Karnataka State Film Award for Best Supporting Actress1985 Parameshi Prema Prasanga Ramamani Poi Mugangal Tamil 1993 Golibar Bharathi Devi Kannada 1996 Shiva Sainya Shiva's mentor 1997 Minsaara Kanavu Mother Superior Tamil 1998 Dil Se.. AIR station director Hindi 2003 Ek Alag Mausam Aparna's mother 2005 Jogi Bhagyakka Kannada Karnataka State Film Award for Best Supporting Actress 2007 Chaurahen Nandakumar Nair Hindi 2009 Paa Bhumi "Bum" Bharadwa National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress 2012 Da Thadiya "Knight Rider" Malayalam 2013 Andhar Bahar Kannada 2016 The Man Who Knew Infinity Srinivasa Ramanujan's mother English 2018 Drama Rosamma John Chacko Malayalam 2022 Escaype Live Lakshmi Amma Hindi Webseries Medium Spicy Nissim's aunt and author Marathi
Assistant director A Passage to India (1984) Indian Summer (1987)
Awards 2003: Won: Radio City Woman of the Year 2008: Won: Sangeet Natak Akademi Award – Theatre, Acting 2009: Won: 57th National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress – Paa 2010: Awarded: Padma Shri Award
References
External links
Arundhati Nag: Life is beautiful – Interview Times of India