Akshith SK: Nepotism doesn’t work anymore

Akshith SK, son of actor Shashikumar, popularly known as Adityaa Shashi Kumar, is taking the legacy of his father forward and will be making his acting debut with a bilingual. 

The film, directed by Prabhakar Aaripaka, is being made in Kannada and Telugu and is titled Seethaayana and Seethayaanam, respectively. The star kid had initially signed a Kannada film with Siddharth Maradeppaa, which was supposed to be his debut, and was announced with a grand launch ceremony. However, that project did not take off, and he now gets a simultaneous launch in two languages. 

Seethaayana is presented by Rohan Bharadwaj and made under the banner of Lalitha Rajyalakshmi Production. It features Anahit Bhooshan as the female lead.

Akshith has completed shooting and dubbing for the Telugu version and is now in the process of dubbing for the Kannada version.

Akshith, who got the film through auditions, feels getting to debut with a bilingual is a big deal for a newcomer. And he counts himself as just that, a newcomer. “Nepotism doesn’t work anymore. Just because my father is an actor it doesn’t mean I get a red carpet welcome. It is all about the skills, how we shape up,” he says, adding, “This is my entry into the field. I had started earlier, but things took another turn. So I stayed back and practised with my dad, and went to different teachers to learn acting. I also went with my father to the sets, to learn the technicalities, as I felt I had to learn the basics.”

The actor is happy to follow his father’s footsteps and hopes to keep his dad’s legacy alive, especially since the latter lost everything after an accident. “That was a major turning point in my life. Now, my ultimate goal is to make my dad smile. I hope that I carry on his legacy,” says Akshith. “At the same time, I am not doing it only for him. It's also my passion. Sadly, I was discouraged at home, and they did not want to push me into the limelight, especially after my father’s accident. It was only in 2014, during the making of Munirathna Kurukshetra, that I got to enter a film set. I am happy to start from zero,” he signs off.