Akki roti with coconut chutney remains actor Karthik\'s favourite

Be it serials or movies, what attracts Karthik is his dream and passion to play different characters and roles which is not possible in real life. An engineer from BITS Bengaluru, he worked abroad for some time. But he quit the job to become an actor. He loves studying the stars and the planets. With no godfather or any production house to back him, Karthik worked hard on his physique, dialect, learned languages and trained his voice. His good looks and talent opened doors for him. The actor was open to doing any good role — be it an antagonist or protagonist. Karthik’s film career started with an antagonist role in a movie called Deadly 2 directed by Ravi Srivatsa which received a lot of appreciation from the viewers. He was picked up for a soap opera titled Ashwini Nakshatra which was the remake of a Hindi serial called Madhubala. This role landed him the protagonist role in the movie Just Love. After doing several movies, the directors from Bollywood chose him to play the pivotal role of Ravana in the famous series Siya Ke Ram. The serial was dubbed in all languages and was a big hit in several countries.

Karthik told me that he used to spend his Dussehra vacations at his grandparents’ place in Sakleshpur near Chikmagalur. The old farm kitchen had charcoal fireplaces for cooking and everything was hand-pounded and ground on grinding stone. He shared with me that his favourite is akki roti with coconut chutney and brinjal playa. The taste for food reveals a lot about a person. His grandmother’s, mother’s and sister’s cooking have had a great influence on him. During the lockdown, he worked out, learned languages and also learned to cook. Today, Karthik has shared the recipe of akki roti.

— Chef Ramaa Shanker is the author of ‘Festive Offerings to the Gods: Divine Soul Recipes’