Success Story 1 : SHREERAM

SHREERAM
(Actor, Model, Dancer)

Success stories on this page will be illustrations of real people who have ventured out on the untraded path and have become successful or about people who have initiated baby steps and are sure to imprint their footsteps towards success. Reaching this level wasn’t an easy task and it involved many a struggle combined with its own share of ups and downs, thus bringing a learning process of tackling various challenges. Many of us have dreams and ambitions, but somehow Dreams loose the steam and start fading invariably leading to failure of Pursuing them. The mere thought of failure becomes a primary reason for many of us to stop pursuing our Dreams resulting in Quitting it even before giving it a try. The objective of these posts is to help people to pursue their dreams relentlessly and learn to face challenges by overcoming obstacles rather than making these Obstacles a huge Blocking factor on the path to success.

I'm very happy to start this section with the story of one of my dear friend, who also happens to be my classmate. He has made his way into the Kannada Film Industry and the hearts of kannada movie going audience through his debut in Kannada TV Daily Soap Industry. He has etched a difference and breathe new life into the famous character named Sumedh in the highly watched Tv show, Radha Ramana. This write-up is an ode to the reel life story of Sumedh, whose real-life name is Shreeram.

Shreeam was born in the year 1989 in a small village, approximately 17km from Puttur (city). He was raised in a joint family comprising of his Grandparents, Father, Mother and a younger brother. Agriculture was their primary livelihood and they took pride in agriculture and farming activities. He started his formal education in an Anganwadi school (Govt School) through Kannada medium until his 7th grade. Lack of good infrastructure left him no choice but to walk to school every day for over 3 kms and then travel by bus for around 15 to 17 km. This definitely sounds tiring, but this exorbitant everyday travel didn’t dent his enthusiasm or subside his passion for sports and extracurricular activities. His family supported him to pursue his interests in extracurricular activities as they saw that his participation in these activities was in no way affecting his Grades in school. This support from his family was probably the biggest reason for him to score 90% in his 7th grade (board exams). This brought the next challenge for him, he then changed his school to Vivekananda English Medium High School(Puttur) in the 8th grade. This wasn’t easy as this move from one school to another was just not about switching grades, but he had to move from Kannada Medium to English medium. Having said that, he adjusted seamlessly to it like a Fish adjusts to water. His love for sports and extracurricular activities continued thereon. At the pre-university level, he excelled in sports and extracurricular activities, but that took a toll on his studies and this led to a drop in his grades. He then entered KVG college of Engineering (Sullia) in the year 2007 to study Electricals. In the first year, he formed a dance group which represented the college in various inter college fests almost every year. It was also these fests that acted like a catalyst and triggered the Acting bug within him. 

In 2011 he moved to Bangalore, he moved to seek greener pastures wherein he worked in a MNC offering him a job with a hefty salary. Inspite of being on a stable job with a good pay, his mind was not at peace. He somehow wasn’t made for a desk job and his creative bend was somehow itching to be explored and move ahead in the big world of Entertainment. During these times, People get caught in an unwary situation where they have to choose between Fact and Fiction. Fact being his well-paid Job and Fiction being treading a career and path which doesn’t have the surety of him earning a decent living.  Unaware and Unsure about what the Future had in store for him, he started doing what he was really good at…..Dancing. He managed to give a couple of dance performances and also worked as a background dancer along with his regular dance shows. Fortune favors the Brave and it was through these dance performances that he managed to garner the attention of an Assistant Director who gave him first break and the BIG opportunity to face the camera in 2013. The role was very miniscule in one of the kannada serials-Ashwini Nakshathra. Post this he gave multiple auditions but no luck. He got several feedbacks to work on his physic and looks and he took this as a feedback and started working on the same. 

He got his first major movie break in 2014 and he was blessed to work with none other than the eminent Film personality and highly revered Actor, Shri. Ananthnag in the movie “THE PLAN”. Post this movie’s release in 2015, he continued to do theatre to hone his acting skills. Cos what Theater can teach, No Acting school in this world can ever teach. He got his second break too, but that movie tanked and along with that rose his feelings of Failure. These moments of failure started giving him dubious ideas of his career choices and moves. He was juggling between his existing job and acting career and he was somehow feeling that he is not doing proper justice to either of them. His passion was Acting, and his focus and concentration were getting diverted because of his current job. This was the Turning point and he decided to call it quits for his current job and start focusing on Acting. Initially, his family were a little concerned, but they decided to support his decision. He wanted to start a business which had some connection with the film industry so that he could find new opportunities. That is when he came up with an idea of starting a Camera Lease Business. In December 2016 he got an offer for RADHA RAMANA serial and this was a turning point for him. People started noticing him post this break and this was one big motivational factor for him to work harder and pursue his dreams. During his tenure of Radha Ramana, he signed up for the third move which was PETKAMMI and it went on create positive reviews both at the Box office and with critics as well. 

Ram also feels that whatever happens in life, happens for a reason.  Situations lead to experiences and these experiences help you grow in life. He was initially skeptical about quitting his job which was giving him the privilege of a take home salary of  40,000 (approx)  per month and after quitting his job he was earning not more than 750 rupees per day. And sometimes, there used to be no business up to max of 15 days leading to a dry spell. This didn’t deter him from pursuing his dreams and make inroads into the TV and Film world, Brick by Brick he build his connections and made every evident opportunity to keep himself noticed and He did his tryst with destiny in the form of Radha Ramana to reach his goals. 

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