The pain pushed me to rise: Sathish Ninasam on grief and resilience

After charming audiences with his boy-next-door warmth and captivating them with his intense performances, Sathish Ninasam is returning in what he calls “the most defining role of his career”. For him, The Rise of Ashoka is more than a movie. “It is a tribute to resilience, to the people he lost, and to the team that stood strong beside him,” he says. This is the fourth film under Sathish’s production banner, and one he is deeply invested in both as an actor and a producer. “This is not just the biggest film of my career. It is also one that has taken every bit of my emotional strength,” he shares.

The journey to this film was far from easy, he says. During the film’s shoot, tragedy struck with the untimely demise of its director, Vinod Dondale. “As an actor, I could have chosen to move on. But that is not who I am. Hundreds of people had poured their hearts into this film. My co-producers had invested everything, and I couldn’t let their efforts fade away. This film belonged to all of us, and we had to see it through,” Sathish says with quiet determination. What made the road even harder was another devastating personal loss.

Just a month after Vinod’s passing, Sathish lost his brother. “For six months, I was completely broken. Two of the closest people in my life were suddenly gone. But the pain didn’t stop me; it pushed me. I realised I had to rise, not just for myself, but for everyone who believed in this film,” he says. Now, with the film being planned for a Kannada, Tamil and Telugu release, Sathish hopes that it will connect with audiences across the country. “Ashoka’s story has something universal about it. If people embrace it in these three languages, we will take it further to Malayalam and Hindi. My dream is for this to become a true pan-India film,” he says.