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The Tamil film industry, commonly referred to as Kollywood, is a difficult place to break into and navigate as an artist. Nepotism is a mainstay, misinformation and competing interests regularly run amok, and projects can get stalled at every step of production. How does an actor stay sane in this crazy place? How can he chart a career when so many factors influencing it are out of his control? And how can he maintain a healthy balance between his public image and his personal life?  These are the questions we discuss with actor Ashwin Kakumanu today. Ashwin has been working in Kollywood since 2011, when he acted in Nadunisi Naaygal (trans: Midnight Dogs, 2011). He then went on to work with established stars like Ajith (Mankatha) and Surya (7aum Arivu, trans: Seventh Sense), after which he branched out into leading projects himself in films like Megha (2014) and Zero (2016). He recently starred in one of the first Tamil webseries in the industry - Nila Nila Odi Vaa (2018) - available for viewing on the streaming platform Viu.  Our discussion with Ashwin is a deep dive into Ashwin's journey in cinema, from starting out  a huge Star Wars buff to short filmmaker to actor, and it's also an honest discussion of the challenges he has faced in the industry. He also discusses his move into the digital space - he's working on another webseries - and how he's building his brand outside the multiplex. It's a candid look at Kollywood from someone who has made a career in it over the last eight years. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we did.  Subscribe to Creating Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or whichever platform works for you! Music Credits: save my life again by Barradeen | https://soundcloud.com/barradeen Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US "Me In Your Life"  Music By The Passion HiFi www.thepassionhifi.com "Spanish Winter" Music By The Passion HiFi www.thepassionhifi.com Oceans by IvPem | https://soundcloud.com/ivpemofficial Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US Our logo was designed by @aparna_ramanujam. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support