Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Aug 18: Popular Kannada television anchor and actress Anupama Gowda has bid an abrupt goodbye to her eight-year anchoring journey, revealing that unfulfilled promises by the channel and her growing dissatisfaction with the profession prompted her decision.

Anupama opened up about the decision in a video on her YouTube channel, where she looked back on her anchoring career, thanked those who stood by her and apologised to her viewers for bringing the journey to an unexpected end.

“I apologise to all of you. I was supposed to be in the new show. But I am not. The channel had made several promises. I am ending this journey incompletely. Before all of you could say ‘enough’, I have ended my anchoring journey myself,” she said.

Anupama also said she does not know whether she will return to television serials in the future.

A familiar face across Kannada television

Over the past eight years, Anupama has hosted a string of popular shows, including ‘Maja Bharatha’, ‘Kannada Kogile’, ‘Raja Rani’, ‘Nammamma Super Star’, ‘Suvarna Superstars’, ‘Suvarna Jackpot’, ‘Girls vs Boys’ and ‘Kwatle Kitchen’.

She expressed particular disappointment over not being able to complete her final show fully, saying the unfinished ending has been difficult for her.

Reflecting on the people who helped shape her as an anchor, Anupama made a special mention of Parameshwar Gundkal, popularly known as Param Sir.

“If I consider myself a good anchor today, it would be wrong not to remember Param Sir. He is one of the people who corrected and moulded me. I thank him,” she said.

‘Anchoring made me financially strong’

Anupama said her anchoring career has played a far greater role in her life than acting when it comes to her financial success.

“If I am financially strong today, it is not because of my acting career. It is because of my anchoring career. The profession responsible for my success is anchoring,” she said.

She also opened up about one of the most painful episodes of her career, when her father was critically ill in hospital while she was anchoring ‘Kannada Kogile’.

“My father was in a serious condition in hospital when I was anchoring ‘Kannada Kogile’. Even at that moment, I had to anchor on stage. No matter how much I tried, I could not finish the show early. There was nothing I could do. It was my job,” she recalled.

A week later, her father passed away. Yet, just three days after his death, Anupama had to return to the stage.

“I will never forget that moment,” she said.

‘I was not enjoying it anymore’

Anupama said she believes every profession should be pursued with happiness and involvement, but admitted that anchoring had stopped giving her that feeling in recent months.

“Whatever work we do, we should enjoy it. We should live it and experience it. But for the last few months, I was not enjoying it,” she said.

She recalled that she had always considered herself an artist first.

“Initially, I was an artist. Whenever people called me an anchor, I would say I was an artist. But after receiving so much love through anchoring, I accepted it,” she said.

She eventually began embracing anchoring wholeheartedly and received immense affection from audiences. However, she said she gradually began feeling that she was not working hard enough to justify the love she was receiving.

“I have received immense love at many points. But I did not feel that I was working according to the love people were giving me or that I was deserving of it,” she said.

Anupama revealed that she had contemplated quitting as early as last year but kept putting it off because of family and other commitments.

‘I will genuinely miss this’

By the beginning of this year, however, she felt it was time to bring her anchoring career to an end.

“At the beginning of this year, I felt that I should stop anchoring. I will genuinely miss this a lot,” she said.

At the same time, Anupama made it clear that her decision does not mark the end of her acting career.

“I am not giving up acting. Even if I get one project a year, that is enough for me to showcase the acting talent within me,” she said.

From child artiste to popular television personality

Anupama Gowda began her journey in the entertainment industry as a child artiste, attracting attention with the 2003 film ‘Lankesh Patrike’.

She went on to achieve widespread popularity with the 2014 television serial ‘Akka’, in which she impressed viewers in a dual role. The demanding performance proved to be a major challenge and became an important milestone in her career.

She later participated in ‘Bigg Boss Kannada’ during the 2017–18 season. She has also acted in several films and has won a State Award for her work.

While Anupama Gowda has now drawn the curtains on an eight-year anchoring chapter, her announcement makes one thing clear: the anchor may have left the stage, but the actress is not ready to take her final bow.