MANGALURU: "I am still angry with the 'gods. They cheated me big time," says actor Anant Nag . A good 27 years after a tragic road accident snuffed out the life of his promising energetic sibling - Shankar Nag, Anant feels that the September 30, 1990, accident at Davangere did not allow his younger brother to fulfil his destiny."Had Shankar been still alive, he certainly would have been an enterprising industrialist and less of an actor or become a producer," Anant avers.In a freewheeling chat with TOI on the sidelines of audio launch of Acme Movies International's audio launch of March 22, Anant, now a 'sprightly 68-year-old youth' and fresh from the success of Puneet Rajkumar starrer Rajakumara, said Shankar had showed much promise in his short life that saw him scale success with film such as Accident . "Shankar also showed his promise with the iconic serial of yesteryears Malgudi Days which captivated audience," he notes.Striking a note of caution of not wishing to speculate on Shankar's future that could have been, An ant however feels the social concern that Shankar had for the slum dwellers and the project that he had envisaged for them in the mid 80s gives him the feel he would have been an industrialist. "He certainly would not have continued acting," Shankar says, adding housing project that Anant envisaged pan-India would have revolutionized the way slum dwellers lived."We had brought models of pre-fabricated houses from Sweden in CKD condition that cost Rs 50000 per unit then. It would have given each slum dweller roofs over their head with amenities including a toilet," Anant reminiscences. The whole project was at an advanced staged and was on the verge of implementation, he says adding but for the change of then Ramakrishna Hegde and S R Bommai governments in quick succession, it would have been a reality.Noting that he was not inclined to moot the project with subsequent government, Anant says this was one dream that Shankar took with him to his final resting place."I would have probably availed a loan of Rs 10 crore (then) for this project," Anant says adding even the Swedish firm that supplied the tech too was keen to invest in this venture. But some things are not destined to happen and this is in sync with the short yet purposeful life of Shankar, he trails off.

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