Who Am I? Former Child Actress Who Quit Acting At 15 And Became An IAS Officer With AIR 167

Who Am I? Ex-Child Artist Who Quit Acting & Is Now An IAS Officer: Talent comes in many forms and to some lucky few, it comes in abundance and variety. While some are happy to be great in academics others are brilliant in the arts. However, a rare combination is hard to find but famous child artiste from the south film industry - HS Keerthana, who worked in several hit films and TV shows quit acting midway to become an IAS officer. Let's find out more about her: 

(Pic Courtesy: Movie/TV show stills & Instagram)

HS Keerthana made her debut in Kannada movies where she played a child actor alongside many popular stars. She worked in then-daily soaps like Janani, Chiguru, and Puttani agent. However, her passion for UPSC was bigger it seems. She quit acting at 15 reportedly and went on to pursue a career in administrative services. 

Keerthana was a popular child artist who appeared in various daily soaps like Karpoorada Gombe, Ganga-Yamuna, Muddina Aliya, Upendra, A, Kanoor Heggadati, Circle Inspector, O Mallige, Lady Commissioner, Habba, Dore, Simhadri, Janani, Chiguru, and Putani Agent among others. She appeared in more than 32 films and 48 TV shows reportedly.

According to Times Of India report, the former child artist has cracked the UPSC exam and joined her first posting as an Assistant Commissioner of Mandya District, Karnataka. She worked hard and cleared the exam in her sixth attempt. She then served her probationary period for two years and took over the charge as the current Assistant Commissioner, Mandya, Karnataka. Reportedly, before sitting for the UPSC exam, Keerthana had also given her Karnataka Administrative Service (KAS) examination in 2011 and cleared it.

In one of 2020 interviews to InsightsonIndia.com, she said, "I have seen many people hesitating in stating the number of attempts they have made to crack this exam. Many say that they get embarrassed to admit they could not make it even after 3/4/5 attempts. But then I wear my 6th ATTEMPT as a badge because that shows my perseverance and passion towards clearing this exam."

TOI report states that after she worked as a KAS officer for two years, the former actress decided to attempt UPSC CSE again. It was Keerthana's father's wish to see his daughter as a civil servant.

In order to fulfill her father's wish, Keerthana gave her first attempt at UPSC in 2013 but wasn’t able to clear the examination. Finally, she cracked the UPSC exam on the sixth attempt in the year 2020.