Kishan on his way to become youngest master's degree earner

Kishan shot into limelight when he directed "Care of Footpath", a story about an orphaned boy who wants to go to school. Besides this, he has acted in 24 films and many popular Indian TV serials.

Kishan was allowed to pursue Masters in Multimedia and Animation following a recommendation by University Vice Chancellor Rangappa to the government.

"I am thankful to Karnataka government for allowing a 16-year-old boy to pursue Masters degree," he told PTI here.

The actor-director, who scored 93 per cent in the SSLC (tenth standard) exams last year, found it difficult to get permission to do his Masters as KSOU's rules prevented it from allowing a 16-year-old to enrol in such courses.

"One needs to be 21 or over to enrol in KSOU's Masters."

Kishan said there were options to pursue his masters in states like Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, where the governments have relaxed the age rule for exceptional children to enrol for PG courses. "But I preferred doing it from my own state," he said.

Kishan is inspired by Steven Speilberg and Amitabh Bachchan and desires to be famous like them in the film arena.

"Spielberg is my favourite filmmaker. I have been watching his films since I was five years old. I like him very much because he makes different kinds of films." He cited examples of Spielberg's films such as "ET", "Indian Jones" and "Schindler's List".

As a director, he said he wanted to make combinations of fiction and non-fiction.

About his future plans, Kishan said he wants to complete his Masters and join Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to enhance his filmmaking abilities.