Sampath Kumar, known by his stage name Vishnuvardhan, was an Indian actor who worked predominantly in Kannada cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam language films. Vishnuvardhan has a prolific career spanning over four decades, during which he has acted in more than 220 films. A popular cultural icon of Karnataka, and holds the status of a matinée idol among the Kannada diaspora. He is popularly called as Sahasa Simha, Dada and The Angry Young Man of Kannada Cinema. Vishnuvardhan's contributions to Kannada cinema have been praised by his contemporaries in the Indian film industry. The Government of Karnataka honoured him with the Rajyothsava Prashasthi in 1990 and the Dr. Rajkumar Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 for his contributions to Kannada cinema. He was called The Phoenix of Indian Cinema. In 2008, a poll conducted by CNN-IBN listed Vishnuvardhan as the most popular star in the Kannada film industry.
Prakash Raj is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English, and Hindi-language films, he is the recipient of several accolades, including five National Film Awards, eight Nandi Awards, eight Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, six Filmfare Awards South, four SIIMA Awards, three CineMAA Awards, and three Vijay Awards. Apart from his native languages Tulu and Kannada, Raj's fluency in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, English, and Marathi has placed him among the most sought after actors in Indian cinema.
Udaya Chandrika, better known by her screen name Radha is a former Indian actress, who predominantly appeared in Tamil and Telugu films in addition to a few Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films. She was one of the top heroines in the film industry for about a decade, from 1981 to 1991, dominating the 1980s era.
Bungle Shama Rao Dwarakanath, known by his stage name Dwarakish, was an Indian actor, comedian, director and producer who predominantly worked in Kannada cinema in addition to few Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. Starting his career as a supporting actor in Veera Sankalpa (1964) and co-producer for the film Mamatheya Madilu in 1966, Dwarakish went on to work over five decades in cinema. He debuted as a director with the film Nee Bareda Kadambari (1985).
Shiva Rajkumar is an Indian actor, film producer and television presenter who predominantly works in Kannada cinema. In a career spanning over three decades, he has worked in over 125 films in Kannada and has received several awards, including four Karnataka State Film Awards, four Filmfare Awards South and six South Indian International Movie Awards.
Vishnuvardhan is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in the Tamil cinema.
Girija known by her screen name Shruti, is an Indian actress, television personality and politician. She is the Winner of Bigg Boss Kannada Season 3, as an actress, she predominantly appears in Kannada film industry. She is currently serving as chief secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party's women's wing in its Karnataka cadre.
Veeraswamy Ravichandran, known mononymously as Ravichandran, is an Indian actor, director, producer, music director, lyricist and editor working predominantly in Kannada cinema. The son of film producer N. Veeraswamy, he continues to produce and distribute films under his father's production house, Sri Eswari Productions. He is popularly referred to as "Crazy Star" by the media and his followers.
Ramesh Aravind, known mononymously as Ramesh, is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter and television presenter. Ramesh has predominantly worked in Kannada and Tamil films along with a few Telugu and Hindi films.
Suman is an Indian actor known for his work in South Indian films. He played the male lead and supporting characters mostly in Telugu and Tamil movies. He also featured in a few Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. In a career spanning almost 5 decades, he has acted in more than 700 movies in 10 languages. He was one of the most prominent actors of Telugu cinema during the 1980s and 1990s.
Jeevana Chaitra is a 1992 Indian Kannada language film directed by the duo Dorai–Bhagavan starring Rajkumar and Madhavi. It marked the re-entry of Rajkumar in films after a hiatus of three years, and was an instant hit. The film is based on the Kannada novel Vyapthi Prapthi written by Vishalakshi Dakshinamurthy. The film was initially titled Simhadriya Simha, a title which was later used for the 2002 film starring Vishnuvardhan. The film re-affirmed the hold Rajkumar had on Kannada audiences. It was highly successful at the box office and had a theatrical run of 52 weeks.
Bharathi Vishnuvardhan, also known mononymously as Bharathi, is an Indian actress known primarily for her work in Kannada cinema and television serials. She began her career in 1966, as a lead actress, with the Kannada movie Love in Bangalore though Dudde Doddappa was her first release. In a career spanning over 50 years, Bharathi has appeared in 150 films. Apart from 100 films in Kannada, she has also acted in a handful of Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. Through the course of her career, she became known for her portrayal of roles of mythological and historical characters, and also that of a student, a romantic and a rural belle. Her role in Sri Krishnadevaraya (1970) as Chennambike won her the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress. In 2017, she was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India. She has the distinction of having paired with Dr.Rajkumar as a lead actress in all the 26 movies she acted with him and is also paired with him the most no. of times in those movies where he played multiple roles.
Lakshmi Gopalaswamy is an Indian actress from Karnataka and a classical dancer, qualified in Bharatanatyam. She has mainly acted in Malayalam films, while also appearing in few Kannada and Tamil films.
Jayashree, known by her screen name Sudha Rani, is an Indian actress, voice artist and former model. She has primarily worked in Kannada films in addition to a few Telugu, Tulu and Malayalam films. As on Feb 2024, she has acted in about 150 films across industries.
Mohan Shankar, popularly mononymously as Mohan, is an Indian actor, writer and film director known for his work in Kannada cinema and television. After beginning his career staging, writing and acting in a variety of plays, his film career began in the late 1990s when he wrote screenplay and dialogue for a handful of Kannada-language films. After his acting debut came in Central Jail (1997), he became recognized for his roles in Yaarige Saluthe Sambala (2000), Kurigalu Saar Kurigalu (2001) and Kothigalu Saar Kothigalu (2001) and Malla (2004). Mohan turned director with Krishna Nee Late Aagi Baaro (2010) also co-starring himself.
Bandhana is a 1984 Indian Kannada-language romantic drama film directed by Rajendra Singh Babu from a screenplay by H. V. Subba Rao and Rajendra Singh Babu, based on a novel of the same name by Usha Navaratnanram. The film revolves around the relationship between a surgeon, Harish and his student Nandini. The film stars Vishuvardhan as Dr. Harish and Suhasini as his protégé Nandini, along with Jai Jagadish, Roopadevi and G. K. Govinda Rao in supporting roles.
Tirumakudalu Narasipura Balakrishna was an Indian actor in Kannada cinema. He was said to have a hearing problem and some say that he was totally deaf. However, he would catch the lip movements of the artists and would narrate the dialogues spontaneously. He was popular for his comic and villainous roles in films like Kantheredu Nodu (1961), Muriyada Mane (1964), Bangaarada Manushya (1972), Gandhada Gudi (1973) and Kaamana Billu (1983) and appeared in numerous versatile roles over a hundred films that starred Rajkumar in the lead role.
Shashi Kumar is an actor and politician from Karnataka. He works predominantly in Kannada films. He is originally from Andrapradesh; he acted with many leading ladies in 1990s and he acted as Rajnikanth's brother in Blockbuster movie Baashha (1995). He is credited with the title 'Supreme Hero' by the Kannada audience.
Vishnuvardhana is a 2011 Indian Kannada language action thriller film directed by Pon Kumaran in his directorial debut and produced by Dwarakish. It stars Sudeepa, Bhavana Menon, Priyamani and Sonu Sood. The music was composed by V. Harikrishna.
Kotigobba is a 2001 Indian Kannada-language action film starring Vishnuvardhan, Priyanka Upendra and Ashish Vidyarthi. The film was a remake of Rajinikanth's 1995 Tamil film Baashha which itself was inspired from the 1991 Hindi movie Hum. This movie was directed by Naganna and features soundtrack from Deva who also composed the music for the Tamil version. Vishnuvardhan was nominated for Filmfare Best Actor category.
