Singanalluru Puttaswamaiah Muthuraj, better known by his stage name Dr. Rajkumar, was an Indian actor and singer who worked in Kannada cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest actors in the history of Indian cinema and a versatile actor, he is considered a cultural icon and holds a matinée idol status in the Kannada diaspora, among whom he is popularly called as Nata Saarvabhouma, Bangarada Manushya, Vara Nata, Gaana Gandharva, Rasikara Raja, Kannada Kanteerava and Rajanna/Annavru. He was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 1983 and Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1995. He is the only lead actor to win National Award for singing. His 39 movies have been remade 63 times in 9 languages by 34 actors making him the first actor whose movies were remade more than fifty times and the first actor whose movies were remade in nine languages. He was the first actor in India to enact a role which was based on James Bond in a full-fledged manner. The success of his movie Jedara Bale is credited to have widely inspired a Desi bond genre in other Indian film industries. On the occasion of the "Centenary of Indian Cinema" in April 2013, Forbes included his performance in Bangaarada Manushya on its list of "25 Greatest Acting Performances of Indian Cinema". Upon his death, The New York Times had described him as one of India's most popular movie stars.
Dr. Puneeth Rajkumar, colloquially known as Appu was an Indian actor, philanthropist, playback singer, television presenter and producer, who worked in Kannada cinema. He was the youngest son of actor and matinee idol Dr. Rajkumar. He was one of the most popular actors in Kannada cinema. He appeared as a lead in 32 films. As a child, he appeared in many films. His performances as a child actor in Vasantha Geetha (1980), Bhagyavantha (1981), Chalisuva Modagalu (1982), Eradu Nakshatragalu (1983), Bhakta Prahaladha (1983), Yarivanu (1984) and Bettada Hoovu (1985) were praised. He won the National Film Award for Best Child Artist for his role of Ramu in Bettada Hoovu. He also won Karnataka State Award Best Child artist for Chalisuva Modagalu and Eradu Nakshatragalu. Puneeth's first lead role was in 2002's Appu. In a career spanning three decades, he has won one National Film Award, four Karnataka State Film Awards, six Filmfare Awards South and five SIIMA awards. He was conferred with the Doctorate by Mysuru University. The Karnataka Government conferred the state's highest civilian award, Karnataka Ratna, to Puneeth Rajkumar on 1 November 2022, posthumously.
Raghavendra Rajkumar is an Indian actor, singer and producer of Kannada cinema. He is the son of actor Dr. Rajkumar and film producer Parvathamma Rajkumar. He made his debut as a lead in the film Chiranjeevi Sudhakar (1988) before appearing in the hugely successful 1989 film Nanjundi Kalyana. He went on to star in films such as Gajapathi Garvabhanga (1989), Anukoolakkobba Ganda (1990), and Geluvina Saradaara (1996). His last prominent film was Upendra's Swasthik (1998), a box office failure. He starred in Pakkadmane Hudugi (2004) before taking a fifteen year sabbatical from acting. Since then he has produced television serials under Poornima Productions and films under Sri Vajreshwari Combines.
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.
Shweta, known by her stage name Rakshita, is an Indian television personality, film producer and former actress known for her work in Kannada films, addition to a few Telugu and Tamil films.
The Filmfare Best Actor Award is given by the Filmfare magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Kannada films The Award was first given in 1972. The 2018 winner of the award is Yash for K.G.F: Chapter 1. As of 2021, Rajkumar leads the list with 8 wins followed by Anant Nag with 6 wins.
Kokila is a 1977 Indian Kannada-language romance film directed, written and filmed by Balu Mahendra. The film stars Shoba playing the title character along with Kokila Mohan, Roja Ramani and Mohan in other prominent roles. The film marked the directorial debut of Balu Mahendra, who was a cinematographer working predominantly in South Indian films then. The film also marked the acting debut of actor Mohan.
Ramesh Aravind is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter and television presenter who works in Kannada films and television. Aravind has appeared in over 140 films including several Tamil-language films. He has won and been nominated for numerous awards. He has won Filmfare Awards for Best Actor and Karnataka State Awards for Best Actor. He received Best Story Award for his script for Hoomale. He has won Udaya TV award and Suvarna TV awards.
Kamal Haasan is an Indian actor, screenwriter, film director, film producer, and dance choreographer who works primarily in Tamil cinema. At the age of 05, he debuted as a child actor in the 1960 Tamil film Kalathur Kannamma, directed by A. Bhimsingh, which won him the President's Gold Medal. Since then, he has acted in over 230 films in Tamil and other languages including Malayalam, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, and Bengali. After a few projects as a child artist, he took a break to continue his education. He later concentrated on dance choreography and worked as an assistant choreographer. During this time, he made uncredited appearances in a few films which he worked on.
Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, commonly known as Singeetam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, composer, and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the most versatile directors of India. He is credited with having revolutionised the South Indian cinema with experimental films. He has directed about sixty films in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Hindi, and English languages across multiple genres. He has garnered two National Film Awards, five Nandi Awards, three Karnataka State Film Awards, and three Filmfare Awards South. In 2011, Rao was honored with Life Achievement Award from the Film Federation of India.
Duniya Suri, credited onscreen as Suri, is an Indian movie director. He became known as Duniya Suri in the wake of the success of his debut movie Duniya, for which he won the 2006–2007 Karnataka State Film Awards in the Best Screenplay category. Suri came to fame after the Duniya release, for its realistic style. The work brought a different dimension to Kannada movies.
Sriimurali, also known simply as Sri or Murali, is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Kannada cinema. After making his debut in 2003 in Chandra Chakori, he appeared in Kanti as the eponymous lead, a performance that won him the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor in 2004. His performance in the 2014 Kannada film Ugramm received unanimous praise and emerged as a major success.
Rana Vikrama is a 2015 Indian Kannada-language action thriller film written and directed by Pavan Wadeyar. It stars Puneeth Rajkumar, Anjali, Adah Sharma, Dinesh Mangalore, Vikram Singh, Girish Karnad, Avinash, Sudha Belawadi and Mukhyamantri Chandru. The soundtrack of the film was released on 21 March 2015.
Puneeth Rajkumar was an Indian actor known for his work in Kannada films. As a six-month-old infant, he made a cameo appearance in V. Somashekar's Premada Kanike (1976) and followed it with Sanaadi Appanna (1977) when he was a year old. Most of his earlier films had his father Rajkumar playing his reel father as well. Films like Thayige Thakka Maga, Vasantha Geetha and Bhagyavantha followed up which also showcased his singing skills. For the N. Lakshminarayan film Bettada Hoovu he was awarded the National Film Award for Best Child Artist. He ended his childhood appearances with the action film Parashuram.
Raajakumara is a 2017 Indian Kannada-language action drama film written and directed by Santhosh Ananddram and produced by Vijay Kiragandur under Hombale Films. It stars Puneeth Rajkumar and Priya Anand. R. Sarathkumar, Ananth Nag, Prakash Raj, Chikkanna, Sadhu Kokila, Achyuth Kumar and Avinash play supporting roles. The film's music album was composed by V. Harikrishna.
Jasmine Kaur Roy is a two time National Award-winning independent filmmaker from India, making short films and documentaries with Avinash Roy, under their banner Wanderlust Films. Her film Amoli is a documentary about the commercial sexual exploitation of children in India. The film won the 66th National Film Award for Best Investigative Film for the year 2018.
D. Satya Prakash is an Indian filmmaker in Kannada cinema. His works often focus on social issues and human relationships. His debut film was Rama Rama Re... (2016), which is followed by Ondalla Eradalla (2018). His latest venture is Man of the Match (2022). Before making commercial films, Prakash directed the short film Jayanagara 4th block.
James is a 2022 Indian Kannada-language action drama film written and directed by Chethan Kumar. It stars Puneeth Rajkumar in the titlular role, along with an ensemble cast of R. Sarathkumar, Srikanth, Priya Anand, Anu Prabhakar, Madhusudhan Rao, Mukesh Rishi, Adithya Menon, Avinash, Sadhu Kokila, Chikkanna and John Kokken. This is Puneeth's posthumous appearance following his death on 29 October 2021. The film marked the second collaboration between Puneeth, Priya and Sarathkumar after Raajakumara (2017). The film score and soundtrack were composed by V. Harikrishna and Charan Raj respectively.
Jisshu Sengupta is an Indian actor, producer, television presenter and anchor who predominantly works in Bengali cinema, in addition to few Hindi and Telugu language films. Sengupta made his debut through a Bengali TV series, Mahaprabhu where he portrayed the role of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu; the role gained him much recognition. Subsequently, he made his film debut with Priyojon (1999), which became a debacle at the box office. In 2002, he played Tagore in Sukanta Roy's ambitious venture Chelebela alongside Debashree Roy playing Kadambari Devi. following which he appeared in a spate of critically and commercially unsuccessful projects. He made his Bollywood debut with Shyam Benegal's National Award winning film Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2004). A turning point came in his career when he collaborated with Rituparno Ghosh for the latter's Abohomaan, which earned him critical acclaim. His subsequent collaborations with Ghosh for films which include Noukadubi and Shob Charitro Kalponik brought him a higher degree of critical and commercial success. Sengupta's collaborations with other directors for films such as Jaatishwar, Ek Je Chhilo Raja, Posto enabled him to become one of the most sought out actors in Bengali cinema.
