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.
Suhasini Maniratnam is an Indian actress who primarily works in Tamil and Telugu films. She has worked as an actress in Malayalam and Kannada films. She made her debut in Nenjathai Killathe (1980). Suhasini won National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in Sindhu Bhairavi (1985).
Prabhu Deva is an Indian dance choreographer, film director, producer and actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu language films. In a career spanning 32 years, he has performed and designed dancing styles and has garnered two National Film Awards for Best Choreography. In 2019, he was awarded the Padma Shri for his contributions to dance.
Kongara Jaggayya was an Indian actor, littérateur, journalist, lyricist, dubbing artist and politician known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He was known as Kanchu Kantam Jaggayya (Telugu) for his booming voice. In a film career spanning forty years as a matinee idol, he starred in eighty films, as a lead actor, and lead antagonist in a variety of genres. In 1967, he was elected as a member of the fourth Lok Sabha, from the constituency of Ongole, becoming the first Indian film actor to be elected as a member of the Parliament.
Dharma Durai is a 1991 Indian Tamil-language action drama film directed by Rajasekhar and written by Panchu Arunachalam. A remake of the 1989 Kannada film Deva, it stars Rajinikanth and Gautami, with Madhu, Charan Raj, Nizhalgal Ravi and Vaishnavi in supporting roles. The film revolves around the title character seeking revenge on his younger brothers for taking advantage of his innocence.
Haranath was an Indian actor who worked in Telugu films.
Charan Rajkumar is an Indian actor, director, film producer, and writer who works in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Odia and Hindi films.
Appaji is a 1996 Indian Kannada-language action drama film starring Vishnuvardhan and Aamani. The film was directed by D. Rajendra Babu, written by V. Vijayendra Prasad and produced under Surya International banner. The music was scored by M. M. Keeravani. The movie was dubbed in Telugu with the same name. The story writer of this movie, V. Vijayendra Prasad reused a famous sequence of this movie - "Taking lift cunningly in the guise of helping a vehicle which seems to be broken down which was actually caused by himself" -later in his 2015 Hindi movie Bajrangi Bhaijaan.
Guru Shishyaru is a 1981 Indian Kannada-language comedy film, directed by H. R. Bhargava and produced by Dwarakish under his "Dwarkish Chitra" production house.
Jimmy Gallu is a 1982 Indian Kannada-language drama film directed by K. S. L. Swamy and produced by Shashirekha. The story is written by Venugopal Kasaragod. The film stars Vishnuvardhan, Sripriya, Lokesh and Hema Choudhary. The film was widely appreciated for its songs and story upon release. The songs composed by Vijaya Bhaskar were huge hits. The film was remade in Telugu as Muddayi and in Hindi as Mulzim.
Kalla Kulla is a 1975 Indian Kannada-language comedy drama film, directed by K. S. R. Das and produced by Shastry Associates. The story is written by M. D. Sundar. The film stars Vishnuvardhan, Dwarakish, Bhavani and Jayalakshmi. The film was widely appreciated for its songs and story upon release. The songs composed by Rajan–Nagendra were huge hits. The movie was dubbed in Hindi as Chor Ka Bhai Chor. H.R. Bhargava was the associate director of this movie. The director remade the movie in Telugu in 1976 as Kallanum Kullanum. The movie was dubbed in Malayalam as Kallanum Kullanum
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.
Yatchan (transl. Wizard) is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film co written, co-produced and directed by Vishnuvardhan. The film was produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur under UTV Motion Pictures. The film features Arya, Kreshna, Swati Reddy, and Deepa Sannidhi in the lead roles, while Adil Hussain, RJ Balaji, Thambi Ramaiah, and Ponvannan play supporting roles. The music was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja with cinematography by Om Prakash and editing by Sreekar Prasad. The film released on 11 September 2015 to negative reviews and bombed at the box office.
Ravivarma is a 1992 Indian Kannada film, directed by Joe Simon and produced by Hemalatha Ramesh. The film stars Vishnuvardhan, Bhavya and Rupini in lead roles. The film had musical score by Upendra Kumar. The film was a romantic drama and a remake of the 1991 Tamil movie Bramma.
Manasella Neene is a 2002 Indian Kannada-language romance film directed by Mugur Sundar, a choreographer marking his debut in film direction. The film stars his youngest son Nagendra Prasad and Gayathri Raguram with Ananth Nag and Srinath in supporting roles. This film is the remake of the Telugu film Manasantha Nuvve (2001).
Jackson Durai is a 2016 Tamil-language horror comedy film based on the theme in the classic goth story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the movie is written and directed by Dharani Dharan, starring Sathyaraj, Sibiraj, and Bindu Madhavi in the leading roles, while Karunakaran, Rajendran, and Yogi Babu play supporting roles. Featuring music composed by Siddharth Vipin and editing by Vivek Harshan, the film released on 1 July 2016. The film was dubbed and released in Telugu as Dora The film was dubbed in Hindi as Jackson The Paying Guest.
Time Bomb is a 1994 Indian Kannada-language action thriller film directed by Joe Simon and written and produced by N. Utthamchand Jain. The film starred Vishnuvardhan, Tiger Prabhakar Devaraj, Shruthi and Sowmya Kulkarni in the leading roles. The film's music is scored by Hamsalekha whilst the cinematography is by Johny Lal.
Arjun Sarja is an Indian actor, producer and director who works predominantly in Tamil cinema and he also established his career in Telugu and Kannada cinema apart from a few Hindi and Malayalam films. He debuted as a child actor in the film Simhada Mari Sainya in the year 1981. Sarja had acted in more than 160 movies. He has directed 12 films and also produced and distributed a number of films. After starring in numerous Kannada films with minor roles, he starred in his first movie as an independent actor in Male Bantu Male. In 1984, Sarja made his Tamil debut in Rama Narayanan's film Nandri. During the subsequent years he acted in many Telugu and Kannada films portraying lead and supporting roles in Trimurtulu (1987), Premagni (1989), Prathap (1990) and Shivanaga (1992).
Jana Nayaka is a 1988 Indian Kannada action drama directed by H. R. Bhargava, jointly produced by Bhargava and Rajaram, edited by Victor, starring Vishnuvardhan, Bhavya and Sudheer in the lead roles with Doddanna, Devaraj, Mukhyamantri Chandru, Ramesh Bhat, Sundar Krishna Urs, K. S. Ashwath, Rajanand and Umashree in the supporting roles. The Rajan–Nagendra duo composed and scored the film's soundtrack.
Kannappa is an upcoming Indian fantasy film directed by Mukesh Kumar Singh and produced by Mohan Babu. It is based on the legend of Kannappa, a devotee of Hindu god Shiva. The film stars its screenwriter Vishnu Manchu in the titular role. Mohan Babu, R. Sarathkumar, Arpit Ranka, Kaushal Manda, Rahul Madhav, Devaraj, Mukesh Rishi, Brahmanandam Raghu Babu, Preity Mukhundhan and Madhoo play supporting roles. While, alongside Mohanlal, Prabhas, Akshay Kumar and Kajal Aggarwal in cameo appearances.
