Upendra Rao is an Indian actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, playback singer, lyricist and politician who worked primarily in Kannada films. He has also worked in a few Telugu films. In 2017, He joined the political party Karnataka Pragnyavanta Janata Paksha, before quitting the party in 2018 due to internal differences and formed another party named Uttama Prajaakeeya Party (UPP), which was based on the principles of Prajakiya. He received an Honorary Doctorate from Angkor University in 2015.
Puli (transl. Tiger) is a 2010 Indian Telugu-language action thriller film written and directed by S. J. Suryah, starring Pawan Kalyan in the lead role, with Nikesha Patel, Manoj Bajpayee, Saranya Ponvannan, Charan Raj, Nassar, and Ali in supporting roles. The film features a soundtrack by A. R. Rahman and cinematography by Binod Pradhan. It was produced by Singanamala Ramesh Babu, on a ₹ 40 crore budget and was distributed by Geetha Arts. The film was released on 10 September 2010.
Buddhivantha is a 2008 Indian Kannada-language film directed by Ramnath Rigvedhi. starring Upendra in the lead role, while Pooja Gandhi, Brinda Parekh, Saloni Aswani, Natanya Singh, and Suman Ranganathan play the female leads. The film is a remake of the 2007 Tamil film Naan Avanillai, which was itself was a remake of 1974 Tamil movie Naan Avanillai which in turn was based on the 1962 Marathi play To Mee Navhech written by Pralhad K. Atre. The music was composed by Vijay Antony.
Roja is the debut soundtrack album of music composer A. R. Rahman, featuring lyrics by Vairamuthu. It is the soundtrack to the 1992 Tamil film of the same name, directed by Mani Ratnam, and starring Aravind Swamy and Madhubala. The album features seven tracks in Tamil and Hindi, and six tracks in Malayalam, Telugu, Marathi and five tracks in the instrumental adaptation album.
Puli is the soundtrack to the 2010 Telugu action film of the same name, directed by S. J. Suryah and starring Pawan Kalyan. The soundtrack includes six songs composed by A. R. Rahman and lyrics written by Chandrabose. The album was released on 20 August 2010 by Sony Music. The album was released under the film's working title Komaram Puli, with the title of the film being changed to Puli upon release.
Gabbar Singh is a 2012 Indian Telugu-language action film directed by Harish Shankar. The film stars Pawan Kalyan and Shruti Haasan. Devi Sri Prasad composed the film's music and Jayanan Vincent was the cinematographer.The plot follows Venkataratnam Naidu, a police officer who, inspired by a film character, adopts the name Gabbar Singh. Posted in a village, he faces off against a local thug aspiring to join politics who manipulates his half-brother. Gabbar Singh embarks on a mission to dismantle the thug's corrupt political ambitions and restore justice.
Sanju Weds Geetha is a 2011 Indian Kannada-language romantic drama film directed by Nagashekar and produced by Pramod Narayan and Murali Mohan. The film stars Srinagar Kitty and Ramya in the lead roles. Jassie Gift composed the soundtrack, while Sadhu Kokila composed the background score.
Godfather is a 2012 Indian Kannada-language action-drama film directed by cinematographer-turned-director Sethu Sriram starring Upendra in a triple role as a father and his two sons, alongside Soundarya Jayamala and Catherine Tresa.
Arjun Janya is an Indian film score soundtrack composer, singer and director. Arjun made his film debut in the 2006 Kannada film Autograph Please. Since then he has composed and scored music for successful films such as Birugaali (2009), Sanchari (2010), Kempegowda (2011), Varadanayaka (2012), Victory (2013), Vajrakaya (2015), Mukunda Murari (2016). His 100th film as music director is 99 (2019).
Omkara is a 2004 Indian Kannada-language crime thriller film starring Upendra and Preeti Jhangiani. The film was written and directed by Shivamani and produced by Company Films under the banner of R. S. Productions and has music by Gurukiran. Omkara was Upendra's first gangster film and was based on the connection between film industries and the Mumbai underworld mafia. The film got an all-time record opening in its first week however became an above average grosser.
Gowramma is a 2005 Indian Kannada-language romantic comedy film starring Upendra and Ramya in the lead roles. The film was directed by Naganna and produced by Shailendra Babu. The film is a remake of the Telugu film Nuvvu Naaku Nachav. This is the third among a series of successful films under Upendra – Naganna combination. The film also starred Srinivasa Murthy, Doddanna, Ramesh Bhat, Komal, Sadhu Kokila, and Satyajit in supporting roles.
Maryan is the soundtrack album composed by A. R. Rahman for the 2013 Tamil film of the same name directed by Bharatbala. The film that is produced under the banner Aascar Films, stars Dhanush and Parvathy in the lead roles. The album was released under the label Sony Music India on 17 May 2013. The music received extremely positive critical reception and overwhelming audience response after its release. It also topped the iTunes India charts for the month of May and June 2013. Further, for the remaining months of 2013, it maintained its position in the top 10 music album charts. The soundtrack album was adjudged as "Tamil Album of Year" in iTunes’ Best of 2013. Rahman won the Norway Tamil Film Festival Best Music Director award and the SIIMA Award for Best Music Director in 2014. The soundtrack was nominated at the 2014 Edison Awards and Vijay Awards for both best music direction and best background score. Rahman was also nominated for Filmfare Award for Best Music Director – Tamil but he won the same award for his compositions to Kadal.
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.
Hara is a 2014 Kannada drama film directed by Devaraj Palan and features actors Vasanth and Pragna in the lead. It is a remake of the 2006 Telugu film Chinnodu, where actors Sumanth and Charmy Kaur played the lead roles. The trailer of the film was unveiled on 13 December 2013.
Uppi 2 is a 2015 Indian Kannada-language allegorical thriller film written and directed by Upendra, and produced by Priyanka Upendra. It is a sequel to the 1999 cult film Upendra. The film stars an ensemble cast featuring Upendra, Kristina Akheeva, Parul Yadav, Sayaji Shinde, Shobaraj, Satyajit, Bank Janardhan, Vaijanath Biradar and Mimicry Dayanand. The soundtrack and background score were composed by Gurukiran.
I is the soundtrack album to the 2015 Indian romantic thriller film of the same name written and directed by S. Shankar. A. R. Rahman composed the original songs and background score for the film. The album consists of seven tracks, which include a remix and a reprise. Songs in the film vary in genre like EDM, bhangra, opera, urban. The original version of the soundtrack has youth oriented voices. The original version of the album was released on 6 September 2014. The audio was launched at a grand function at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai on 12 September 2014, with Arnold Schwarzenegger as the chief guest.
Mukunda Murari is a 2016 Indian Kannada-language devotional satirical comedy drama film directed by Nanda Kishore. The film stars Upendra in an atheist role and Sudeepa playing the role of Lord Krishna, teaming up for the first time. The film, a remake of Hindi film OMG - Oh My God! (2012), which in turn was based on a Gujarati stage play Kanji Virrudh Kanji, is produced by M.N. Kumar along with B. Jayashree Devi. The rest of the cast includes Nikita Thukral, Ishita Vyas, Kaavya Shah, P. Ravishankar, Avinash among others. The film has cinematography by Sudhakar S. Raj. The soundtrack and film score are composed by Arjun Janya.
"Aalaporaan Thamizhan"(transl. Tamizhan going to rule) is a 2017 Indian Tamil language song composed by A. R. Rahman, from the music album of Mersal. The song's lyrics were written by Vivek and sung by Kailash Kher, Sathyaprakash, Pooja AV, and Deepak. The song's music video is pictured upon actor Vijay. The song was released as first single track of the film on 10 August 2017. As of October 2020, the video song has grossed 176 million of views in YouTube. The song portrays about the popularity of Tamil speaking people all over the world. The song features Vijay as Vetrimaaran, praising Tamil heritage and pride following a wrestling match in Punjab.
Mersal is the soundtrack of the 2017 Indian vigilante action film of the same name directed by Atlee, which stars Vijay in a triple role with Nithya Menen, Kajal Aggarwal and Samantha as the female leads. The film, which marked the 100th production of Thenandal Studio Limited, has a soundtrack album features four tracks composed by A. R. Rahman, in his first collaboration with Atlee and his third collaboration with Vijay after composing for Udhaya (2004) and Azhagiya Tamizh Magan (2007), whilst Vivek penned the lyrics for all the songs in the film's soundtrack, also in his first association with Rahman.
Ponniyin Selvan: I is the soundtrack album for 2022 Indian Tamil-language epic period drama film of the same name directed by Mani Ratnam which features an ensemble cast of Vikram, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Trisha, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Sobhita Dhulipala, Prabhu, R. Sarathkumar, Vikram Prabhu, Jayaram, Prakash Raj, Rahman and R. Parthiban. The film’s soundtrack and score were composed by Ratnam's norm composer A. R. Rahman, marking the duo's 30th year collaborating.
