Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra is an Indian playback singer and Carnatic musician. In a career spanning over four decades, she has recorded over 30,000 songs in various Indian languages, as well as foreign languages such as Malay, Latin, Arabic, Sinhalese, English and French. She is also known for her extensive history of collaboration with music composers like A. R. Rahman, Ilaiyaraja, Hamsalekha, M. M. Keeravani and with the playback singers K. J. Yesudas and S. P. Balasubrahmanyam over the years. She is cited as the Golden Voice of India by world's Prestigious Royal Albert Hall, London in 2001 and Melody Queen of Indian Cinema by Radio Mirchi, The Times Group in 2016. She is honoured with the title First Ladies by the President of India in 2018 for being the first Indian woman to be honoured by British Parliament at House of Commons, United Kingdom in 2003. People of India fondly called her as Little Nightingale of Indian Cinema.
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 amongst 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.
Gangaraju, professionally known as Hamsalekha, is an Indian film composer and songwriter who works in South Indian cinema, predominantly in the Kannada film industry since the late 1980s. He is also a screenplay writer, dialogue writer, instrumentalist and conductor, having composed and written over 500 albums.
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.
Shashank is an Indian film director, screenwriter and lyricist who works in Kannada cinema. He made his debut as a director with the 2007 film Sixer. His second directorial Moggina Manasu (2008) received critical acclaim for its screenplay and its coming-of-age theme. He went on to direct other successful films in the romance genre such as Krishnan Love Story (2010), Bachchan (2013), Krishna-Leela (2015), Mungaaru Male 2 (2016) and Love 360 (2022) He is also credited to have introduced actors Yash, Radhika Pandit, Prajwal Devraj and Neha Shetty who went on to become successful actors in Kannada cinema.
Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam, shortened as SPB, was an Indian playback singer, television presenter, actor, music composer, dubbing artist, and film producer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Indian singers of all time. He predominantly worked in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi films and sang in a total of 16 languages.
Mahakshatriya is a 1994 Indian Kannada-language action-drama film directed by Rajendra Singh Babu, starring Vishnuvardhan, Sonu Walia, Ramkumar, Sudha Rani and B. C. Patil. Rajendra Singh Babu won Best Director Filmfare award.
Neenu Nakkare Haalu Sakkare is a 1991 Indian Kannada-language comedy film directed by Dorai–Bhagavan. It stars Vishnuvardhan in the lead role opposite five heroines. The music was composed by Hamsalekha. The story revolves round Subbu’s (Vishnuvardhan) hunt for a suitable wife and how he eventually finds one, with many hilarious scenes. Ambareesh makes a cameo appearance.
Hoovu Hannu is a 1993 Indian Kannada-language drama film based on the novel by Triveni of the same name. The film stars Lakshmi, Ajay Gundu Rao, Vyjayanthi and Baby Shamili. It was directed by Rajendra Singh Babu and produced by Vaibhava Lakshmi Productions. The music and lyrics were written and composed by Hamsalekha. The film was a musical hit and won many awards including the Karnataka State Film Awards and Filmfare Awards South. Veteran cinematographer V. K. Murthy worked in this film and won many accolades for his work.
Habba (transl. Festival) is a 1999 Indian Kannada-language drama film written and directed by D. Rajendra Babu. The film has an ensemble cast including Vishnuvardhan, Ambareesh, Devaraj, Jayapradha, Urvashi, Shashikumar, Ramkumar, Vijayalakshmi, Kasthuri and Charulatha. The movie was produced by Bharathi Devi for Chinni Chitra productions. The movie became a blockbuster and ran for more than 25 weeks. The film was remade in Telugu in 2002 as Chandravamsam starring Krishna. The movie was loosely based on the Pandavas's exile episode in the Virata Parva of Mahabharata.
Namyajamanru is a 2009 Indian Kannada-language drama film directed and written by T. S. Nagabharana. The film stars Vishnuvardhan along with Navya Nair and Vijay Raghavendra. The film was produced by Rajakumari Rajshekar.
Suprabhatha is a 1988 Indian Kannada-language romantic drama film directed, written and filmed by Dinesh Babu, making his debut as a director. The film stars Vishnuvardhan and Suhasini in lead roles, along with Srividya, Maanu and Vijay Kashi in other supporting roles. It tells the love story between a man who suffers from a inferiority complex because of speech defectiveness and a girl, a victim of traumatic experience of deception in a love affair.
Yaare Neenu Cheluve is a 1998 Indian Kannada-language romantic drama film directed by D. Rajendra Babu and produced by Rockline Venkatesh. The film stars Ravichandran, Sangita and Heera Rajagopal. Popular actors such as Vishnuvardhan, Ramesh Aravind, Jaggesh and Prakash Raj are seen in special appearances in the film.
Nanjundi is a 2003 Indian Kannada-language drama film directed and written by S. R. Brothers and produced by Ramu. The film stars Shiva Rajkumar and Debina Bonnerjee along with Umashri and Lokesh in other pivotal roles. The film's highlight was the exclusive shot of the famous Kambala race that happens along the coastal region of Karnataka.
Bangarada Kalasha is a 1995 Indian Kannada film, directed by H. R. Bhargava and produced by S. Shankar. The film stars Vishnuvardhan, Sithara, Anjana and Dheerendra Gopal in the lead roles. The film has musical score by Rajan–Nagendra.
Deergha Sumangali is a 1995 Indian Kannada film, directed by D. Rajendra Babu and produced by D. R. Umashankari and R. Venkata Raju. The film stars Sithara, Devan, Srinivasa Murthy and B. V. Radha. The film had musical score by Hamsalekha.
Hemanth Subramanya known by his stage name as Hemanth, is a playback singer in Kannada cinema.
L. N. Shastri was an Indian playback singer and music composer who primarily worked in Kannada cinema. Starting his career as a playback singer in the film Ajagajantara (1991), Shastri went on to sing for more than 3000 songs. Upon his friends' suggestion, he renamed himself as Chaitanya and composed music for over 25 films starting with Kanasalu Neene Manasalu Neene (1998). However, he dropped the name due to the identity crisis for the film Bellary Naga (2009).
The 42nd Filmfare Awards South Ceremony honouring the winners of the best of South Indian cinema in 1994 is an event held on 23 September 1995 was an event held at the Kamaraj Hall, Madras.
Thayi Illada Thabbali is a 2003 Indian Kannada-language drama film written and directed by Om Sai Prakash. The film was produced by Ramesh Yadav under the banner Royal Pictures. It features Shivadwaj and Radhika. The score and soundtrack for the film is by Nadabrahma Hamsalekha and the cinematography is by Sundarnath Suvarna. Radhika received Karnataka State Award for Best Actress for her performance and she also received nomination for Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Kannada.
