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 and versatile actors in the history of Indian cinema, 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 Playback 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.
Shubraveshti Ramaswamiah Seetharama Sharma, known popularly as S. R. Puttanna Kanagal, was an Indian filmmaker known for his work in Kannada cinema. He is often considered one of Indian cinema's most influential filmmakers.
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.
Girish Kasaravalli is an Indian film director, in the Kannada cinema, and one of the pioneers of the Parallel Cinema. Known internationally for his works, Kasaravalli has garnered fourteen National Film Awards, including four Best Feature Films; Ghatashraddha (1977), Tabarana Kathe (1986), Thaayi Saheba (1997) and Dweepa (2002). In 2011, he was awarded with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award by Government of India.
Karnataka Rajyotsava, also known as Karnataka State Day, is a public holiday celebrated annually on 1 November in the Indian state of Karnataka. It commemorates the merger in 1956 of the Kannada-speaking regions of southwestern India under the States Reorganisation Act to form the state.
Aan is a 1952 Indian adventure film, produced and directed by Mehboob Khan. It stars Dilip Kumar, Nimmi, Nadira and Premnath.
Aavarana is a 2007 Kannada novel by novelist S. L. Bhyrappa. Aavarana means enveloping or covering something. This novel deals with the historical character Timurid Emperor Aurangazeb. Aavarana was sold out even before its release in February 2007. The novel went on to create a record in the Indian literary world by witnessing 10 reprints within five months of its release.
Santeshivara Lingannaiah Bhyrappa is an Indian novelist, philosopher and screenwriter who writes in Kannada. His work is popular in the state of Karnataka and he is widely regarded as one of modern India's popular novelists. His novels are unique in terms of theme, structure, and characterization. He has been among the top-selling authors in the Kannada language and his books have been translated into Hindi and Marathi which have also been bestsellers.
Dr. H. R. Vishwasa is a Sanskrit scholar residing in Mangalore, India. He won a Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize in 2010 for translating S. L. Bhyrappa's Kannada novel Aavarana into Sanskrit.
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.
Matadana(meaning: voting) is a 1965 novel written by the famous Kannada writer, philosopher, thinker S L Bhyrappa. An award winning Kannada movie Mathadana based on this novel, which was directed by T N Seetharam secured 'Best Regional Film' award at 47th National Film Awards. Matadana reveals the caste based politics and other dynamics that grip the democratic institution of ballot box in India.
Yajnaseni: the story of Draupadi is a 1984 Odia language novel by Pratibha Ray. The story revolves around Draupadi from the famous epic Mahabharatha. The word Yajnaseni means a woman born out of fire. The book has been translated into various languages, including English, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Assamese, Bengali, Nepali and Hungarian.
Sharan is an Indian actor and an occasional playback singer and film producer who works in Kannada cinema. He made his acting debut in the mid-1990s and appeared mostly in comedy roles and small supporting roles. However, he earned much recognition during the late 2000s and made his lead role for his 100th film Rambo and since then featuring as the lead actor in comedy films.
Tantu is a 1993 Kannada novel by novelist S.L. Bhyrappa. Tantu means relations or links between human emotions. This book was translated into English in the year 2010 by Niyogi Books.
Karanam Pavan Prasad is an Indian author, novelist and playwright in Kannada language. He gained notability with his first novel Karma (ಕರ್ಮ). His second novel was Nunni.
Uttarakaanda is a 2017 Kannada novel by novelist S.L. Bhyrappa, based on the Sanskrit epic, Ramayana. This book was released on 16 January 2017.
Pavitra Lokesh is an Indian film and television actress. She appears primarily in Kannada and Telugu films playing supporting roles. The daughter of stage and film actor Mysore Lokesh, she made her film debut at the age of 16 and has since appeared in over 150 Kannada films. At 5 feet 10 inches she was the tallest actress at that time, but managing to do several noteworthy roles even acting along side shorter leading men. For her performance in the Kannada film Naayi Neralu (2006), she was awarded the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress. Her husband Naresh is also an actor.
Haleyuru Srinivasa Krishnaswamy Iyengar was a Kannada columnist, essayist, novelist, critic and teacher of Economics and Commerce studies in Mysore. He is remembered for his character sketches and short essays on personalities and issues of national & international import, in his weekly column "Varada Vyakthi". These appeared in the Kannada magazine "Sudha" continuously for nearly two decades. His literary critique "Kannadadalli Vidambana Sahitya" won him the Kannada Sahitya Akademi Award in 1981. His perspective on elements of Vishistadvaita in the works of Kuvempu were brought forth in his book "Kuvempu Sahityadalli Vishistadvaita – Darshana". H. S. K. penned close to thousand character sketches over two decades. These were later published in four collected volumes. He received the "Rajyotsava Award" from Government of Karnataka in 1997. For his lifetime contribution to Journalism and Kannada literature, the University of Mysore conferred a doctorate degree on him in 2004.
