Bangalore Saroja Devi is an Indian actress who has acted in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. She acted in around 200 films in over six decades. She is known by the epithets "Abhinaya Saraswathi" in Kannada and "Kannadathu Paingili" in Tamil. She is one of the most successful actresses in the history of Indian cinema.
Vinaya Prakash, also credited as Vinaya Prasad, is an Indian actress who has primarily featured in Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil films and TV series besides acting in Telugu language films. She has won the State Best Actress Award for her performances in Aathanka (1993) and Bannada Hejje (2001).
Kamala Kumari, known by her mononymous stage name Jayanthi, was an Indian actress known for her work in Kannada cinema and Tamil cinema. She was noted for her contributions to different genres of films from the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. She had appeared in over 500 films, including films in the Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and Marathi languages. She had received seven Karnataka State Film Awards, four times as Best Actress and twice as Best Supporting Actress, the President's Medal for Best Actress and two Filmfare Awards for Best Actress. She has been cited as Kannada cinema's "most bold and beautiful" actress by various media outlets, a title for which she has received substantial publicity. The Kannada film industry honored her with the title "Abhinaya Sharadhe",.
Mahalakshmi, known professionally as Lakshmi, is an Indian actress known for her works primarily in the southern film industry, along with some Hindi films. She made her film debut through a Tamil film Sri Valli in 1961. Her debut as an actress happened with the Tamil film Jeevanaamsam in 1968. In the same year, she also debuted in Kannada and Telugu films with Goa Dalli CID 999 and Bandhavyalu, respectively. In 1974, Her debut Malayalam film, Chattakari went on to become a blockbuster throughout India. Her performance in Mithunam (2012) is regarded as one of the "100 Greatest Performances of the Decade" by Film Companion. Lakshmi then went on to appear in a number of commercially successful films in various languages without a hesitation or diction. She dubs her voice for all of her movies, irrespective of the language and remains one of the very few critically acclaimed stars to achieve this stage. She has won one National Film Award for Best Actress, nine Filmfare Awards South, three Nandi Awards, Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress, Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress for the movie Hoovu Hannu, the Bengal Film Journalists Association Awards and various other state awards. Lakshmi made her Bollywood debut in 1975, with the woman-centric Julie, the remake of Malayalam film Chattakkari. After appearing as a lead actress for more than a decade, she switched over to character roles. She is the only actress who has won the Filmfare Awards South in all four south languages as Filmfare Award Best Actress for eight times in various Indian languages. Till now she is the only Actress who has won Filmfare award for best actress in all the 5 major film industries namely Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Till now no South actress has won state award in all the 4 south states except Lakshmi. She is also the only Actress who has won Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala State film awards for best Actress and the national award. This makes her the most versatile and popular actress across South India and also in the hindi belt which is now referred as Pan India, so she was one among the early pan Indian Star. The only other multilingual stars of Indian cinemas, who can dub their own voices in all of their films and who've properly achieved the pan-Indian cinema include Sridevi, Prakash Raj & Kamal Haasan.
Neravanda Chetticha Prema is an Indian actress known for her work predominantly in Kannada and few Telugu ,Tamil and Malayalam language films. She has appeared in many commercially successful and critically acclaimed feature films. She was a leading Kannada actress at the turn of the century and has received the Karnataka State Film Award and Filmfare Best Actress awards for her performances in Kannada films. She has featured in Om and Yajamana, which are the two major blockbuster and highest-grossing films of their time in Kannada cinema. After an eight-year hiatus, she returned to films with Upendra Matte Baa in 2017.
Shweta, known by her stage name Rakshita, is an Indian television personality, film producer and former actress.
Sumalatha is an Indian actress, politician who is the current Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha from Mandya, Karnataka. She has acted in more than 220 films in Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Hindi. She gained popularity in Telugu Cinema and Malayalam cinema and later married Kannada actor-politician Ambareesh and has a son Abhishek Gowda.
Kalpana, born Sharat Lata, was an Indian actress who appeared in Kannada films. She was affectionately referred to as Minugu Taare among the film fraternity. She was widely recognised as one of the greatest actresses of Kannada cinema who enjoyed both fan following and critical acclaim. She made her screen debut as a lead actress in the 1963 release Saaku Magalu directed by veteran B. R. Panthulu. During a career that spanned from the early 1960s to the late 1970s, Kalpana appeared in numerous commercially successful as well as critically appreciated films, many of which featured her alongside actor Rajkumar. She worked in a few Tamil, Tulu, Malayalam and Telugu films as well. Many of her successful films were female-centric, giving ample scope for her performance.
Malashri is an Indian actress. She has predominantly worked in Kannada films and was the topmost heroine in the 1990s. She has also worked in Telugu and Tamil cinema. Malashri was popular for playing diverse roles in women-centric movies many of which were highly successful at the box-office. She was popularly called Kanasina Rani in the media.
Sankaramanchi Janaki, popularly known as Sowcar Janaki (Tamil) or Shavukaru Janaki (Telugu) or Sahukar Janaki (Kannada), is an Indian actress who has appeared in over 300, films, predominantly in Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada languages. She also performed on stage in over 300 shows and was a radio artist during her earlier years. She is the recipient of two Nandi Awards, Kalaimamani and India's fourth-highest civilian award Padma Shri. Her younger sister Krishna Kumari, is also a noted actress.
Bharathi Vishnuvardhan, also known mononymously as Bharathi, is an Indian actress known primarily for her work in Kannada cinema and television serials. She began her career in 1966, as a lead actress, with the Kannada movie Love in Bangalore. In a career spanning over 50 years, Bharathi has appeared in 150 films. Apart from 100 films in Kannada, she has also acted in a handful of Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. In the course of her career, she became known for portrayal of the roles mythological and historical characters, and also that of a student, a romantic and a rural belle. Her role in Sri Krishnadevaraya (1970) as Chennambike won her the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress. In 2017, she was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India.
Budaguru Ramakrishnaiah Panthulu was an Indian film director, producer and actor. He is best known for directing films in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. His most popular films are Karnan, Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Sri Krishnadevaraya, School Master and Kittur Channamma, B. R. Panthulu, is a successful actor and converted Ma. Po. Si.'s biographic works Veerapandiya Kattabomman and Kappalottiya Thamizhan to celluloid.
Vidyasagar, known by his stage name Rajesh, was an Indian actor who appeared in Kannada films. Known as 'Kala Thapaswi', Rajesh was an ardent fan of literature. He appeared in many films as the lead in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later on gravitated to strong character roles. He is the father of film actress Aasha Rani who acted in Rathasapthami with Shivrajkumar and the father-in-law of popular Kannada and Tamil actor Arjun Sarja.
Utthama Puthiran is the 1940 Tamil language film directed by T. R. Sundaram. P. U. Chinnappa, M. V. Rajamma, T. S. Balaiah played the lead roles. It was the first Tamil film in which the leading actor P. U. Chinnappa played a double role.
Sri Krishnadevaraya is a 1970 Indian historical drama film in the Kannada language, produced and directed by B. R. Panthulu. It stars Rajkumar as Krishnadevaraya, an emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire in the 16th century. R. Nagendra Rao, B. R. Panthulu, Narasimharaju and N. Bharathi appear in pivotal roles. The film was Rajkumar's first in color.
Hunsur Krishnamurthy was an Indian playwright, film director, producer, actor, screenwriter and lyricist in Kannada cinema.
Samsara Nauke is a 1936 Indian Kannada language social drama film directed by H. L. N. Simha and produced by K. Nanjappa. This film was the fourth sound film produced in Kannada cinema and the first melodrama film based on social issues. The film met with huge success at the box-office upon release and was subsequently released in Tamil in 1948 with the same star cast. The investment was Rs.33000 and became a commercial success as it earned Rs. 2.5 lakhs.
Radha Ramana is a 1943 Indian Kannada language drama film directed by Jyotish Sinha. Produced by actress M. V. Rajamma, the film was notably the first in Kannada cinema to have a woman producer. The film featured B. R. Panthulu and Rajamma playing the lead roles along with actors Balakrishna and G. V. Iyer making their respective acting debuts in the film. Both these actors went on to become one of the finest character artists in Kannada cinema.
Durga Prabha, known by her stage name, Hema Chaudhary is an Indian actress who has predominantly acted in Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil films. Starting her career as a lead actress in the Telugu film Pelli Kani Pelli in 1976, she switched over to supporting roles in the 1980s.
Dikki Madhava Rao was an Indian actor and singer known for his work as a character actor in Kannada-language films. He spent much of his early years as a stage actor in the 1920s and 1930s before appearing in Kannada films. He gained popularity with his role as the antagonist Kanyakumari Dikshit "Dikki" in the 1936 film Samsara Nauka. Subsequently, the name stuck to him as prefix.
