Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. The 1934 film Sati Sulochana directed by Y. V. Rao was the first talkie film in the Kannada language. It was also the first film starring Subbaiah Naidu and Tripuramba, and was the first motion picture screened in the erstwhile Mysore Kingdom. The film was produced by Chamanlal Doongaji, who in 1932 founded South India Movietone in Bangalore.
Upendra Rao is an Indian actor, filmmaker, producer, screenwriter and politician who works primarily in Kannada cinema. Upendra has also worked in Telugu films.
Sharada, known as Kavita Krishnamurthy or Kavita Subramaniam, is an Indian playback and classical singer. She has recorded 50,000 song's in 46 various languages including Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Rajasthani, Bhojpuri, Telugu, Odia, Marathi, English, Urdu, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, Nepali, Assamese, Konkani and other languages. She is the recipient of four Filmfare Best Female Playback Singer Awards, and the Padmashri which she received in 2005. She was awarded a Doctorate for her contributions to Indian music by Bangalore-based Jain University in 2015. In 1999, she married noted violinist L. Subramaniam and resides in Bengaluru.
Srinivasa "Arjun" Sarja is an Indian actor, producer, and director who works predominantly in the Tamil film industry, in addition to Kannada and Telugu languages as well. Referred to by the media and his fans as "Action King" for his roles in action films, Arjun has acted in more than 160 films, most of them being lead roles. He is one of few South Indian actors to attract fan following from multiple states of India. He has directed 12 films and also produced and distributed a number of films.
Gangaraju, professionally known as Hamsalekha, is an Indian film composer and a 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 a conductor, composed and written for over 500 feature films. Also regarded as one of the greatest music composers of all time in history.
Ganesh Kishan, known mononymously as Ganesh, is an Indian actor and television presenter known for his work in Kannada cinema. Through his career in films and television shows, he has become one of the most popular celebrities and highest-paid actors in Kannada cinema. He is the recipient of several awards, including two Filmfare Awards.
V. Harikrishna is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer, playback singer and film producer. He has mainly scored music for Kannada films. After his stint as a programmer and assistant musician, Harikrishna made his debut as an independent composer in actor Darshan's first production venture Jothe Jotheyali in 2006. Since then, he has been scoring for majority of Darshan's films besides working for many other leading production houses. He owns an audio company called "D-Beats" established in 2013 and produces music under his own company starting from the film Bulbul (2013). He has turned into a director with the 2019 Kannada film 'Yajamana'.
Chaitra H. G. is an Indian playback singer who has sung for Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam films. She is the daughter of H. S. Gopinath, a tabla player and a renowned Hindustani classical vocalist. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, Bangalore, alongside being skilled at gymnastics and fencing.
Om, stylized as ॐ, is a 1995 Indian Kannada-language action crime film written and directed by Upendra. The film was produced by Parvathamma Rajkumar under the production company Sri Vajreshwari Combines. The film stars Shiva Rajkumar and Prema with Srishanthi, G. V. Shivanand, Sadhu Kokila in supporting roles with real-life gangsters - Bekkina Kannu Rajendra, Tanveer, Korangu Krishna and Jedaralli Krishnappa - portraying the role of gangsters in a small but important portion of the movie.
The Udaya Film Awards is the most prominent award ceremony for Kannada films presented annually by Udaya TV, a Kannada-language division of the Sun Network, from the south-Indian state of Karnataka. The awards ceremony has been instituted to honour both artistic and technical excellence in the Kannada language film industry. Held since 1998, the ceremony was discontinued for over 6 years and made its comeback in 2006. The sponsors have been made by Knockout and Sun Feast before and currently by Vivel Active.
Kalpana is a 2012 Indian Kannada-language comedy horror film starring Upendra, Saikumar and Lakshmi Rai in the lead roles. Film maker Rama Narayanan directed and produced this movie under his banner Sri Thenaandal Films. The film is a remake of the 2011 Tamil film Kanchana. Saikumar reprises the role of a transgender Kalpana, originally played by Sarath Kumar in the Tamil version. Shruti and Umashri play supporting roles originally played by Devadarshini and Kovai Sarala.
Drama is a 2012 Indian Kannada romantic comedy thriller written, directed and co-produced by Yogaraj Bhat under the banner Yogaraj Movies and Jayanna Combines. It stars Yash, Radhika Pandit, Sathish Ninasam and Sindhu Lokanath in leading roles and veteran actor Ambareesh in an extended cameo appearance.
Addhuri is a 2012 Kannada romantic drama film starring Dhruva Sarja in his debut film, along with Radhika Pandit in the lead roles. The story, screenplay, dialogues and direction are by A. P. Arjun of the Kannada movie Ambaari fame. V. Harikrishna is the music director of the film. Keerthi Swamy of Maryland, U S A and Shankar Reddy of Bengaluru have produced the venture. Soorya S Kiran of "Dildaara" fame is the Cinematographer. The film made its theatrical release across Karnataka screens on 15 June 2012. The stunts are handled by Ravi Verma. In one of the scenes Dhruva Sarja jumped from 65 feet height and did all stunts without dupes.
Rambo is a 2012 India comedy film written and directed by M S Sreenath. It was produced by Atlanta Nagendra and Sharan. Sharan and Madhuri Itagi played the leading roles. This is the 100th film of actor Sharan; it was released in September 2012. Arjun Janya is the music director for the film.
Ganga is a 2015 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Sai Prakash, and produced by Ramu. The film stars Malashri in the lead role. The supporting cast features Srinivasa Murthy, Hema Chowdhary, Pavithra Lokesh, Rangayana Raghu, Suchendra Prasad, Sharath Lohitashwa. Malashri won her first Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in this movie.
Hemanth Subramanya known by his stage name as Hemanth, is a playback singer in Kannada cinema.
Yuvarathnaa is a 2021 Indian Kannada-language action drama film written and directed by Santhosh Ananddram. produced by Vijay Kiragandur under the banner Hombale Films, it stars Puneeth Rajkumar, Sayyeshaa, Dhananjay, Prakash Raj, Diganth, and Sai Kumar. The music for the film is composed by Thaman S, while cinematography was handled by Venkatesh Anguraj and editing done by Jnaneesh B Matad respectively. The film was theatrically released on 1 April 2021.
Roberrt is a 2021 Indian Kannada-language action thriller film written and directed by Tharun Sudhir and produced by Umapathy Srinivasa Gowda under the banner of Umapathy Films. The film stars Darshan, Vinod Prabhakar, Jagapathi Babu, Ravi Kishan, debutante Asha Bhat, Devaraj and P. Ravi Shankar. V. Harikrishna and Arjun Janya composed the soundtrack.
