Girish Karnad was an Indian actor, film director, Kannada writer, playwright and a Jnanpith awardee, who predominantly worked in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi films. His rise as a playwright in the 1960s marked the coming of age of modern Indian playwriting in Kannada, just as Badal Sarkar did in Bengali, Vijay Tendulkar in Marathi, and Mohan Rakesh in Hindi. He was a recipient of the 1998 Jnanpith Award, the highest literary honour conferred in India.
South Asian cinema refers to the cinema of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The broader terms Asian cinema, Eastern cinema and Oriental cinema in common usage often encompass South Asia as well as East Asia and Southeast Asia.
Suman Nagarkar is a Kannada film actress, known for her work in Nishkarsha, Nammura Mandara Hoove, Ammavara Ganda, Hoomale, Beladingala Baale and BABRU.
Sudeep Sanjeev, also known as Sudeepa or Kichcha Sudeep, is an Indian actor, director, producer, screenwriter, television presenter and singer, who primarily works in Kannada films. He has also worked in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil films. He is one of the highest paid actors of Kannada Cinema and is one of the first Kannada actors to be listed in the Forbes list of top 100 celebrities of India since 2013. He has received several awards including four Filmfare Awards South, one Karnataka State Film Award and one Nandi Award.
Anjaneya is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by N. Maharajan, featuring Ajith Kumar and Meera Jasmine in the lead roles. The film, produced by S. S. Chakravarthy, had its score and soundtrack composed by Mani Sharma. The film opened on 24 October 2003 on the occasion of Diwali and alongside Vijay's Thirumalai and the film gained high negative reviews with critics.
Tarka is a 1989 Indian Kannada-language mystery-thriller film, produced by Praveen and directed and written by Sunil Kumar Desai based on Agatha Christie's 1958 play The Unexpected Guest. It is the first film noir in Kannada cinema, and the first Kannada film to be made without songs, dance, or stunt sequences. The film stars Shankar Nag, Devaraj and Vanitha Vasu in lead roles along with Avinash, Shivaraj and Praveen Nayak in supporting roles. The film revolves around an escaped convict who finds the body of a man in his childhood friend's house.
Kiran Kumar, known by his screen name Prem, is an Indian film director in Kannada cinema.
Sparsha is a 2000 Indian Kannada-language romance film written and directed by Sunil Kumar Desai. It stars Sudeep, Rekha and Sudha Rani. Naveen Mayur, Sihi Kahi Chandru, Kashi, Umashree and Vanishree feature in supporting roles.
Anubhava (transl. Experience) is a 1984 Indian Kannada-language drama film starring Kashinath, Abhinaya and Umashree. Actresses Abhinaya and Umashree made their debut with this film. The film is directed, co-produced and written by Kashinath and produced under Sri Gayatri Productions banner. It was remade in Hindi twice - first in 1986 as Anubhav starring Shekhar Suman, Richa Sharma and Padmini Kolhapure directed by Kashinath himself and second as Chadti Jawaani. The film was dubbed in Malayalam as Aadhyate Anubhavam and in Telugu as Anubhavam. Sunil Kumar Desai worked as an assistant to Kashinath on this movie.
Asura (transl. Demon) is a 2001 Indian Kannada action film directed by S. Mahendar, starring Shiva Rajkumar and Damini, with Raghuvaran and Ananth Nag in other pivotal roles.
Prema Raga Haadu Gelathi is a 1997 Indian Kannada-language romantic drama film directed by Sunil Kumar Desai based on Yandamuri Veerendranath's novel Nishyabda translated into Kannada by Sharadatanaya. The movie was produced by Jayashree Devi. The film stars Shiva Rajkumar, Ramesh Aravind and Nivedita Jain.
...Re is a 2016 Indian Kannada comedy film written and directed by Sunil Kumar Desai. The film has an ensemble cast consisting of veteran actors: Ramesh Aravind, Anant Nag, Master Hirannaiah, Loknath, Shivaram, Tennis Krishna, Ramesh Bhat, Vaijanath Biradar, Sharath Lohithaswa, Suman, G. K. Govinda Rao among others. Harshika Poonacha and debutant actress Suman play female leads in the film. Ananth Nag had revealed that the movie is thematically similar to Badal Sircar's play Ballabpurer Roopkatha.
Mission Mangal is a 2019 Indian drama film directed by Jagan Shakti and produced by Cape of Good Films, Hope Productions, Fox Star Studios, Aruna Bhatia and Anil Naidu. Loosely based on the life of scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation who contributed to India's first interplanetary expedition Mars Orbiter Mission, it stars an ensemble cast of Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Sonakshi Sinha, Taapsee Pannu, Nithya Menen, Kirti Kulhari and Sharman Joshi in lead roles alongside H. G. Dattatreya, Vikram Gokhale, Dalip Tahil, Sanjay Kapoor and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub amongst others in supporting roles.
Bell Bottom is a 2021 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Ranjit M. Tewari. The film is written by Aseem Arrora and Parveez Sheikh, with production by Vashu Bhagnani, Jackky Bhagnani, Deepshikha Deshmukh and Nikkhil Advani under their respective banners Pooja Entertainment and Emmay Entertainment. It stars Akshay Kumar as the lead character, with Vaani Kapoor, Lara Dutta and Huma Qureshi in an extended cameo appearance. Bell Bottom is inspired from real life hijacking events in India by Khalistani terrorists during the 1980s, such as the Indian Airlines Flight 423, 405 and 421 hijackings.
