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.
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. Kannada cinema is based in Gandhi Nagar, Bangalore. The 1934 film Sati Sulochana directed by Y. V. Rao was the first talkie film released in the Kannada language. It was also the first film starring Subbaiah Naidu and Tripuramba, and the first screened in the erstwhile Mysore Kingdom. It was produced by Chamanlal Doongaji, who in 1932 founded South India Movietone in Bangalore.
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.
Arvind Swamy is an Indian actor, film director and entrepreneur known for his work in Tamil cinema and a few Hindi cinema, Telugu cinema and Malayalam cinema. He was introduced as an actor by Mani Ratnam with the blockbuster film Thalapathi (1991) and subsequently starred in successful films such as Roja (1992), Bombay (1995), Minsara Kanavu (1997), Thani Oruvan (2015), and Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (2018). He made his debut as a director in the Netflix anthology series Navarasa (2021) in which his segment named Rowthiram . He is a recipient of three Filmfare Award South, one Tamil Nadu State Film Award and two SIIMA Awards.
Karthika Menon, better known by her stage name Bhavana, is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Malayalam films, in addition to Kannada, Tamil and few Telugu films too.
Ravindra Kishan Shukla, popularly known as Ravi Kishan, is an Indian actor, politician, film producer and television personality. He currently serves as Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Gorakhpur. His film works are predominantly in Bhojpuri and Hindi cinema, as well as Telugu cinema. He has also appeared in a few Kannada and Tamil films.
Veeraswamy Ravichandran, known mononymously as Ravichandran, is an Indian actor, director, producer, music director, lyricist and editor working predominantly in Kannada cinema. The son of film producer N. Veeraswamy, he continues to produce and distribute films under his father's production house, Sri Eswari Productions. He is popularly referred to as "Crazy Star" by the media and his followers.
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 though Dudde Doddappa was her first release. 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. Through the course of her career, she became known for her portrayal of roles of 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. She has the distinction of having paired with Dr.Rajkumar as a lead actress in all the 26 movies she acted with him and is also paired with him the most no. of times in those movies where he played multiple roles.
A. Harsha is an Indian film director and choreographer who works in Kannada cinema. Harsha has choreographed many popular songs.
Dhruva Sarja is an Indian actor who appears in Kannada films. He made his acting debut in the 2012 film, Addhuri.
Aishwarya Rajesh is an Indian actress who works predominantly in Tamil films along with Malayalam and Telugu films. Aishwarya is a recipient of four South Indian International Movie Awards, two Filmfare Award South and one Tamil Nadu State Film Award.
V. Nagendra Prasad is a lyricist, composer and director who predominantly works for Kannada cinema. He has written more than 3000 songs, largely for Kannada cinema.
Tik Tik Tik is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language science fiction disaster thriller film written and directed by Shakti Soundar Rajan. The film features Jayam Ravi, Aaron Aziz and Nivetha Pethuraj in the lead roles. The film is inspired from the 1998 Michael Bay film Armageddon.
Dhruva Natchathiram also marketed with the subtitle Chapter One – Yuddha Kaandam is an unreleased Indian Tamil-language spy action thriller film directed and produced by Gautham Vasudev Menon. It stars Vikram leading an ensemble cast consisting of Ritu Varma, R. Parthiban, Radhika Sarathkumar, Simran and Vinayakan. The film features music composed by Harris Jayaraj, whereas cinematography handled by Manoj Paramahamsa, S. R. Kathir and Vishnu Dev, editing done by Anthony.
Arjun Sarja is an Indian actor, producer and director who works predominantly in Tamil cinema and he also established his career in Telugu and Kannada cinema apart from a few Hindi and Malayalam films. He debuted as a child actor in the film Simhada Mari Sainya in the year 1981. Sarja had acted in more than 160 movies. He has directed 12 films and also produced and distributed a number of films. After starring in numerous Kannada films with minor roles, he starred in his first movie as an independent actor in Male Bantu Male. In 1984, Sarja made his Tamil debut in Rama Narayanan's film Nandri. During the subsequent years he acted in many Telugu and Kannada films portraying lead and supporting roles in Trimurtulu (1987), Premagni (1989), Prathap (1990) and Shivanaga (1992).
Dia is a 2020 Indian Kannada-language romantic drama film written and directed by K. S. Ashoka, and produced by D Krishna Chaitanya under Sri Swarnalatha Productions. It stars Kushee Ravi, Pruthvi Ambaar and Dheekshith Shetty, with a score by B. Ajaneesh Loknath. It was released on 7 February 2020 and was a box office success. It was re-released in 2021.
KRG Studios is an Indian film production and distribution company based in Bengaluru, India. It primarily deals with the production and distribution of Kannada-language and non-Kannada films across Karnataka.
Sushmitha Ravi, known as Kushee Ravi, is an Indian actress who works in Kannada and Telugu-language films. Kushee rose to fame with the Kannada film Dia (2020).
Anna Thangi is an Indian Kannada language soap opera airing on Udaya TV. The show premiered on 22 November 2021. It stars Madhu Sagar and Akhila Dechamma in lead roles. The series is an official remake of Tamil language serial Vanathai Pola.
