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 Kannada 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 amongst 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.
Malavalli Huchchegowda Amarnath, known by his screen name Ambareesh, was an Indian actor, media personality, politician from the state of Karnataka. Alongside Rajkumar and Vishnuvardhan, he is counted in Kannada cinema's "triumvirate" as its most celebrated actor.
Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar is an Indian director, actor, screenwriter and a lyricist who predominantly works in Kannada Cinema. He made his film debut as a screenplay writer in Kadina Benki (1986) which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film and the Karnataka State Award. His directorial debut was Undu Hoda Kondu Hoda (1991) for which he won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Story.
Veeraswamy Ravichandran, popularly known as Ravichandran, is an Indian actor, director, producer, music director, lyricist and editor working predominantly in Kannada cinema. He is the son of film producer N. Veeraswamy and continues to produce and distribute films under his father's production house, Sri Eswari Productions. He is popularly called as "Crazy Star" by the media and his followers.
Katha Sangama is a 1976 Indian Kannada-language anthology film, directed by Puttanna Kanagal, based on three short stories; Hangu by Giraddi Govindaraj, Athithi by Veena and Munithaayi by Eshwara Chandra. The film stars Kalyan Kumar, Rajinikanth, B. Saroja Devi and Aarathi in the lead roles. The supporting cast includes Lokanath, Vamana Rao, Shivaramaiah and Master Umesh. The film won three awards at the 1975–76 Karnataka State Film Awards, including the award for Best Actress (Aarathi).
Sharapanjara is a 1971 Indian Kannada language film directed by Puttanna Kanagal, based on a novel by Triveni of the same name, and starring Kalpana and Gangadhar in lead roles. This film is considered one of the best Kannada movies ever made. Triveni's novel was richly visual and Puttanna not only stayed faithful to the novel on screen but also retained most of the novel's dialogues and credited Triveni for them.
Manasa Sarovara is a 1982 Indian Kannada-language film directed by Puttanna Kanagal and starring Srinath, Padma Vasanthi and Ramakrishna. Padma Vasanthi won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress for her performance. The plot was reported to be influenced by George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play Pygmalion.
Anupama Niranjana (1934–1991) was a doctor in India and writer of modern Kannada fiction and non-fiction.
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.
Pattabhiramaiah Sheshadri is an Indian film director who works in Kannada cinema. He is known for his films Munnudi, Atithi, Beru, Tutturi, Vimukthi, Bettada Jeeva, Bharath Stores and December-1. He has also worked as a director in various television serials.
Shubhamangala is a 1975 Indian Kannada language film directed by Puttanna Kanagal, based on a novel of the same name by Vani, starring Aarathi and Srinath. The supporting cast features Shivaram, Ambareesh, Musuri Krishnamurthy and K. S. Ashwath.
Gangadhar (1936–2003) was an Indian actor known for his work in Kannada cinema. A character actor who transitioned from stage to films in the mid-1960s, he had a brief period of success when his performances in social-dramas such as Gejje Pooje (1969), Sharapanjara (1971) and Seetha (1970) were noted. In addition to the former two, he starred in Katha Sangama (1975) and Ranganayaki (1981), all of which were directed by Puttanna Kanagal. Other films he starred in include Nanna Thamma (1970), Aliya Geleya (1971) and Bhale Adrushtavo Adrushta (1972).
Sridhar is an Indian actor in the Kannada film industry, and also a dance scholar, performer and choreographer, trained in Bharatanatyam. He also holds a degree in engineering. Sridhar is married to Anuradha, also a Bharatanatyam dance performer; both have performed for many dance shows as a duo. He received doctorate( D.Litt) for his thesis on Socio Cultural aspects of the male dancer in Bharatanatyam form the Kannada University, Hampi ( 2015)
Apadanda T. Raghu popularly known as "A.T.Raghu" is an Indian director, actor, producer and screenplay writer, who has worked in the Kannada, Hindi, Malayalam and Kodava Takk film industries.
The following is the list of Award winners for the Karnataka State Puttanna Kanagal award. Kanagal was among the front runners in Kannada cinema's most successful film directors. In his memory and honor, this award is presented to the directors every year during the Karnataka State Awards function.
Karnataka State Film Award for Best Screenplay is a state film award of the Indian state of Karnataka given during the annual Karnataka State Film Awards. The award honors Kannada language films.
S. Shivaram, popularly known simply as Shivaram or Shivaramanna, was an Indian actor, producer and director whose Kannada cinema career has spanned six decades. He has played roles including lead hero performances, character roles, comedic roles, as well as supporting parts. He teamed up with his elder brother, S. Ramanathan and produced several films under the name Rashi Brothers apart from directing Hrudaya Sangama in 1972. They together produced movies directed by Puttanna Kanagal like Gejje Pooje and Upasane. They also produced Dr. Rajkumar 's 175th movie Nanobba Kalla and the Tamil movie Dharma Durai starring Rajinikanth which was a remake of the 1989 Kannada movie Deva. The brothers together produced few Bollywood films as well including the 1985 movie Geraftaar which is known to be the only Indian movie to star three stalwarts - Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth - in a single movie. As an actor, Shivaram has the distinction of working with many stalwart directors out of which his association with Puttanna Kanagal is much remembered. He has acted in all the seven Kannada movies directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao starring Rajkumar.
