Sunil Raoh

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Sunil Rao
Born
Karnataka, India
Other namesSunil Rao
Occupation(s)Actor, singer
Years active1987–1994
2001–2010
2017–present
SpouseShreya Iyer
Mother B. K. Sumitra
Family Sowmya Rao (sister)

Sunil Rao (born 4 September 1978) is a Kannada cinema actor from India. He is also a singer who has performed for few Kannada film songs. He has acted in numerous films as a child artist and also featured in a few television series. [1]

Contents

Personal life and family

Sunil Rao comes from a family of well-known musicians. His mother B. K. Sumitra, is a prominent Sugama Sangeetha (light music) singer. His sister Sowmya Rao is also an established playback singer who has performed for various films in different languages. [1] He was also interested in playback-singing and entered the film industry aspiring to be one. But he had to change his path towards acting since offers came pouring ever since he was a child. He studied in Bangalore's National College.[ citation needed ]

Career

As a child artist

Rao started his career as a child artiste in the year 1987 for the films such as Kendada Male and Elu Suttina Kote . [ citation needed ]He performed his roles much to the attention of producers and went on acting in a few more films.[ citation needed ]

Television artist

Rao, aspiring to be a playback singer, re-entered acting in his teens. He appeared in a few soap operas that included Janani, Chaduranga, Punarjanma, B. Suresha's Sadhane and T. N. Seetharam's Manvantara and Bhageerathi. In Janani, he was cast as the grandson of Bharathi Vishnuvardhan's character. [2]

Films

Sunil Rao began his film career acting in some non-significant character roles in the films such as Chitra and Panchaalee. However, he shot to fame in the 2003 released Hinglish film Freaky Chakra . He starred alongside Deepti Naval as a young boy infatuated by an older woman. He also starred as a teenage lover in the Kavita Lankesh directorial Preethi Prema Pranaya opposite Anu Prabhakar, the same year. Then came his most successful Kannada film Excuse Me (2003) where he played an anti-hero character alongside Ajay Rao and Ramya.

In 2005, he starred in a series of unsuccessful films like Chappale, Masala and Sakha Sakhi. The latter was a remake of the Tamil hit Thiruda Thirudi . Most of his films during this time featured him alongside other male lead characters. Sakha Sakhi was an exception to this. In 2006, he starred in the critically acclaimed Belli Betta directed by Shivaraj Hoskere. [3]

Following these ventures, Rao became choosy and featured in very few films in the late 2000s. Minugu opposite Pooja Gandhi was his solo release in the year 2010. Noted film maker Sunil Kumar Desai announced a film called Sarigama in 2008 with Rao and Prajwal Devaraj in the lead. This film, expected to have a 2012 release got shelved due to unknown reasons. [4]

Reports of him coming back to acting after a hiatus made news with his longtime associate director announcing his project called Bangalore Calling. It reported that Sunil would play one of the three main lead roles. [5]

Filmography

Key
†Denotes films that have not yet been released
YearFilmRoleNotes
1987Kendada MaleAs child artist
1988 Elu Suttina Kote GaneshaAs child artist
1991 Readymade Ganda As child artist
Shanti Kranti As child artist
1992 Prana Snehitha As child artist
Mysore Jaana AnandAs child artist
1994 Gandugali As child artist
2001 Vande Matharam Abhishek
Chitra Ramu's friend
2003Panchaali
Freaky Chakra Unannounced GuestHindi film
Excuse Me Sunil
Preethi Prema Pranaya Vivek
2004 Baa Baaro Rasika Vishwa
Chappale Vijay
2005 Masaala Vishwa
Sakha SakhiSiva
2006Belli BettaShiva
Jackpot HimselfGuest appearance; also playback singer
2010 Minugu Aditya
Premism PrasannaGuest appearance
2022 Old Monk Krishna Guest appearance
Thurthu Nirgamana Vikramalso playback singer
2024 Maryade Prashne Satisha [6]

Web series

Year of ReleaseFilmNotes
2017Loose ConnectionFirst Kannada webseries
As playback singer

Awards

He has been awarded the 'Roopakala Belli Kanmani Award' as a 'Naada shreshta Kalavida' by the 'Roopakala Utsava-25' linked with the Karnataka State in the year 2011.[ citation needed ]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Entertainment Bangalore : Small and spicy". The Hindu . 9 September 2005. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  2. ↑ Srinivasa, Srikanth (9 February 2003). "Two guys & a goal". Deccan Herald. Archived from the original on 29 December 2003. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  3. ↑ "Sunil Raos back – Bollywood Movie News". Indiaglitz.com. 10 December 2005. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  4. ↑ "Kannada Movie/Cinema News – SUNIL KUMAR DESAI IS BACK WITH 'SARIGAMA'". Chitratara.com. 9 November 2008. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  5. ↑ "Sunil Rao to act again?". Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  6. ↑ "A middle class story - Bangalore Mirror". bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com. 27 June 2024.
  7. ↑ https://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/kannada/movies/news/sunil-rao-records-a-song-in-his-upcoming-film/amp_articleshow/67710467.cms [ bare URL ]
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