Upendra filmography

Upendra is an Indian actor and director known primarily for his work in Kannada cinema. He began his career writing dialogues and lyrics for soundtrack in Kannada films. ^[1] He then started out as a director making his debut in 1992 with Tharle Nan Maga . In a career spanning over 25 years, he has directed 10 films and acted in over 60 films.

Filmography

Key

†	Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released

As an actor

• Note: all films are in Kannada, unless otherwise noted.

Year	Title	Roles	Notes
1989	Anantana Avantara	Kamadeva	Cameo appearance
	Love Maadi Nodu	Doctor
1991	Ajagajantara	Groom
1993	Shhh!	Fake Police officer	Also director; Cameo appearance
1995	Om	Deena	Also director Voiceover for Kote Prabhakar
	Operation Antha	Bystander	Also director; Cameo appearance
1997	Omkaram	Narrator in the first scene	Telugu film; also director Voiceover for Kote Prabhakar
1998	A	Surya	Also director
	Kanyadanam	Venkat	Telugu film
1999	Upendra	Naanu	Also director
2000	Preethse	Chandru
	Oke Maata	Sooryam
2001	Raa	Sridhar
2002	Neethone Vuntanu	Ravi	Telugu film
	H2O	Udayashankar Gowda	Kannada-Tamil bilingual film
	Super Star	Ricky / Deependra [a]
	Nagarahavu	Ajay
	Naanu Naane	Raja
	Hollywood	Upendra / Surendra / Robot US47 [b]
2003	Kutumba	Vijay
	Rakta Kanneeru	Mohan
	Gokarna	Sidda
2004	Omkara	Sathya
2005	Gowramma	Venkat Swamy
	News	Guru
	Auto Shankar	Shankar
2006	Uppi Dada M.B.B.S.	Rao Bahaddur Upendra
	Thandege Thakka Maga	Sathya
	Aishwarya	Abhishek Hegde
2007	Parodi	Vijay
	Masti	Siddappaji
	Toss	Neelakanta	Telugu film
	Anatharu	Rudra
	Lava Kusha	Chakri
2008	Satyam	Manickavel	Tamil-Telugu bilingual film
	Salute	Prathap Rudra
	Buddhivanta	Panchamrutha [c]	Seven roles
	Mast Maja Maadi	Himself	Cameo appearance
2009	Dubai Babu	Babu
	Rajani	Rajani
2010	Super	Subhash Chandra Gandhi	Also director
2011	Shrimathi	Raj Kumar
	Maryade Ramanna	Cycle (voice)	Voice role	[2]
2012	Aarakshaka	Arun / Vishnu [a]
	Katari Veera Surasundarangi	Upendra / Mohan / Mass Manava Temporary Yama [b]
	Godfather	Shiva / Ajay / Vijay [b]
	Kalpana	Raghava
2013	Topiwala	Basak
2014	Brahma	Brahma
	Super Ranga	Sriranga
2015	Shivam	Basavanna / Alexander [a]
	S/O Satyamurthy	Devaraj Naidu	Telugu film
	Uppi 2	Naanu / Neenu [a]	Also director
2016	Kalpana 2	Raghava / Jade Shivu [a]
	Mukunda Murari	Mukunda
2017	Upendra Matte Baa	Upendra / Surendra [a]
2019	I Love You	Santosh
2022	Home Minister	Renuka Prasad		[3]
	Ghani	Vikramaditya	Telugu film
2023	Kabzaa	Arkeshwara
2024	UI	Sathya / Kalki / Upendra Rao [b]	Also director	[4]
2025	Coolie	Kaleesha	Tamil film
	Andhra King Taluka	"Andhra King" Surya Kumar	Telugu film	[5]
	45	TBA	Filming	[6]
TBA	Buddhivantha 2†	TBA	Completed	[7]
TBA	Thrishulam†	TBA	Filming	[8] [9]
TBA	Raktha Kashmira†	TBA	Filming	[10]
TBA	Bhargava†	TBA	Filming	[10]

As director, writer and lyricist

Year	Film	Credited as			Notes
		Director	Writer	Lyricist
1989	Anantana Avantara
	Love Maadi Nodu		Dialogue
1990	Kaliyuga Krishna
	Aata Bombata
1991	Nanagoo Hendthi Beku		Dialogue
1992	Sriramachandra		Dialogue
	Tharle Nan Maga				Also choreographer
1993	Shhh!
1995	Om
	Operation Antha
1997	Omkaram				Telugu film
1998	Swasthik
	A
1999	Upendra
2001	Raa		Screenplay		Telugu film
2002	H2O				Kannada-Tamil bilingual
	Super Star
	Hollywood
2003	Rakta Kanneeru
2005	Gowramma		Dialogue
2006	Uppi Dada M.B.B.S.		Dialogue
	Aishwarya
2007	Parodi
	Lava Kusha
2009	Dubai Babu
2010	Super
2012	Aarakshaka
	Katari Veera Surasundarangi
2013	Topiwala
2015	Uppi 2
2024	UI

As narrator

Year	Title	Notes	Ref.
2014	Ragini IPS		[11]
2022	Ponniyin Selvan: I	Kannada dubbed version trailer	[12]
2023	Ponniyin Selvan: II	Kannada dubbed version trailer

Discography

Year	Film	Song	Composer	Co-singer(s)	Notes
1999	Upendra	"Uppiganta Ruchi Bere Illa"	Gurukiran
2002	H2O	"Bida Byada", "Dil Ilde Love"	Sadhu Kokila
2002	Nagarahavu	"Yaaking Aadthiye"	Hamsalekha	Anuradha Sriram
2003	Rakta Kanneeru	"Baa Baaro Rasika"	Sadhu Kokila	Sowmya Raoh
2004	Omkara	"Othla Othla"	Gurukiran	Shamitha Malnad
2006	Uppi Dada M.B.B.S.	"Makkar Maado Maliniye"	R. P. Patnaik
		"M Andre"
	Aishwarya	"Yella Okay Madhuve Yaake"	Rajesh Ramanath
2007	Parodi	"Rowdy Mele"	Rajesh Ramanath
2008	Budhivanta	"Chitranna"	Vijay Antony	Sangeetha Rajeshwaran
2010	Super	"Sikkapatte Ishtapatte"	V. Harikrishna
2011	Jogayya	"Thagalakonde"	V. Harikrishna	Priya Himesh
	Jarasandha	"Pade Pade Phone-inalli"	V Harikrishna	Priya Himesh
2012	Katari Veera Surasundarangi	"Muthinantha Muthondhu"	Harikrishna
2013	Brindavana	"Oye Kalla"	Harikrishna	Indu Nagaraj
2014	Jai Lalitha	"Thorisabedammi"	Sridhar V. Sambhram
	Super Ranga	"Ondsali Avala"	Harikrishna
2015	Krishna-Leela	"Phoneammangu Simmappangu"	Sridhar V.
	Uppi 2	"Excuse Me Please"	Gurukiran
2016	Kalpana 2	"H2O Kudidivni"	Arjun Janya	Aishwarya Rangarajan
	Dombarata				Tulu film [13]
	Mukunda Murari	"I Am God, God is Great"	Arjun Janya
2019	I Love You	"Life Ene T20"	Dr. Kiran Thaotambyle	Chethan Naik, Vasushree Halemane

Notes

1. Upendra played dual roles in the film.
2. Upendra played triple roles in the film.
3. Upendra played seven different roles in the film, namely: Joseph Fernandez, Panchamrutha, Zakir Hussain, Vijay Mittal, Samarasimha Reddy, Ranjaneesh Swamy and Shyam Prasad.

References

1. "Upendra started his career as a dialogue writer". The Times of India. 2 January 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
2. "Review: Maryade Ramanna relies on Komal's comedy". Rediff.com . 26 September 2011.
3. "Uppi for Home Minister". The New Indian Express . 20 August 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
4. "Upendra stuns with an audio-only 'UI' teaser". The New Indian Express. 20 September 2023. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
5. "Ram Pothineni is Sagar in 'Andhra King Taluka'; Title teaser out now". The Times of India. 15 May 2025. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 15 May 2025.
6. "Kannada Star Upendra Joins The Cast of Shivarajkumar's 45". News18. 3 October 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
7. "Upendra's 'Buddhivantha 2' is to release on this date". The New Indian Express. 26 July 2023. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
8. R, Shilpa Sebastian (9 January 2019). "On the sets of the film 'Ravi Chandra'". The Hindu . ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 12 March 2020.
9. "Upendra: ರವಿಚಂದ್ರನ್-ಉಪೇಂದ್ರ ಕಾಂಬಿನೇಷನ್‌ನ ಸಿನಿಮಾಕ್ಕೆ ಮತ್ತೊಮ್ಮೆ ಶೀರ್ಷಿಕೆ ಚೇಂಜ್!". Vijaya Karnataka (in Kannada). Retrieved 18 September 2020.
10. Sharadhaa, A. (1 January 2026). "CE Year in Preview: The Grand 2026 Rollout in Kannada cinema". Cinema Express. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
11. "Upendra lends voice for Kannada film 'Ragini IPS'". ibnlive.com. 8 October 2013. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
12. "These star heroes give voice-over for Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan – 1 | Latest Telugu cinema news | Movie reviews | OTT Updates, OTT". 27 September 2022.
13. "Tulu movie 'Dombarata' to release in Gulf counties on Sept 22". Daijiworld.com . 14 September 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2025.

External links

• Upendra filmography at IMDb