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.
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.
Babukodi Venkataramana Karanth widely known as B. V. Karanth was an Indian film director, playwright, actor, screenwriter, composer, and dramatist known for his works in the Kannada theatre, Kannada cinema, and Hindi cinema. One of the pioneers of the Parallel Cinema, Karanth was an alumnus of the National School of Drama (1962) and later, its Director. He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1976), six National Film Awards, and the civilian honor Padma Shri for his contributions towards the field of art.
Ganapathi Venkataramana Iyer was an Indian film director and actor. He was nicknamed "Kannada Bheeshma". His film Adi Shankaracharya (1983) won four National Film Award, including Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Audiography. His film Swami Vivekananda (1998) was nominated in the Best Film category at the Bogotá Film Festival, for which Mithun Chakraborty won the national award for Best Supporting Actor.
Kuppali Puttappa Poornachandra Tejaswi was a prominent Indian writer and novelist in Kannada. He also worked as a photographer, publisher, painter, naturalist, and environmentalist. He made a great impression in the Navya ("new") period of Kannada literature and inaugurated the Bandaaya Saahitya genre of protest literature with his short-story collection Abachoorina Post Offisu. He is the son of noted Kannada poet Kuvempu.
Shivaramaiah Ramachandra Aithal, popularly known as S. Ramachandra, was a National Award winning Indian cinematographer. In 2006, he was honoured with Lifetime Contribution to Kannada Cinema Award at the Karnataka State Film Awards. He was recognised as a gifted cinematographer and as a force behind the offbeat films in Kannada cinema.
K. M. Chaitanya is a film director, documentary maker and theater person. His first feature film Aa dinagalu in Kannada, won several awards including the Filmfare Awards South for Best Director and Best Feature Film in 2007. Chaitanya also won awards for Best Debutant Director by the South Indian Cinematographers' Association, Chennai Film Fans Association and Raghavendra Chitravani Award. Aa Dinagalu was listed by The Week among the top 10 Indian films of 2007. Chaitanya studied Journalism at Christ College.
Taledanda is a 1990 Kannada-language play written by Girish Karnad, an eminent person in Kannada literature, about the rise of the radical protest and reform movement, Lingaytism, in 12th century Karnataka. He was awarded the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award (1993) and the Sahitya Akademi Award in Kannada language for the play in 1994, and later awarded the Jnanpith Award for his literature work in 1998.
Bhargavi Prabhanjan Rao, a Sahitya Akademi awardee, was an eminent translator in Telugu Literature. She was actively involved in translating various works of author and playwright Girish Karnad. Her most famous works include Noorella Panta, a compilation of one hundred short stories by women writers of the twentieth century. She died due to a heart attack on 23 May 2008 in Hyderabad.
Vamsha Vriksha, is a 1971 Indian Kannada-language film directed by B. V. Karanth and Girish Karnad, based on S. L. Bhyrappa's novel of the same name. The film won the National Film Award for Best Direction. It also won three Filmfare Awards in 1972.
Bhaskar Chandavarkar was an Indian sitar player, academic and film and theatre composer who worked with well-known directors of Indian cinema like Mrinal Sen, Girish Karnad, Aparna Sen, K. G. George and Amol Palekar in various languages including Marathi, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali and Oriya and was known for his blending of Indian classical and western music.
Santeshivara Lingannaiah Bhyrappa is an Indian novelist, philosopher and screenwriter who writes in Kannada. His work is popular in the state of Karnataka and he is widely regarded as one of modern India's popular novelists. His novels are unique in terms of theme, structure, and characterization. He has been among the top-selling authors in the Kannada language and his books have been translated into Hindi and Marathi which have also been bestsellers.
Sumathendra Raghavendra Nadig was an Indian professor and writer in Kannada. Nadig came upon the literary scene as a prominent modern poet in the 1960s. He was a close associate of Gopalakrishna Adiga, the leader of the modernist movement.
Kaadu (transl. Forest) is a 1973 Indian Kannada-language film written and directed by Girish Karnad. The screenplay was based on a novel of the same name by Srikrishna Alanahalli. It stars Master G. S. Nataraj, Amrish Puri and Nandini Bhaktavatsala. The film won awards at the 21st National Film Awards and the 21st Filmfare Awards South.
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.
Kanooru Heggadithi is a 1999 Indian film based on the 1936 novel "Kanooru Subbamma Heggadithi" by Kannada writer Kuvempu, and directed by playwright and film director Girish Karnad. Set in the Malnad region, the film narrates a story of the land and life of a feudal family in pre-independence Malnad. The film marked Karnad's return to directing after a lapse of over a decade. This is the only instance in the Indian cinema history where one Jnanpith Awardee directed a movie based on the work of another Jnanpith Awardee.
Uma Shivakumar was an Indian film and theatre character actress, whose career included roles in more than 170 Kannada language films and more than 30 plays. She was nicknamed "Baddi Bangaramma" by audiences, after the popular 1984 film of the same name, in which she portrayed a moneylender.
Vamsa Vruksham is a 1980 Indian Telugu-language drama film directed by Bapu. It is a remake of the 1972 Kannada film Vamsha Vriksha which was based on S. L. Bhyrappa's novel of same name. Mullapudi Venkata Ramana wrote the screenplay. The film stars Anil Kapoor, J. V. Somayajulu, Kanta Rao, Mukkamala, and Jyothi. The film marked Kapoor's debut as an actor in a lead role.
Cheluvi is a 1992 Kannada film directed by Girish Karnad. The film stars Girish Karnad and Sonali Kulkarni in her film debut. This film won the National Film Award for Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation. This film is based on the tale of A Flowering Tree: A Woman's Tale. Although the film was shot in Kannada, it contains Hindi songs. The film was released with English subtitles and was dubbed in Hindi upon release. The film was later included in the 24th International Film Festival in Delhi.
Girish Rao Hatwar, popularly known as Jogi, is a Kannada writer and journalist. Being one of the Kannada neo-literature writers, he has written short stories, novels and columns in many Kannada periodicals and daily newspapers. He has also written scripts for television serials, lyrics and screen play for movies. A journalist by profession, Jogi is currently a Magazine Editor of Kannada Prabha daily.
