Venkat Bharadwaj | |
|---|---|
| Occupation(s) | Director, producer, screenwriter, actor |
| Years active | 2015–present |
| Parent | C. V. Shivashankar (father) |
Venkat Bharadwaj is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter and actor who predominately works in Kannada-language films. He is best known for the film Kempiruve (2017) for which he won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Screenplay. [1]
Venkat Bharadwaj worked a regional manager of Starcom when an incident that happened on Church Street, Bangalore motivated him to make the indie film titled A Day in the City. Scriptwriting with him and his friends began in August 2013. Filming began on 8 January 2014 and finished on 13 May 2014. Since the film was shot on the weekends, ninety-percent of the cast was IT professional apart from Kappanna and Malayalam actor Sridharan. [2] The film was shot for twelve hours a day and the actors were mailed their lines beforehand. The four songs were shot at Brigade Road and M G Road in Bangalore, Maddur, Mahadevapura, Mandya and Srirangapatna. [3] The film is about water scarcity in a big city and how important government officials and engineers try to solve the issue. [4] [5] The film was screened at British Airways, China Air and Emirates amongst other airlines. [5] His next film was the historical drama Bablusha (2016), for which he selected 3 candidates from 480 people who auditioned for the three lead roles. [6] His next film Kempiruve delved into the lives of senior citizens and the challenges they face. [7] His 2019 documentary Leap of Faith is based on suicidal people who decided to not take their lives and also covered attempted suicides by children. [8] His film Omelette (2021) was based on an auto driver's aspirations in life. The film's story was conceived in September 2019 and the film's post-production work was wrapped by January 2020. [9] The film did not have a theatrical release and opted for a direct television release due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [10] The film Naguvina Hoogala Mele (2024) marked his foray into the romantic action genre. [11] [12] His last release was the patriotic film Hyena (2025). [13]
He is the elder son of Kannada film industry veteran C. V. Shivashankar. [14] His brother Karthik Urs worked as an actor in A Day in the City and Kempiruve (2017), the latter of which he also co-wrote the story and dialogues. [15]
| Year | Film | Director | Writer | Producer | Actor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | A Day in the City (Nagaradalli Ondu Dina) | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 2016 | Bablusha | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| 2017 | Kempiruve | Yes | No | No | No | |
| 2019 | Unarvu | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Tamil film |
| Leap of Faith | Yes | Yes | No | No | English film | |
| Alidu Ulidavaru | No | No | No | Yes | ||
| 2020 | The Painter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2021 | Omelette | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 2022 | Sri Ranga | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| 2024 | Naguvina Hoogala Mele | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| 2025 | Hyena | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |