Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. Kannada cinema is based in Gandhi Nagar, Bangalore. The 1934 film Sati Sulochana directed by Y. V. Rao was the first talkie film to release in the Kannada language. It was also the first film starring Subbaiah Naidu and Tripuramba, and was the first motion picture screened in the erstwhile Mysore Kingdom. The film was produced by Chamanlal Doongaji, who in 1932 founded South India Movietone in Bangalore.
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.
Sharada Krishnamurthy, popularly known as Kavita Krishnamurthy or Kavita Subramaniam, is an Indian playback and classical singer. She has recorded 50,000 numerous songs in 45 various Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Rajasthani, Bhojpuri, Telugu, Odia, Marathi, English, Urdu, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, Nepali, Assamese, Konkani, Punjabi and other languages. She is the recipient of four Filmfare Best Female Playback Singer Awards, and the Padmashri which she received in 2005. She was awarded a Doctorate for her contributions to Indian music by Bangalore-based Jain University in 2015. In 1999, she married noted violinist L. Subramaniam and resides in Bengaluru.
Prakash Raj is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Telugu, Tamil, English, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi-language films, he is the recipient of several accolades, including five National Film Awards, eight Nandi Awards, eight Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, five Filmfare Awards South, four SIIMA Awards, three CineMAA Awards, and three Vijay Awards. Apart from his mother tongue Kannada, Raj's fluency in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, English, Tulu and Marathi has placed him among the most sought after actors in Indian cinema.
Prabhu Deva is an Indian dance choreographer, film director, producer and actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada language films. In a career spanning 32 years, he has performed and designed dancing styles and has garnered two National Film Awards for Best Choreography. In 2019, he was awarded the Padma Shri for his contributions to dance.
Kunal Ganjawala is an Indian playback singer whose songs are mostly featured in Hindi and Kannada films. He has also sung in Marathi, Bengali and other official languages of India. Kunal began his career by singing jingles. He came to limelight in Hindi cinema with the song "Bheege Honth Tere" from the film Murder in 2004. It was his first biggest hit. The song earned him Zee Cine Award as Best Playback Singer in 2005. He came to limelight in Kannada cinema with the song "Neene Neene" from the film Aakash in 2005.
Gangaraju, professionally known as Hamsalekha, is an Indian film composer and songwriter who works in South Indian cinema, predominantly in the Kannada film industry since the late 1980s. He is also a screenplay writer, dialogue writer, instrumentalist and conductor, having composed and written over 500 albums.
Urvashi is an Indian actress, dubbing artist, television host, scriptwriter and film producer known for her works in the Southern film industry, predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films. In a career spanning over four decades, she has won one National Film Award, five Kerala State Film Awards, three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and two Filmfare Award South respectively. Known for her distinct style of acting, she is widely regarded as one of the finest actors in Malayalam and Tamil cinema.
Shiva Rajkumar is an Indian actor, film producer and television presenter, who predominantly works in Kannada cinema. In a career spanning over three decades, he has worked in over 125 films in Kannada and has received several awards, including four Karnataka State Film Awards, four Filmfare Awards South and six South Indian International Movie Awards.
Veeraswamy Ravichandran is an Indian actor, director, producer, music director, lyricist and editor in the Kannada Film Industry. He is the son of film producer N. Veeraswamy. As producer, Ravichandran continues to run his father's production house, Sri Eswari Productions. He is popularly known as "Crazy Star", a title fans have prefixed to his name. He is famous for bringing innovations to Kannada film industry beginning with Premaloka (1987).
Pooja Gandhi is an Indian actress and model, who mainly works in Kannada and Tamil language films. After starring in the commercially successful 2006 film Mungaru Male, she became one of the most popular and highest paid actresses in Kannada language films and also the recipient of several awards, including an honorary doctorate. Gandhi is popularly referred to as Male Hudugi in the media and Kannada film industry. Gandhi has acted in over five languages and 50 films in a decade. The Banglore Times placed her in the list of "25 Most Desirable Women of 2012".
Gurukiran Shetty, known mononymously as Gurukiran, is an Indian music director of the Kannada film industry in India. He started his career as a music director of the Kannada movie A, directed and acted by Upendra. His music for his next movie Upendra further consolidated his position in Kannada movie industry. He is a native of Mangalore and hails from Bunt Family. His mother tongue is Tulu. He has also acted in several movies in supporting character roles and also sung several songs and also composed in Tamil, Telugu and Tulu movies.
Ganesh Kishan, known mononymously as Ganesh, is an Indian actor, director, producer and television presenter known for his work in Kannada cinema. Through his career in films and television shows, he has become one of the most popular celebrities and highest-paid actors in Kannada cinema. He is the recipient of several awards, including two Filmfare Awards.
Mano Murthy is an Indian musician and composer in the Kannada film industry. His is best known for his songs in Mungaru Male, one of the biggest hits in the Kannada industry.
Dayal Padmanabhan is an Indian film writer, director and producer, mainly working in Kannada cinema who is a two times Karnataka State award winner and one time Indian Panorama, IFFI( Golden Jublee edition)entrant.
Nenapirali is a 2005 Indian Kannada language film directed by Ratnaja. It stars Prem Kumar, Vidhya Venkatesh and Varsha. The supporting cast features Naveen Krishna, Ananth Nag, Jai Jagadish, Vijayalakshmi Singh and Vinaya Prasad.
S. Krishna is an Indian cinematographer and film director who primarily works in Kannada cinema. He gave a new dimension to cinematography through his breathtaking visuals in Mungaru Male. He's an alumnus of the Government Film and Television Institute, Bangalore.
Kalenahalli Adaviswamy Dhananjaya, also known as Daali, is an Indian actor, lyricist and film producer known for his work in Kannada cinema. He has won three Filmfare Awards and four SIIMA Awards for his performances in various films.
Ratnaja is a Kannada movie writer and director. He debuted his career as a director with the 2005 hit movie Nenapirali which won four awards at the 2005-06 Karnataka State Film Awards, including the Best Director award.
Prashanth Shetty, known professionally as Rishab Shetty, is an Indian actor and film maker who primarily works in Kannada cinema. He is known for his critical and commercial blockbuster, Kantara, which he directed and also acted in as the main lead. He is the recipient of several accolades, including the National Film Award for Best Children's Film at the 66th National Film Awards for Sarkari Hi. Pra. Shaale, Kasaragodu, Koduge: Ramanna Rai(2018).
