From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cinema of Karnataka

Cinema of Karnataka
South Asian cinema Sharmila Mandre, Rakshita, Anu Prabhakar,
Cinema of Afghanistan Malashri, Prema, Ramesh Arvind, Suhasini,
Soundarya, Shruti, Puneet Rajkumar, Shiva-
Cinema of Bangladesh
raj Kumar, and Ganesh . The most famous
Bengali cinema comedians in Kannada cinema have been
Narasimharaju and Dwarakesh.
Cinema of India
Music directors who have made their
Assamese cinema mark in Kannada films include R. Ratna, M.
Bengali cinema Venkata swamy, M. Ranga Rao, G. K. Ven-
katesh, Ilaiyaraaja, Vijaya bhaskar, the duo
Bhojpuri cinema Rajan-Nagendra, Upendra Kumar, Sathyam,
Hindi cinema C. Aswath, Hamsalekha,Gurukiran, T.G.
Lingappa and Mano Murthy. Lyrics of Kan-
Kannada cinema
nada film songs have been penned by Chi.
Malayalam cinema Udayashankar, R.N. Jayagopal, Hamsalekha,
and Doddarange Gowda among others. Play-
Marathi cinema
back singers in Kannada films include Dr. K.J.
Oriya cinema Yesudas, P.B. Sreenivas, S. P. Balasubrah-
Punjabi cinema
manyam, Rajesh Krishnan, Udit Narayan,
Sonu Nigam, Kunal Ganjawala, Shreya Ghos-
Tamil cinema al, Sunidhi Chauhan, B.R. Chaya, Pallavi,
Telugu cinema Nandita, S. Janaki and P. Susheela.
Dr.Rajkumar, has however sung hundreds of
Cinema of Nepal very melodious songs in those movies where
Cinema of Pakistan he himself has starred as the hero, starting
from the mid 1970’s.
Karachi film industry
There have been sad patches of Kannada
Lahore film industry Cinema- that is losing the most talented stars
at their prime. Kalpana and Manjula of
Pashto film industry
former years and Shankar Nag , Suneel,
Cinema of Sri Lanka Nivedita Jain, ShashiKumar(survived) of the
latter, disappearing at their prime and
The Cinema of Karnataka, sometimes collo- Aarathi and Sudha Rani fading out due to
quially referred to as Sandalwood[1][2] en- their personal life. And the recent one with
compasses movies made in the Indian state of actress Soundarya dying in a tragic plane
Karnataka. Most of the movies are made in accident.
the Kannada language, with a handful of
them in Konkani or Tulu.
History of Kannada
Actors, actresses, directors and producers in cinema
Kannada films include dozens like B.R. Pan-
tulu, G.V.Iyer, Gubbi Veeranna, Dr. Rajku- 1931 saw the emergence of talking pictures
mar, Balakrishna, Puttanna in the regional languages of South India with
Kanagal,Kashinath,Upendra, Sunil kumar de- the release of Kalidas. In 1934, the first talky
sai, and over the last few decades in Kannada, Sati Sulochana,[3] followed by
Dr.Vishnuvardhan, Ambarish, Shivarajkumar, Bhakta Dhruva (aka Dhruva Kumar).
Jayamala, Aarathi, Bharathi, Manjula, Both Sati Sulochana and Bhakta Dhruva
Ravichandran, Shankar Nag, Anant Nag, Gir- were major successes. But prospective film-
ish Karnad, Girish Kasaravalli, M.P. Shankar, makers in Karnataka were handicapped by
Vajramuni, Upendra, Sudeep, Ramya, Vijay, the lack of studios and technical crews. Sati

1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cinema of Karnataka

Sulochana was shot in Kolhapur at the Chat-
rapathi studio; most filming, sound record-
ing, and post-production was done in Madras
(now Chennai). It was difficult, as well, to
find financial backing for new film projects in
the region; thus, very few movies in Kannada
were released during the early years of Indi-
an sound cinema.
The 1950s and ’60s
The 1950s will be remembered as the decade
that introduced the doyen of Kannada cinema
- Dr.Rajkumar. Rajkumar, originally known as
Mutturaju was a theater artist, discovered by
HLN Simha. HLN offered him a lead role in
the mythological movie, Bedara Kannappa.
The movie proved to be a blockbuster and
signaled the arrival of a new star. It also
launched comedian Narasimharaju and dir-
ector G.V.Iyer.
Even after the success of Bedara Kan-
nappa, Kannada film industry remained stag-
nant. Lack of financiers, technicians and stu-
dios proved to be a hindrance to film making.
Rajkumar, along with Narasimharaju and
G.V.Iyer decided to form a partnership and
produce movies. The partnership lasted for
only a couple of movies. Ranadhira
Kanteerava was one such successful joint
venture. The majority of the films during this
decade were either mythological or historical
in nature.
his latest film Dweepa. His award winning
films include Akramana(1979), Mooru
Dhaarigalu (1981),Tabarana Kathe (1987),
Bannadha Vesha (1989), Mane (1989),
Kraurya (1996), Taayi Saaheba (1998) and
Dweepa (2002). Girish Karnad’s Kaadu
(1973), Ondanondu Kaladalli (1978),
M.S.Sathyu’s Kanneshwara Rama (1977),
Chithegu Chinthe (1978), Pattabhi Rama
Reddy’s Samskara (1970) were some the im-
portant movies of this decade.
This decade also witness the rise of Put-
tanna Kanagal, who is widely acknowledged
as the greatest director in Kannada film his-
tory. His movies like Bellimoda, Gejje Pooje,
Sharapanjara Sakshatkara, Nagara Havu
bought new style of film making which acted
as a bridge between commercial and parallel
cinema. In a bid to popularise film making,
the Government of Karnataka in the 1980s
granted a 50 percent tax exemption to Kan-
nada films completely made in Karnataka and
it increased the subsidy amount to Kannada
films.
History Makers
Rajkumar and his Era

The 1970s and ’80s

The 1970s and the ’80s is heralded as the
Golden Age of Kannada cinema. It was also
the period that witness the birth of alternate
cinema or parallel cinema. Kannada cinema
spearheaded the parallel cinema movement
in India along with Bengali and Malayalam
cinemas. B V Karanth’s Chomana Dudi - an
evocative film on caste distinctions, Girish
Karnad’s Kaadu and Girish Kasaravalli’s
Ghata shraddha spearheaded the Kannada
parallel cinema. Vamshavruksha, Prema Kar-
anth’s Phaniyamma, Kadu Kudure, Ham-
sageethe, Accident, Akramana, Mooru Dr.Rajkumar
Dhaarigalu, Tabarana Kathe, Bannadha Ve-
sha, were some of the important movies of The 50s and 60s
this decade. Girish Kasaravalli, a gold medal- Probably the golden era in the history of Kan-
ist from the Pune’s FTII, first film Ghata nada Cinema up to over 5 decades which
shraddha in 1977, won him the National gave rise to not only talents of Kannada
award for best film. He has won the National Cinema but even other film industries. Al-
award for best film four times including for though lacking a single studio due to which

2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
industry had to rely on erstwhile Madras or
Bombay studios, the industry had its own
aura of theatre personlities making the
cinema an art. It’s not surprising how films
made in this era were able to clinch the ma-
jor awards at national level.
Starting from Gubbi Veeranna, G V Iyer,
Panthulu, Sampath, Hunsoor Krishnamurthy,
Sathyu, Girish Karnad, U R AnanthaMurthy
the time found its peak with Puttanna
Kanagal’s masterpieces which introduced a
galaxy of stars on to the screen.
Kalyan Kumar, Udaya Kumar, Rajesh,
Gangadhar are some of the veteran actors
and Kalpana, Manjula, Pandari Bhai, Leelav-
athi, Rajamma, Aarathi, Jayanthi were some
of the veteran actresses who made special
mark in this era.
NarasimhaRaju, Balakrishna, NataBhay-
ankara Vajramuni carved their own niche as
supporting stars.
The late 70’s
Dr.VishnuVardhan
Dr Vishnuvardhan,AnantNag, Ambareesh,
Prabhakar, Lokesh, Ashok, Srinath, M P
Shankar, Sunder Krishna Urs were some of
the actors who made their own mark in the
industry. Puttana made way to above men-
tioned actors as well as RamaKrishna, Kokila
3
Cinema of Karnataka
Mohan, Chandrashekar and a huge number
of actresses also like Padma Vaasanthi.
Geetha, Madhavi,Saritha , Jayamala were
some of the actresses who made their mark.
Shankar Nag made his own mark by interna-
tionally acclaimed Ondanondu Kaaladalli and
Malgudi Days along with some of the com-
mercial superhits.
The 80’s and 90’s
Sandesh Nagaraj known for his off beat films,
Sunil Kumar Desai known for his versatility,
Dinesh Babu known for his story depth, T S
Nagabharana known for his involvement in
Jaanapada and historical melodramas, Kodlu
Ramakrishna for his subjects based on com-
mon man and narrative stories, Phani
Ramachandra with his comic flicks, Rajedra
Singh Babu were prominent figures of this
time. This was the time where the once act-
ors meant for villainous role gradually tried
other roles. Ravichandran and Hamsalekha
were successful in creation of a blend exclus-
ively for the youth. Ravichandran master-
minded in bringing out the actresses from
other industries. Ravichandran, Devaraj,
Jaggesh, Maanu, Suresh Heblikar, Lokanath,
Lohitashva, Sudheer were some of veterans
who made their wave in the cinema. Shivara-
jkumar also started his career in this time
with a hatrick superhits. Bhavya, Mahalaxmi,
Sudharani, Thara, Vanitha Vasu, Anjana,
Shruti came to limelight.
Post Rajkumar Era
At the late 90’s approached there was a need
for gamut of new and fresh talents. As the
time progressed more involvement with the
changing film scenarios were seen in this
era. The south Indian film Industry gradually
segregated and Kannada and Malayalam
were subdued under the huge business ori-
ented industries of Tamil and Telugu. New
and fresh talents of Sunil, Shashikumar,
Ramesh Aravind, Ramkumar, along with
Malashri did a commercial survival not main-
tain the same order. But still this era found a
little respite with movies like Nammoora
Mandara Hoove, Amruthavarshini, America
America and Upendra’s Om and A.
The decade had some story based flicks
like Mannina Doni. Ravichandran suffered a
failure with Shanthi Kranthi. This decade also
witnessed a special movie Beladingala Bale.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cinema of Karnataka

The demise of Shankar Nag and are commercial blockbusters running about
SunilShetty were unexpected. an year each.

Kannada Cinema com-

pletes 75th year
Kannada Cinema completed 75 years in
2009. A grand function was held in palace
grounds, Bangalore on 1st of march under
direction of V.Ravichandran which had a
grand set in a model of a open winged bird. It
was attended by many filmstars of kannada
cinema and even from other film industries
who had a stint in kannada films.

Popular Artists from oth-

er Industries
• Sivaji Ganesan - In the Movie School
Master
• Prithviraj Kapoor - In the movie
Sakshatkara
• Anil Kapoor - Debut movie as actor -
Shankar Nag Pallavi Anupallavi
• Mani Ratnam - Debut movie as director -
The 21st Century Pallavi Anupallavi
The kidnap and later demise of Rajkumar, M • Rajinikanth - Debut movie as actor - Katha
P Shankar did a lot in losing aura for an Sangama
already subdued industry. But introduction of • Kamal Hasan - In and out in movies like
some of the best looking talents like Upendra Kokila, Benkiyalli Arlidha Hoovu,
and Darshan with likes of Ganesh and Puneet Pushpaka Vimana, Maria My Darling and
gave the industry a respite to compete with Rama Shama Bhama
not only huge but Tamil and Telugu • Rekha - Debut movie - Goadalli CID 999
industries. • Jaya Prada - Debut movie - Huliya Haalina
Yajamaana, Raktakanneeru, Jogi, Mungaru Mevu
Male were some of the blockbusters commer- • Juhi Chawla - Debut movie as actress in
cially. Aa Dinagalu was a special attempt. the movie Prema Loka with Ravichandran
Upendra was recognised as a very good,
dynamic and different director and the best Guest appearances
one to follow the greats of Puttanna Kanagaal • Amitabh Bachchan - Amruthadhare
and Shankar Nag. • Mohanlal- Love
Taara, Prema and Bhavana (with her dy- • Chiranjeevi - Sipaayi and Sri manjunatha
namic and off-beat appearances like in single Almost all singers have given playback and
actor movie -Shanti (film)) led the female female actors have acted in the movies from
brigade. other industries.
Girish Kasaravalli made huge waves with
his subjects in art based films. Nagathihalli
Chandrashekhar, T S Nagabharana and Girsh
Popular Actors who
Karnad were instrumental throughout in emigrated
bringing masterpieces.
• Aishwarya Rai
Coincidentally the sons of Dr.Rajkumar,
• Sunil Shetty
Shiva rajkumar, Ragavendra rajkumar and
• Arjun Sarja
Puneeth rajkumar have acted in films which
• Prakash Rai
• Prabhu Deva

4
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
•
•
Soundarya
Atul Kulkarni
• Deepika Padukone
• Srikanth (Telugu actor)
• Vinay Rai
Present
The year 2005 witnessed stupendous box of-
fice success for Kannada film industry. Start-
ing with Shivarajkumar starrer Jogi, which
grossed Rs.70 crore at the box office, films
like Anna Tangi-50 crores, Gowramma, Am-
ruthadhare, Deadly Soma, Nenapirali per-
formed well at the box office. An estimated
four of every five released had succeeded at
the box office.In early 2005 a huge hit boos-
ted Kannada film Industry Jogi starring Shiv-
raj kumar. The profits soared and there was
happy mood in the Industry. There were
many flicks which were moderate hits. Then
came in last quarter of 2006 the huge block-
buster movie Mungaru Male, which shattered
all records of the kannada film industry and
grossed 75 crores, and is released even in
many other countries like USA, UK, Aus-
tralia. The other huge hit of 2007 is Duniya
which has done very well grossing a signific-
ant money at the Box Office. In 2008 Kan-
nada film industry saw many firsts. More and
more films started to release out side the
state and out side India. Gaja, Buddhivantha
and Navagraha have become tremendous
hits.[4] The budget for Kannada films is now
between 5-10 crores as against just 1-2 crore
3 years ago.
Cinematographers
Important Cinematographers of Kannada
Cinema
B V Madhusudhan-"Daari tapida maga"
D.V.Raja Ram-"Bandhana"
B.C.GowriShankar-"Om"
S.Ramachandra-"Rishya
Shringa","Ghatashradha".
G.S.Bhaskar - "Bannada vesha" ,
"Nagamandala",
Ramachandra Halkere - "Thaisaheba"
,"Dweepa".
G S V Seetharam of "Ekaangi" , "Aham
Premaasmi"
5
Cinema of Karnataka
Little known big facts
• Rajkumar is one of the fewest actors in
world cinema who had an illustrious
classical singing and stage acting career
throughtout simultaneously. The only
other noted one from Indian Cinema being
Kishore Kumar.
• Bangarada Manushya is the first movie in
Indian Cinema (1970) to have run close to
2 years and the trendsetter of running for
a year successively. Immensely popular a
book got published with same name.
• Shanti has a world record for single actor
in a narrative film.
• Kishan Shrikanth is the youngest director
in the world to have directed a movie at
the age of 9.
• SMS 6260 was the first of its kind, a film
made in Kanglish language (mixture of
Kannada and English) being produced &
directed by Journalist Sundeep Malani
• The cinema of karnataka has some films to
its credit which have substantial dialogues
of other languages even commercially.
H2O has Kannada Tamil, Satya in Love
has Kannada Telugu, My Autograph has
Kannada Malayalam, A.K. 47 has Kannada
Hindi and the Kanglish "SMS 6260" was
Kannda - English with also Hindi, Tamil,
Telugu, Malayalam, Konkani, Tulu
language blend in it.
• A.K. 47 was the world’s first movie to have
criticized Dawood Ibrahim who was the
backbone of Bollywood finance till late
90’s.
• Veerappan was the world’s first movie to
film the life story of infamous brigand
Veerappan.
• The first cinematography division in India
was started in Jayachamarajendra
Polytechnic, Bangalore.
• Shanker Nag is the first actor to get best
actor at the international arena for his
role in ’Ondanondu Kaladalli’.
See also
• Kannada films of 2008
• List of Kannada movies
• List of movie-related topics
• Tharegalu.com
"idu sadhya" shot in 48 hours
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cinema of Karnataka

References External links

[1] Sandalwood’s Gain. Deccan Herald.
January 23, 2006
[2] Young talent applauded. Deccan Herald.
December 28, 2003
[3] "First film to talk in Kannada" article in
The Hindu
[4] "Bangalore: No Production of Kannada
Films for One Year". DaijiWorld. 30
September 2006
• Seventy glorious years of Kannada Talkies
- www.viggy.com
• Karunadu Sangeetha Vaibhava - Greatest
Kannada Hits
• Kannada Cinema – Frequently Asked
Questions and a Brief history of Kannada
Film Industry
• Rajakumar, king of Kannada cinema
• Sandalwood - Kannada Cinema News
• [1]
• Cinema
• IMDb database of films in the Kannada
language

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Categories: Cinema of Karnataka

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