Kannada cinema: Difference between revisions

The cinema of Karnataka (Kannada: ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಿನಿಮಾ), sometimes colloquially referred to as Sandalwood,^[1][2] encompasses movies made in the Indian state of Karnataka based in Bengaluru. Most of the movies are made in the Kannada language, with a handful of them in Konkani or Tulu. Today more than 100 films are made every year.^[3] A handful of the movies are released in the USA, Australia, Germany, UK and other countries.^[4] Efforts to further expand its market have met with some success.

1931 saw the emergence of talking pictures in the regional languages of South India with the release of Kalidas. In 1934, the first Kannada talkie, Sati Sulochana,^[5] appeared in theatres, followed by Bhakta Dhruva (aka Dhruva Kumar).

Both Sati Sulochana and Bhakta Dhruva were major successes. But prospective filmmakers in Karnataka were handicapped by the lack of studios and technical crews. Sati Sulochana was shot in Kolhapur at the Chatrapathi studio; most filming, sound recording, 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 Indian sound cinema.

Gubbi Veeranna could be considered the doyen of Kannada cinema during the mid to late forties. He brought his talent as an actor from the theatrical stage to Kannada cinema through his Gubbi Veeranna Theater. From the mid-forties to late fifties, Gubbi Karnataka Productions (of which he was a shareholder) produced movies such as Bhaktha Kumbara, Gunasagari, Hemareddi Mallamma, Adarsha Sati, and Sadarame.

He encouraged and introduced young talent in his movies. One such talent was K. R. Seetharama Sastry, popularly known as Kurasi (also known as Kurasee or Ku Ra Seetharama Sastry).

Ku Ra Seetharama Sastry ("Kurasi") was an actor, film director, lyricist, and screen playwright from the mid-forties through the late seventies. Kurasi started as an actor under Gubbi Veeranna's tutelage in movies such as Bhaktha Kumbara, Gunasagari, and Hemareddi Mallamma. He subsequently directed many Rajkumar films, such as Anna Thangi, Rani Honnamma, and Mana Mechida Madadi, among others. He introduced several artists to Kannada film industry, including B. Saroja Devi (Mahakavi Kalidasa), Shivaram (Beratha Jeeva) and Shakthi Prasad (Karaga Shakti, father of Tamil actor/director Arjun). Mahakavi Kalidasa won the President's Silver Medal for Best Direction, Lyrics, and Screenplay. Kurasi wrote several Kannada songs that remain popular among Kannadigas. Kurasi was the first Kannada film artist who went abroad to direct two films in the Malayan language in Singapore in the early 1950s; he won an international award for his direction of the film Iman in Malaya (now Malaysia).

The 1950s introduced the doyen of Kannada cinema: Rajkumar. Rajkumar, originally known as Mutturaju, was a theater artist who was discovered by HLN Simha. HLN offered him a lead role in the mythological movie Bedara Kannappa. The movie proved to be a blockbuster. It also launched the careers of comedian Narasimharaju and director G. V. Iyer.

Even after the success of Bedara Kannappa, the Kannada film industry remained stagnant. The lack of financiers, technicians and studios proved to be a hindrance to film making. Rajkumar, 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.

The rise of Rajkumar encouraged the Kannada film industry to make more historical movies. Bedara Kannappa was the first Kannada movie which completed 100 days and it received a letter of appreciation from the central government. The golden era in the history of Kannada cinema was here; it gave rise to not only talents of Kannada cinema but even other film industries. Although lacking a local studio (due to which the industry had to rely on erstwhile Madras or Bombay studios), the industry had its own era of theater personalities making the cinema an art. Rajkumar and other artists worked hard to establish a movie studio in Bangalore. Finally, Balakrishan succeeded in opening Abhiman Studio in Bangalore.

Prominent directors of this era included Puttanna Kanagal, Gubbi Veeranna, R. Nagendra Rao (RNR), H.L.N. Simha, Kurasi, B. R. Panthulu, M. R. Vittal, Sampath, Hunsoor Krishnamurthy, Sathyu, Girish Karnad, and U. R. AnanthaMurthy.

Prominent actors included Kalyan Kumar, Udaya Kumar, Rajesh and Gangadhar. Actresses who left their mark included B. Jayamma, B. Saroja Devi, Pandari Bhai, Leelavathi, Rajamma, Kalpana, Manjula, Aarathi, and Jayanthi.

Narasimharaju, Balakrishna, and Natabhayankara Vajramuni carved their own niches as supporting stars.

The 1970s and the 1980s are often considered to be the Golden Age of Kannada cinema. It was also the period that witnessed 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 Ghatashraddha spearheaded the Kannada parallel cinema. Vamshavruksha, Prema Karanth's Phaniyamma, Kadu Kudure, Hamsageethe, Accident, Akramana, Mooru Dhaarigalu, Tabarana Kathe and Bannadha Vesha were some of the important movies of this era.

Girish Kasaravalli's first film Ghatashraddha (1977) won him the National Award for Best Film. He won the National Award for Best Film four times. His other award-winning films included: 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) and Ondanondu Kaladalli (1978), M. S. Sathyu's Kanneshwara Rama (1977) and Chithegu Chinthe (1978), and Pattabhi Rama Reddy's Samskara (1970) were also among the important movies of this era.

The 1970s and 1980s also witnessed the rise of director Puttanna Kanagal. His movies (Bellimoda, Gejje Pooje, Sharapanjara, Sakshatkara, Nagara Havu) pioneered a new style of filmmaking which acted as a bridge between commercial and parallel cinema. In the 1980s, in a bid to popularise filmmaking, the Government of Karnataka granted a 50% tax exemption to Kannada films completely made in Karnataka, and it increased the subsidy amount to Kannada films.

The late 1970s were Rajkumar's peak period. He gave blockbuster movies which created history and established the Kannada film industry on a firm footing. Bangarada Manushya, Daari Thappida Maga, Mayura, Premada Kanike, Babruvahana, Baktha Kumbara, and Krishnadevaraya were successes that gave Rajkumar an iconic status.

Shankar Nag made his own mark with the internationally acclaimed Ondanondu Kaladalli and Malgudi Days, along with several commercial hits. Anant Nag, Ambareesh, Prabhakar, Lokesh, Ashok, Srinath, M. P. Shankar, and Sunder Krishna Urs were other actors who made their own mark in the industry. Puttana Kanagal paved the way for the abovementioned actors as well as Ramakrishna, Kokila Mohan, and Chandrashekar. Lakshmi, Padma Vaasanthi, Geetha, Madhavi, Saritha, and Jayamala were some of the actresses who made their mark.

H. R. Bhargava directed numerous popular Kannada movies during the 1980s and 1990s. His movies were family-oriented. Bhagyavantaru, Avala Hejje, Guru Shishyaru, Preeti Vatsalya and Jananayaka were some of his hit movies. Sandesh Nagaraj was known for his offbeat films, Sunil Kumar Desai for his versatility, Dinesh Babu for the depth of his stories, T. S. Nagabharana for his involvement in Jaanapada and historical melodramas, Kodlu Ramakrishna for his subjects based on common man and narrative stories, and Phani Ramachandra for his comic flicks. This was a time when actors who had started out specializing in villain roles tried other roles. Ravichandran and Hamsalekha successfully created a blend exclusively for youth. Ravichandran brought in actresses from other industries. Ravichandran, Devaraj, Jaggesh, Maanu, Suresh Heblikar, Lokanath, Lohithaswa, Sudheer were some of veterans who made their mark in the industry. Shivrajkumar also started his career in this time, as Bhavya, Mahalaxmi, Sudharani, Thara, Vanitha Vasu, Anjana, and Shruti came to the limelight.

At the late 1990s approached, there was a need for fresh talent. As time progressed, the south Indian film industry became segregated and Kannada and Malayalam were subdued under the huge business-oriented industries of Telugu and Tamil cinema, which faced a surge of fresh talent from younger generations.

New and fresh talents of Sunil, Shashikumar, Ramesh Aravind, Ramkumar, along with Malashri did a commercial survival not maintain 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 films like Mannina Doni. Ravichandran suffered a failure with Shanthi Kranthi. This decade also witnessed the special movie Beladingala Baale.

The deaths of Shankar Nag and Sunil were unexpected.

The Kannada film industry managed to generate several blockbusters in the first decade of the new millennium, though its success rate was not as high, as was the case with the country's other film industries. It suffered heavy losses with the demise of superstars like Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhana, K. S. Ashwath, and Vajramuni.

But this decade also saw the emergence of talented artists like Puneet Rajkumar (Rajkumar's third son), Darshan Toogudeepa (son of actor Toogudeepa Sreenivas), Sudeep, Ganesh and Vijay. Director Upendra turned into an actor and managed to create some hit films. Taara, Prema and Bhavana (who gave a dynamic and offbeat performance in the single-actor movie Shanti) led the female brigade. Girish Kasaravalli made huge waves with his subjects in art-based films. Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar, T. S. Nagabharana and Girish Karnad were instrumental throughout in bringing masterpieces.

Yajamana by Vishnuvardhan broke all previous box office records, running to packed houses in many theaters for more than a year. Later, Vishnuvardhan's Apthamitra also ran for a year; it was the last film featuring noted actress Soundarya.

The year 2005 witnessed improvements at the box office for the Kannada film industry. Starting with Shivrajkumar-starrer Jogi, which grossed ₹14 crore at the box office and ran for 100 days in a record number of theaters in Karnataka, films like Anna Tangi, Gowramma, Amruthadhare, Deadly Soma and Nenapirali performed well at the box office. An estimated four of every five films released succeeded at the box office. Profits soared and there was a happy mood in the industry. In the last quarter of 2006, the huge blockbuster movie Mungaru Male shattered records and was even released in other countries (USA, UK, Australia). Mungaru Male became the first Indian movie to complete a one-year run at PVR Cinemas Bangalore, and completed 44 weeks in main theater, while running for more than 100 days in many theaters across the state. It even released in Chennai, Hyderabad and even abroad. Comedy Time Ganesh, a small-time TV anchor, became Golden Star Ganesh; Duniya became an instant hit and gave life to its hero, Vijay. Puneet Rajkumar starred in Milana, which bettered the record of Mungaru Male at PVR Cinemas. In 2008, the Kannada film industry saw many firsts. More and more films started to release outside the state and outside India. Gaja, Buddhivantha and Navagraha became hits.^[6] The budget for Kannada films was now between ₹5-10 crores, as opposed to just ₹1-2 crore three years previously. Mukhaputa (The Cover Page) won an award at the Ireland Film Festival. In 2009, Raaj the Showman, Manasaare, and Josh ran for 100 days. Kannada actress Umashree won a Best Actress National Award for the movie Gulabi Talkies in 2009; the film also screened at Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema, and won three awards: Best Film in Indian Competition, Best Actress in Indian Competition (Umashree), and Best Actor in Indian Competition (Vinay BM).

Kannada cinema celebrated its 75-year anniversary in 2009. A function was held on the palace grounds in Bangalore on 1 March 2009 under the direction of V. Ravichandran, featuring a set resembling an open-winged bird. It was attended by many stars from Kannada cinema and from other film industries who had a stint in Kannada films.

In 2010, Vishnuvardhan's final film, Aptharakshaka, created new box office records. Puneeth Rajkumar's film with director Soori, Jackie, broke previous records by collecting ₹23 crores in two weeks. Upendra's 2010 film titled Super is the most expensive Kannada film to date and has become the highest grosser in the history of Kannada cinema.

Kannada blockbusters in the 21st century have included: Yajamana, Aptamitra, Jogi, Mungaru Male, Duniya, Milana, Galipata, Cheluvina Chittara, Buddivanta, Aptharakshaka, Krishnan Love Story, Jackie, Super, Mylari, Appu, Akash, Arasu, Huchaa, Kalasipalya, Ayya, My Autograph, Veera Madakari, Munsaje Maathu, Gooli, Suntargali, and Anna Thangi.

Movies which have run for over a year include: Bangarada Manushya (Rajkumar), Anuraga Aralithu (Rajkumar), Jeevana Chaitra (Rajkumar), Nanjundi Kalyana (Raghavendra Rajkumar), Janumada Jodi (Shivrajkumar), Om (Shivrajkumar), Yajamana (Vishnuvardhana), Aaptamitra (Vishnuvardhana), Mungaru Male (Ganesh), and Milana (Puneeth Rajkumar).

Music directors who have made their mark in Kannada films include R. Ratna, M. Venkata Swamy, M. Ranga Rao, G. K. Venkatesh, Ilaiyaraaja, Vijaya Bhaskar, the duo Rajan-Nagendra, Upendra Kumar, Sathyam, C. Aswath, Hamsalekha, Gurukiran, T. G. Lingappa, Mano Murthy, Harikrishna and Anoop Seelin.

Lyrics of Kannada film songs have been penned by Chi. Udayashankar, R. N. Jayagopal, Hamsalekha, Jayanth Kaykini and Doddarange Gowda among others.

Playback singers in Kannada films include:

• Male

P. B. Sreenivas, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. J. Yesudas, Mano, Rajesh Krishnan, Anoop Seelin, Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam, Kunal Ganjawala, Karthik, Tippu

• Female

P. Susheela, S. Janaki, L. R. Eswari , Vani Jayaram, K. S. Chitra, Manjula Gururaj, Chandrika, Lata Hamsalekha, Anuradha Sriram, Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan, B. R. Chaya, Pallavi, Priyadarshini, Nanditha.

• Actors who have done playback

Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan, Sudeep, Upendra, Vasundhara Das

Important Kannada cinematographers include: 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 (Ekaangi, Aham Premaasmi), Krishna (Mungaru Male), Gynamurthy (Mani, Payana, Love Guru), and H. C. Venu (Sparsha, A, Ugadi, Aa Dinagalu).

Kannada cinema has lost several of its most talented stars at the peak of their careers. Kalpana and Manjula of former years and Shankar Nag, Suneel, Nivedita Jain, Soundarya, and ShashiKumar (survived) of the latter, passed away when they were at their prime. Aarathi and Sudha Rani faded out due to their personal lives.

• Amrish Puri - in the debut movie Kaadu
• Sivaji Ganesan - In the movie School Master
• Prithviraj Kapoor - In the movie Sakshatkara
• Anil Kapoor - debut movie as actor - Pallavi Anupallavi
• Mani Ratnam - debut movie as director - Pallavi Anupallavi
• Madhavan - debut in Shathi Shanthi Shanthi
• Rajinikanth - debut movie as actor - Katha Sangama
• Kamal Hassan - in and out in movies like Kokila, Benkiyalli Arlidha Hoovu, Pushpaka Vimana, Maria My Darling and Rama Shama Bhama
• Rekha - debut movie - Goadalli CID 999
• Jaya Prada - debut movie - Huliya Haalina Mevu
• Juhi Chawla - debut movie as actress in the movie Premaloka with Ravichandran
• Atul Kulkarni
• Nana Patekar
• Nayanthara - Super (2010)

• V Shantaram (Vankudre Shantaram - Kannadiga who hails from Bijapur district but worked extensively in Marathi and Hindi)
• Sunil Shetty
• Shilpa Shetty
• Aishwarya Rai
• Arjun Sarja
• Prakash Raj
• Soundarya
• Vinay Rai
• Lakshmi Rai
• Anushka Sharma
• Anushka Shetty
• Nagesh
• Murali
• Kokila Mohan
• Abbas
• Suman
• Deepika Padukone
• Rajinikanth
• Guru Dutt
• Prabhu deva
• Vinod Alva
• Charan Raj
• Prabhakar

• Anant Nag
• Shankar Nag
• Girish Karnad
• Deepika Padukone

• Amitabh Bachchan - Amruthadhare
• Chiranjeevi - Sipaayi and Sri Manjunatha
• Narayan Hosmane - The Cover Page (Mukhaputa)
• Mohanlal- Love
• Amrish Puri - Simhadamari Sainya (1981), Subbi Subbakka Suvvalaali (1980), Palithamsha (1976), Kaadu (1974)

Almost all singers have given playback and female actors have acted in the movies from other industries.

This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles. (February 2009)

• Kishan Shrikanth is the youngest director in the world to have directed a professionally made feature-length movie (at the age of 9).
• SMS 6260 was the first of its kind, a film made in Kanglish (a mixture of Kannada and English) produced and directed by journalist Sundeep Malani.
• The cinema of Karnataka has some films to its credit which have substantial dialogue in other languages. 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 Kannada - English with Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Konkani, Tulu language also blended in it.
• The first cinematography division in India was started in Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic, Bengaluru.
• Shankar Nag was the first actor to be recognized as best actor in the international arena for his role in Ondanondu Kaladalli.

• Kannada films of 2011
• Kannada films of 2010
• Kannada films of 2009
• Kannada films of 2008
• List of Kannada movies
• List of movie-related topics

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kannada cinema.

• Kannada Movie News, Photos and Videos
• Seventy glorious years of Kannada Talkies - www.viggy.com
• Natasarvabhouma Rajkumar Biography
• Kannada Film Songs Collection
• Karunadu Sangeetha Vaibhava - Greatest Kannada Hits
• Kannada Cinema – Frequently Asked Questions and a Brief History of the Kannada Film Industry
• Rajakumar, king of Kannada cinema
• Sandalwood - Kannada Cinema News
• Cinema
• IMDb database of films in the Kannada language
• Kannada Movies' Plot Summaries by rAjOo on IMDB