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Cinema of Karnataka

The Cinema of Karnataka, sometimes colloquially referred to as Sandalwood encompasses movies made in the Indian state of Karnataka. Most of the movies are made in the Kannada language, with a handful of them in Konkani or Tulu. Kannada films form an important component of the Cinema of India.

The most popular actor in Kannada films was the late Dr.Rajkumar. He has acted in over 200 movies and is a recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. The speciality of RajKumar was his spectacle of voice with most versatile acting capabilities. His era was thronged with some of the superb comedian actors, music composers , directors , lyricists , script writers and cinematographers who collectively brought what is recorded as the golden era of Kannada Cinema.

Other actors, actresses, directors and producers in Kannada films include dozens like B.R. Pantulu, G.V.Iyer, Gubbi Veeranna, Balakrishna, Puttanna Kanagal, Sunil kumar desai, Prem and over the last few decades Dr.Vishnuvardhan, Ambarish, Shivarajkumar,Jayamala, Aarathi, Bharathi, Manjula, Ravichandran, Shankar Nag, Anant Nag, Girish Karnad, Girish Kasaravalli, M.P. Shankar, Vajramuni, Upendra, Sudeep, Ramya, Vijay, Sunil Rao, Sharmila Mandre, Rakshita, Anu Prabhakar, Malashri, Prema, Ramesh Arvind, Suhasini, Soundarya, Shruti Puneet Raj Kumar, Shivaraj Kumar, and Ganesh . The most famous comedians in Kannada cinema have been Narasimharaju and Dwarakesh.

Music directors who have made their mark in Kannada films include R. Ratna, M. Venkata swamy, M. Ranga Rao, G. K. Venkatesh, Ilaiyaraaja, Vijayabhaskar, the duo Rajan-Nagendra, Upendra Kumar, Sathyam, C. Aswath, Hamsalekha,Gurukiran, T.G. Lingappa and Mano Murthy. Lyrics of Kannada film songs have been penned by Chi. Udayashankar, R.N. Jayagopal, Hamsalekha, and Doddarange Gowda among others. Playback singers in Kannada films include Dr. K.J Yesudas, P.B. Sreenivas, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Rajesh Krishnan, Udit Narayan,Sonu Nigam,Kunal Ganjawala,Shreya Ghosal,Sunidhi Chauhan, B.R. Chaya, Pallavi, Nandita, S. Janaki and P. Susheela. Dr.Rajkumar, has however sung hundreds of very melodious songs in those movies where he himself has starred as the hero, starting from the mid 1970's.

There have been sad patches of Kannada Cinema- that is losing the most talented stars at their prime. Kalpana and Manjula of former years and Shankar Nag , Suneel , Nivedita Jain , ShashiKumar(survived) of the latter, disappearing at their prime and Aarathi and Sudha Rani fading out due to their personal life. And the recent one with actress Soundarya dying in a tragic plane accident.

History of Kannada cinema

1931 saw the emergence of talking pictures in the regional languages of South India with the release of Kalidas. In 1934, the first talky in Kannada, Sati Sulochana, 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.

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 director G.V.Iyer.

Even after the success of Bedara Kannappa, Kannada film industry remained stagnant. Lack of financiers, technicians and studios 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.

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 Karanth's Phaniyamma, Kadu Kudure, Hamsageethe, Accident, Akramana, Mooru Dhaarigalu, Tabarana Kathe, Bannadha Vesha, were some of the important movies of this decade. Girish Kasaravalli, a gold medalist from the Pune's FTII, first film Ghata shraddha in 1977, won him the National award for best film. He has won the National award for best film four times including for 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 important movies of this decade.

This decade also witness the rise of Puttanna Kanagal, who is widely acknowledged as the greatest director in Kannada film history. 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 Kannada films completely made in Karnataka and it increased the subsidy amount to Kannada films.

History Makers

Rajkumar and his Era

The 50s and 60s

Probably the golden era in the history of Kannada Cinema up to over 5 decades which gave rise to not only talents of Kannada Cinema but even other film industries. Although lacking a single studio due to which industry had to rely on erstwhile Madras or Bombay studios, the industry had its own aura of theatre personlities making the cinema a art. It's not surprising how films made in this era were able to clinch the major 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 , Leelavathi , Rajamma , Aarathi , Jayanthi were some of the veteran actresses who made special mark in this era.

NarasimhaRaju, Balakrishna , NataBhayankara Vajramuni carved their own niche as supporting stars.

The late 70's

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 mentioned actors as well as RamaKrishna, Kokila 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 internationally acclaimed Ondanondu Kaaladalli and Malgudi Days along with some of the commercial 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 common 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 actors meant for villainous role gradually tried other roles. Ravichandran and Hamsalekha were successful in creation of a blend exclusively for the youth. Ravichandran masterminded 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 . Shivarajkumar 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 oriented industries of Tamil and Telugu. 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 flicks like Mannina Doni. Ravichandran suffered a failure with Shanthi Kranthi. This decade also witnessed a special movie Beladingala Bale.

The demise of Shankar Nag and Sunil were unexpected.

The 21st Century

The kidnap and later demise of Rajkumar , M P Shankar did a lot in losing aura for a already subdued industry. But introduction of some of the best looking talents like Darshan and Sudeep with likes of Ganesh and Puneet gave the industry a respite to compete with not only huge but Tamil and Telugu industries.

Yajamaana , Huchcha , Jogi , Mungaru Male were some of the blockbusters commercially. Aa Dinagalu was a special attempt.

Taara , Prema and Bhavana (with her dynamic and off-beat appearances like in single actor movie -Shanti (film)) led the female brigade.

Girish Kasaravalli made huge waves with his subjects in art based films. Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar , T S Nagabharana and Girsh Karnad were instrumental throughout in bringing masterpieces.

Coincidentally the sons of Dr.Rajkumar, Shiva rajkumar,Ragavendra rajkumar and Puneeth rajkumar have acted in films which are commercial blockbusters running about an year each.

Popular Artists from other Industries

Shivaji Ganeshan - 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
Rajinikanth - Debut movie as actor - Katha Sangama
Kamal Hasan - In and out in movies like Kokila, Benkiyalli Arlidha Hoovu , Pushpaka Vimana, Maria My Darling and Rama Shama Bhama
Mohanlal-in the movie Love
Rekha - Debut movie - Goadalli CID 999
Jaya Prada - Debut movie - Huliya Haalina Mevu
Juhi Chawla - Debut movie as actress in the movie Prema Loka with Ravichandran
Deepika Padukone - Debut movie as actress in the movie Aishwarya with Upendra

Guest Appearances

Amitabh Bachchan - Amruthadhare
Chiranjeevi - Sipaayi

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

Popular Actors who emigrated

Present

The year 2005 witnessed stupendous box office success for Kannada film industry. Starting with Shivarajkumar starrer Jogi, which grossed Rs.70 crore at the box office, films like [[Anna Tangi-50 crores], Namma Basava, Amruthadhare, Deadly Soma, Nenapirali performed well at the box office. An estimated four of every five released had succeeded at the box office.In early 2005 a huge hit boosted Kannada film Industry Jogi starring Shivraj 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 blockbuster movie Mungaru Male, which shattered all records of the kannada film industry and grossed 55 crores, and is released even in many other countries like USA,UK,Australia.The other huge hit of 2007 is Duniya which is still doing good at the Box Office.In 2008 Kannada film industry saw many firsts.More and more films started to release out side the state and out side India.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"

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.
Mungaru Male is the first cinema in the world to get screened for more than a year in a multiplex.
Kishan Shrikanth is the youngest director in the world to have directed a movie at the age of 9.
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 .
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.
Miss World event in Bengalooru against the local opposition led to clash of ideas of Kannada Cinema world and Amitabh Bachchan due to which latter had to suffer huge loss and none supported it.