Showing all artists born at Bangalore

Veeraswamy Ravichandran (born 30 May 1961), known mononymously as Ravichandran (Kannada: ರವಿಚಂದ್ರನ್), is an Indian film actor, director, music director and editor best known for his work in Kannada cinema. He is often considered as "The Show Man" of Kannada cinema for his multi-faceted works in his associated films.

Son of notable film producer N. Veeraswamy, Ravichandran made his acting debut in Khadeema Kallaru (1982) at the age of 21 as an antagonist and followed it up with Chakravyuha in 1983. After starring in a series of multi-starrers in supporting and lead roles, he cast himself in his directorial debut Premaloka (1987) which became one of the highest grossing blockbuster films in Kannada cinema.As a producer, he continues to run Sri Eswari Productions.He is fondly and popularly known as the Crazy Star of Kannada cinema.

Ravichandran was born in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India on 30 May 1961. His parents are N. Veeraswamy and Pattammal. His father N. Veeraswamy is the notable producer of South Indian film industry and his family is Tamil-speaking Mudaliars.Ravichandran married Sumathi, on the Valentine's Day; 14 February 1986. The couple have a daughter Geethanjali and two sons Manoranjan Ravichandran and Vikram Ravichandran.Manoranjan Ravichandran is making his acting debut in a Kannada film slated for release in 2016.

Ravichandran shot to instant fame when Premaloka, which he produced, directed, and starred in, became one of the landmark films in Kannada film history. It was made with a budget of a crore rupees, the most expensive Kannada film in its time. It starred Juhi Chawla as the female lead. Also Vishnuvardhan, Ambarish, Tiger Prabhakar and other superstars of that period played guest role in the movie respecting their long time association with Eshwari Productions. Premaloka also established Hamsalekha, who would team up with Ravichandran for a long period.

Premaloka broke several records and defined much of Ravichandran's later film making. It set the stage for lavish productions in the Kannada film industry, and inspired a generation of directors. Ravichandran is generally credited with introducing a culture of producing big-budget films in Kannada. Ravichandran initially acted in and directed movies produced by his own banner, Eswari Productions. After Premaloka, he accepted acting offers from other producers. He has worked with directors of the Kannada film industry such as S. V. Rajendra Singh Babu and D. Rajendra Babu.

Rajinikanth is an Indian film actor, media personality, and cultural icon.Rajinikanth was born as Shivaji Rao Gaikwad in a Maratha Patil family,to mother Jijabai and father Ramoji Rao Gaikwad, on 12 December 1950 in the Indian city of Bangalore in Mysore State, present-day Karnataka.Between 1966 and 1973 he worked in many places in Chennai and Bangalore. He performed various jobs before joining the then Bangalore Transport Service (BTS) as a bus conductor in Bangalore.Then he began to take part in stage plays, His performance in a stage play eventually caught the eye of film director K. Balachander.He made his debut as an actor in the National Film Award–winning motion picture Apoorva Raagangal (1975), directed by K. Balachander, whom the actor considers his mentor.
After a brief phase of portraying antagonistic characters in Tamil films, he gradually rose to become an established film actor. Within a few years of his career, he was claimed to be the superstar of Tamil cinema and has since continued to hold a matinee idol status in the popular culture of India. His mannerisms and stylised delivery of dialogue in films contribute to his mass popularity and appeal.In Sivaji (2007), he became the highest paid actor in Asia after Jackie Chan.He is one of the most influential actors in the film industry.
Rajinikanth has worked in over 150 films across various film industries of India. He has won six Tamil Nadu State Film Awards—four Best Actor Awards and two Special Awards for Best Actor—and a Filmfare Best Tamil Actor Award. He was bestowed the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour, in the year 2000 for his contribution to Indian cinema. Other than acting, Rajinikanth has also worked as a producer and screenwriter.
And, Rajinikanth married Latha Rangachari on 26 February 1981, at the age of 31 in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.The couple have two daughters named Aishwarya Rajinikanth and Soundarya Rajinikanth. His elder daughter, Aishwarya, married actor Dhanush. 

Bharathi Vishnuvardhan is an Indian actress who has performed in Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu language films. She was most seen as a leading actress in the Kannada film industry during the late 1960s to 1980s. Besides these languages, she also featured in Marathi films.

Bharathi was born in a Marathi-speaking family in Karnataka. She was married to the legendary actor of Kannada cinema Vishnuvardhan on 27 February 1975 in Bengaluru. They have two children namely Keerthi and Chandana. Her husband Dr. Vishnuvardhan died on 30 December 2009.

Dr. Bharathi debuted as a second lead actress in the 1964 released film Geet Gaya Patharon Ne. Her first Kannada film was the 1966 romantic comedy Love in Bangalore. She was critically acclaimed for her roles in movies like Runa Muktalu, Bangaaradha Manushya, Doorada Betta, Gandondu Hennaru, Bangaarada Jinke, Avalukendru Oru Manam, Bhagya Jyoti and the Kannada Doordarshan serial Janani.

In 2012, she appeared as a strict, no-nonsense sessions court judge in TN Seetharam's Kannada daily serial Mukta-Mukta.

She has acted alongside Dr.Rajkumar, Dr.Vishnuvardhan, Dilip Kumar, ANR, Dr.NTR,Krishnam Raju, Kanta Rao, Dr.Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, Manoj Kumar, Jaishankar, V Ravichandran, Shoban Babu, Krishna, Uday Kumar, Kalyan Kumar, R. Muthuraman, AVM.Rajan, Haranath, Sivakumar, Vinod Khanna, Rakesh Roshan, Dr.Ambrish, Ananth Nag, Chalam, Rajesh, Gangadhar, Vinod Mehra and many other popular actors.

Bharathi has acted in a number of Hindi films as well, like director T. Prakash Rao's Suraj (1966, starring Vyjayanthimala) and Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani (1970, starring Balraj Sahni), Manoj Kumar's Purab Aur Paschim (1970), Prabhat Khanna's Uttar Dakshin (1987), Izzatdaar (1990, starring Dilip Kumar), Mehmood's Kunwaara Baap (1974), Aao Pyaar Karen (1994, with Saif Ali Khan and Shilpa Shetty), and many more.

Bharathi has acted in various Malayalam films with all leading actors. Though she has not acted mostly as a Heroine, but she is best known for her character roles especially Mother roles with Superstar Mohanlal,most of her films were hits.

In Tamil, she acted as the leading heroine to all three doyens of Tamil film industry in those days: Sivaji Ganesan, M.G. Ramachandran, Gemini Ganesan and R. Muthuraman.

In Telugu cinema field, she has acted in Jai Jawan 1970 and Govula Gopanna 1968, Sipayi Chinnayya and Bangaru Gajulu ( all with Akkineni Nageswara Rao) which were hits.

Thengai Srinivasan or Thengai Seenivasan (21 October 1937 – 9 November 1987) was an Indian actor and comedian, who appeared in Tamil-language films in the 1970s and early 1980s. He was given the title Thengai (coconut) after his role as a coconut-seller in the play Kal Manam, staged by actor K. Kannan. Although originally a comedian, he also performed in other genres and enacted several lead and antagonistic roles.

Early life

Thengai Srinivasan was born to Rajavel Mudaliar (Chennai) and Subammal (Srivaikuntam in Tuticorin district) on 21 October 1937.  He had two sisters. When he was aged seven years old, his family moved to Chennai. Srinivasan's father was an artist who staged several plays and it was his influence which stimulated Srinivasan's interest in an acting career.

After school, Srinivasan joined the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai and later started his theatrical career in the Railway Dramatic Club.  Srinivasan's first stage appearance was in his father's drama Galatta Kalyanam.  Srinivasan was also part of the drama troupe of K. Kannan and portrayed a coconut vendor in one of his plays Kal Manam. Comedian K. A. Thangavelu upon watching the drama, announced he should be called "Thengai" (coconut) Srinivasan thereafter.

Career

Srinivasan's first feature film was the mystery thriller Oru Viral in 1965.  The film, which saw him playing a detective, was a financial success.  Srinivasan was, however, supposed to make his feature film debut in Iravum Pagalum (1965) that marked the acting debut of Jaishankar, but was dropped after distributors raised concerns about two newcomers being featured in the lead roles. He and Jaishankar nonetheless would become close friends later and Srinivasan was featured in almost 80 per cent of Jaishankar's early films.

Srinivasan mostly enacted the role of a comedian or a sidekick. Notable roles in his subsequent career include that of a fake Swami and that of an idealistic industrialist in the cult comedy films Kasethan Kadavulada and Thillu Mullu, respectively.  Behindwoods cited that the former was "probably Thengai Sreenivasan's best role" and the latter "would come a close second". In 2013, Forbes India included his performance in Thillu Mullu, along with that of Rajinikanth in the same film, in its list of the "25 Greatest Acting Performances of Indian Cinema". Srinivasan also played antagonistic roles; one of which was that of a blackmailing photographer in S. P. Muthuraman's Mayangukiral Oru Maadhu, which was described as "brilliant" by The Hindu.  He played the lead in Vaali's play Sri Krishna Vijayam, which was later made into a feature film named Kaliyuga Kannan. The makers originally intended to cast Sivaji Ganesan in the role, but Ganesan, being impressed by Srinivasan's performance in the play, suggested that Srinivasan may be retained for the film version. Kaliyuga Kannan went on to become a high commercial success and is considered as one of Srinivasan's most notable films.  Other films featuring Srinivasan in the lead role were Nandri Karangal, Sri Ramajayam, Porter Ponnusami and Adukku Malli, which was a box office success.  In 1987, Thengai Srinivasan produced the film Krishnan Vandhaan with Sivaji Ganesan in the lead. The film did not fare well and got him into deep financial trouble.

Death

When Thengai Srinivasan went to Bangalore, Karnataka to attend the rituals following his aunt's death, he suffered a brain haemorrhage. Despite intensive treatment, he died at the age of 51 on 9 November 1987.  His body was brought to his house at Ramasamy Street in Gopalapuram, Chennai. His death was marked by tributes from film fans and industry insiders alike.

Personal life

Srinivasan was married to Lakshmi. The couple have two daughters, Geethalakshmi and Rajeshwari, and a son, Shivshankar.  Geethalakshmi's son Yogi, and Shivshankar's daughter Shrutika have also appeared in a few Tamil films during the 2000s.

Vijaya Bhaskar (Kannada: ವಿಜಯಭಾಸ್ಕರ್; 1924–2002) was an Indian music director and composer who composed music for several mainstream and experimental feature films in the Kannada film industry. Scoring music for over 600 feature films, Bhaskar worked in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Tulu and Konkani language films as well. He was a part of all of popular Kannada film director KSL Swamy's (Ravi) movies and was also known for his association with acclaimed directors Puttanna Kanagal and Adoor Gopalakrishnan.

Influenced by R C Boral and Mukul Mehta, Bhaskar developed his own style of music and introduced the concept of theme music in Kannada film industry. He is credited for inspiring producers to select popular works of Kannada poets through his music. He was awarded with the Dr. Rajkumar Award and the prestigious Sur Singar Award from Mumbai music lovers (for his classical score in Malaya Marutha Kannada movie, directed by Ravi). He was also a recipient of Karnataka State Film Award for Best Music Director six times.

Some of Bhaskar's most popular soundtracks include Rani Honnamma, Santha Thukaram, Gejje Pooje, Mana Mechida Madadi, Belli Moda, Naandi, Sharapanjara, Naagarahaavu, Shubhamangala, Neela and Malaya Marutha.

Vijaya Bhaskar never got a chance to get Rajkumar to sing in his music direction , though the movie Santha Thukaram in their combination had won National award. But Rajkumar went on to sing in Vijaya Bhaskar's daughter's function.

Vijaya Bhaskar started training early. His guru in Hindustani Classical music was Govinda Bhave who taught him the basics. Vijaya Bhaskar also learnt the intricacies of Carnatic Classical music and the piano.

Vijaya Bhaskar was busy in Bombay, assisting music directors like Naushad and Madan Mohan. In Bombay Bhaskar was sitting in a restaurant in Matunga and chatting with a friend and then accidentally met B R Krishnamurthy (BRK). Bhaskar was speaking in Kannada and overheard BRK. BRK used to work as an assistant to R Nagendra Rao and had worked on several pictures with him. Bhaskar told him he was a musician. He asked him whether he would make music for a Kannada picture they were making. Bhaskar finally came down from Bombay in 1953 to do the score for film Sri Rama Puja. He took charge and single handedly changed the face of Kannada film music. The Kannada film industry got its first original music composer.

Puttanna Kanagal who was assisting BR Pantulu, with Bellimoda became independent Director. VB was the music director for Belli Moda. Film became an instant success and cemented their association. After Belli Moda, there was Gejje Pooje, and later Naagarahaavu. He worked with Kanagal continuously till the '80s and then there was a break when M Ranga Rao took over for films like Ranganayaki. Bhaskar came back for Maanasa Sarovara.

He has scored music for nearly 670 movies.

Influenced by R.C. Boral and Mukul Mehta, Bhaskar developed his own style of music. He also proved that Kannada films too can have theme music. Bhaskar did not limit his musical talent for commercial movies alone. According to Vijaya Bhaskar folk music was the forerunner of all existing forms of music in the world. His specialty lay in the fact that he was equally comfortable using a minimum number of instruments as well as a whole orchestra. Vijaya Bhaskar's compositions are melodious and lilting. He was comfortable composing light songs as well as ghazals. He also has quite a few devotional and popular light songs to his credit. His range was extensive and included all genres of music.

He directed music for experimental movies like Grahana, Yellindalo Bandavaru and Naandi. Bhaskar is credited for inspiring producers to select popular works of Kannada poets through his music. Some of the popular numbers include "Moodana Maneya" in Belli Moda (poem by D. R. Bendre) and "Uttara Dhruvadim" in Sharapanjara (also by D. R. Bendre).

Even though Vijaya Bhaskar's first composition was for a Kannada film this prolific composer has composed the music for films in Tamil Telugu Malayalam Konkani Oriya and Tulu. Apart from music composition he has also given background score for several movies. Popular Malayalam director Adoor Gopalakrishnan always preferred Bhaskar for his movies. Gopalakrishnan was very much impressed when Bhaskar gave music for his movie Mathilukal which had no songs at all. All in all Bhaskar gave music for three of Gopalakrishnan's films in Malayalam – Kathapurushan, Vidheyan and Mathilukal. In Hindi Bhaskar did G. V. Iyer's Vivekananda.

His music to Tulu language movie Koti Chennayya(1973) is very popular in Mangalore.

Bhaskar also went to London and did an English film. The film was called Robert Clive, and it was released in India also. It was shot mostly in India, and Bhaskar did a major part of the score.

Vijaya Bhaskar died on the morning of 3 March 2002 following a cardiac arrest at his residence in J. P. Nagar locality of Bangalore. He was 77, and behind his wife, a son, two daughters and 5 grandchildren. His body was cremated in Wilson gardens crematorium on 5 March.

Rukmini Vijayakumar is an Indian Bharatanatyam dancer and actress. Along with her performances on stage, she has appeared in three Tamil films.

Rukmini Vijayakumar began her dance training at the age of eight, studying Bharatanatyam under Guru Narmada, Guru Padmini Rao and Guru Sundari Santhanam and then practiced the Karanas for several years under Guru Sundari Santhanam. Rukmini holds a BFA degree from the Boston Conservatory in Ballet and Modern Dance, while she has also been trained in jazz, tap, African, choreography, laban movement analysis, Stagecraft and Human Anatomy at the Boston Conservatory.

Furthermore, she has studied acting at the New York Film Academy, Los Angeles while also learning under director Prakash Belawadi during her stay in India. She is the Artistic Director of her dance company Raadha Kalpa, where she teaches, choreographs and creates new Bharatanatyam, Modern and experimental theater work. She is currently pursuing a Fitness Training Certification at UCLA, and a professional dancer's MFA program in Bharatanatyam at the Shastra University, Chennai under Padma Subrahmanyam.

She made her film debut playing Trishna in Bharathiraja's suspense thriller Bommalattam alongside an ensemble cast of Arjun, Nana Patekar and Kajal Aggarwal. The role feature her as a mysterious debutant actress who is hidden from the media, with the film eventually revealing that her character was actually a male, made to dress up by the director. The film opened to positive reviews, with critics labelling her performance as "definitely a surprise package". She next featured in Gandhi Krishna's 2009 romantic film Ananda Tandavam as Ratna alongside Siddharth Venugopal and Tamannaah, but the film became commercial and critical failure. Rukmini then signed up to appear in Naan, once again alongside Siddharth Venugopal, but the film ran into production and trouble and she opted against appearing in the film when it began again in 2010. Moreover another project, Oru Naal Podhuma directed by Pratap Pothan and featuring Madhavan in the lead role, was also cancelled soon after announcement.She has acted in Kannada movie Bajarangi in 2013 opposite Hatrick Star Shivanna ,though she doesn't seem to acknowledge the same .

In 2012, Rukmini was opted for Rajinikanth '​s sister's role in Kochadaiyaan. The role was earlier to be enacted by Sneha, who opted out citing date issues.

A. M. R. Ramesh is a south Indian film director who has directed Kannada, Tamil,Telugu and Malayalam films.

The director rose to fame upon his second venture Cyanide. Currently he is in media attention regarding his latest biopic on forest dacoit veerappan.