Showing all artists born in 1956

Brahmanandam Kanneganti, is an Indian film actor and comedian. Hailing from Sattenapalli in Andhra Pradesh, he mostly acts in Telugu films. Prior to films, he was a Telugu lecturer in Attili, a town in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. He currently holds the Guinness World Record for the most screen credits for a living actor. He was honoured with the Padma Shri, for his contribution to Indian cinema in 2009. Brahmanandam is considered one of the most versatile Indian comic actors, noted particularly for his comic expressions. Brahmanandam was part of the television quiz show Brahmi 1 million Show on iNews.


As per a petition filed by BJP Party Leader N. Indrasena Reddy, Brahmanandam was found 'misusing' the Padma Shri title in recently released film 'Denikaina Ready'. The court motioned in favor of the petitioner and on 23 December 2013 announced quoting Article 18 of the Constitution, that the national award did not amount to a "title" and should not be used as a suffix or prefix and in case of non-compliance, the defaulter forfeit the award.However, Brahmanandam has challenged the orders of High Court in the apex court. Subsequently, the Supreme court of India, has ordered him to file an affidavit that he will not misuse the title elsewhere, and ordered for further hearing on 17 April 2014.

P. C. Sreeram (born 26 January 1956) is an Indian cinematographer and film director who works mainly in the Indian film industry. A student of Madras Film Institute, Sreeram is widely regarded as the "Guru of Cinematography" (English: (lit.) The mentor of cinematography). Apart from his cinematographic works, he was much appreciated for his directorial venture Kuruthipunal which was submitted by India as its official entry to the Oscars in 1996. Sreeram is well known for his association with Mani Ratnam and received critical acclaim for his work in films such as Mouna Ragam, Nayagan, Agni Natchathiram, Geetanjali and OK Kanmani. He has worked as a cinematographer in over 30 films spanning across Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi, besides directing three films and a few TV commercials.

Sreeram was born on 26 January 1956 in Madras, (now Chennai, Tamil Nadu). He was the third child in the family and has two sisters. Sreeram's aspiration towards films grew much during his childhood days. He was educated at the Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Mylapore, Chennai.

As a student he was not interested in studies and only managed to pass the exams. He developed an early interest in photography and years after struggle he joined the Madras Film Institute to do a course in cinematography.PC Sreeram in his teens when he was a student in the film institute had a long association with the budding creators of his generation. Together with his friends Kamal Hassan, C. Rudhraiya, Santhana Bharathi, Radharavi, R. C. Sakthi and few others they were called sanmac group where they used to join together at a hotel in Chennai and share their learnings about cinema and future dreams of making a perfect cinema.

Sreeram is married and had a daughter named Swetha who died in 2010 and son Skanda pursuing his studies in Australia His niece, Preetha Jayaraman, a now established cinematographer in the Tamil Film industry, was inspired to her calling largely by her uncle's work in the field.
After receiving a diploma from the Madras Film Institute in 1979,Sreeram made his cinematic debut in the early 1980s. One of his earlier works Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai won the Indira Gandhi Award for Best First Film of a Director in 1984. After a few unsuccessful films he worked with Mani Ratnam for the first time in Mouna Ragam (1986). The film gave a much needed breakthrough for both Ratnam and Sreeram. Following the success of Mouna Ragam, the pair went on to work in Nayagan.

The film went on to win three National Film Awards at the 35th National Film Awards with Sreeram securing his first National Film Award. He used new techniques in the camera for their next film Agni Natchathiram and was praised very much for his work. The pair went on to work in a Telugu film titled Geethanjali in 1989. The film met with critical acclaim and commercial success as it won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and seven Nandi Awards including the Best Story and Best Cinematography awards for Ratnam and Sreeram respectively.

During the early 1990s, Sreeram worked in a number of films such as Gopura Vasalile (1991), Thevar Magan (1992) and Mani Ratnam's Thiruda Thiruda. Sreeram made his directional debut in 1992, with the film Meera starring Vikram and Aishwarya in the lead roles. The film was a poor grosser at the box-office due to its delay in release.

Sreeram directed his second film Kuruthipunal (1995), a police story based on the Hindi film Drohkaal. The film had Kamal Haasan and Arjun playing the lead roles was an official entry made by India to the Oscars in 1996. The film was showcased at the Rotterdam International Film Festival under the category "Director in Focus" eight years after its release.

Sreeram's third directional venture titled Vaanam Vasappadum, was the first film in India to use high-definition digital technology. The film was shown at the Mumbai International Film Festival besides a screening at the ninth International Film Festival of Kerala. In 2007 Sreeram made his Bollywood debut with R. Balki's Cheeni Kum that starred Amitabh Bachchan in the lead.He worked again with Balki in Paa (2009). The film won four National Film Awards in 2010. As of January 2016, Sreeram is working in the Tamil film Remo.

Sreeram is well known for his longtime association with celebrated filmmakers and actors like Mani Ratnam, Moulee and Kamal Haasan. His work was well appreciated in films like Mouna Ragam, Nayagan, Geetaanjali, Thiruda Thiruda and Alaipayuthey.He has mentored some of the prominent cinematographers in the Indian film industry including Jeeva,M. S. Prabhu, Ramji, Chezhiyan, K. V. Anand,Tirru, Balasubramaniem and Nirav Shah.In January 2016, Sreeram was elected as the president of South Indian Film Cinematographers Association.

Arundhati Nag (born c. 1956) is a prominent South Indian polyglot film actress and theatre personality. She has been involved with multilingual Theatre in India, for over 25 years, first in Mumbai where she got involved with Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA), and did various productions in Gujarati, Marathi, and Hindi theatre, besides getting involved in television, director Jyoti Vyas's Gujarati TV series, Haji Aavti Kaal Che. Later and after her marriage to Kannada actor-director Shankar Nag (1954–1990), her association with theatre continued in Bangalore, culminating in realising the dream project of her late husband, the Ranga Shankara theatre, at J P Nagar, a suburb in Bangalore. She was awarded the 2008 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in Theatre Acting by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance and Theatre. She was also awarded the 57th National Film Awards as Best Supporting Actress for her role in Paa.


Arundhati is the founder and the Managing Trustee of the Sanket Trust, established in 1992, which has Girish Karnad as its chairman, and which runs the Ranga Shankara, a Bangalore theatre which after four years of construction was inaugurated on 28 October 2004. Now the annual Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival has become a regular feature on Bangalore's cultural calendar.


Arundhati Rao was born in New Delhi to a Maharashtrian family and had three siblings. Her family moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) when she was 10. She was passionate about theatre in her school days. She joined an amateur theatre group in Mumbai and in her teen years, she was doing as many as 42 shows a month in Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi and English.
Career


In 2006, she was awarded the 'Citizen Extraordinaire' Award by The Rotary Club of Bangalore. Arundhati's last major movie was the Kannada blockbuster Jogi, for which she also won the Karnataka Government's Best Supporting Actress award for the year 2005. Her most recent production has been Girish Karnad's Bikhre Bimb. Arundhati has also acted in other language films such as Minsara Kanavu (1997), dubbed into Hindi as Sapnay (1997), Dil Se.. (1998).


She has acted in the Indian National Award winning Marathi film 22 June 1897. In 2009, she acted in the film Paa. Her role earned her the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination.

Ranvir Shah is an Indian social activist, theater actor, and businessman. He is the independent director and member of Remuneration committee for KCP Sugar and Industries Corporation.


He is the founder of Prakriti Arts Foundation. Through the foundation, Shah has organized and directed cultural festivals like the Parks New Festival, The Festival of Sacred Music at Thiruvaiyaru, The 2010 Poetry with Prakruti Festival, The Hindu Best Fiction Awards, Lit For Life, which celebrate music, literature, dance, theater and visual arts. He has worked with playwrights and performing artist's like Anita Ratnam, Chandralekha, Shankar Tucker, Manjula Padmanabhan, Maya Krishna Rao, Akram Khan, Aruna Sairam, Dominique Vellard etc.


In 1984, Shah has performed under Chandralekha's guidance in A. K. Ramanujan's play The Interior Landscape and other plays like Bhinna Pravah – The confluence. He has also appeared in Tamil Films like Minsara Kanavu, Anniyan etc.