Upendra
| Upendra | |
|---|---|
 Upendra |
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| Born | Upendra September 18, 1967 Kundapura, Karnataka |
| Residence | Bangalore, Karnataka, India |
| Other names | Uppi |
| Height | 5'9" |
| Spouse | Priyanka Upendra |
Upendra, popularly also called Uppi is an actor, director, script writer and singer. Born in a middle class family at Koteshwara near Kundapura, he belongs to Kannada speaking Koteshwara Magane Madhwa Brahmin community. Upendra started his career under the director Kashinath as a writer and an assistant director. His first directorial venture was Tharle Nan Maga.
In the late 90s he broke into the scene with the extremely violent Om, which portrayed actual Bangalore gangsters, and this movie is still not yet released in CDs, DVDs and Satellite Rights. He followed this up with A, in which he appeared as Surya. Upendra, his next film, starred Raveena Tandon, a Bollywood actress. After a decade of acting in Kannada, Telugu and Tamil films,[1] he returned to the role of director with the multi-lingual movie Super, which was well-received critically and commercially.[2]
Throughout his career as a director, he has directed many record breaking blockbusters such as Tharle Nan Maga, Shhh!, Om, A, Upendra and Super. His directional movies like A, Swasthik, Upendra and Super resembles the neo-noir film genre where he narrates the story through reverse screenplay and multiple number of flashbacks within flashbacks and thus forcing the audience to watch the film multiple number of times to understand the story.
As an actor, he acted in many commercially successful films. He gave many blockbusters such as A, Upendra, Preethse, Kutumba, Rakta Kanneeru, Buddhivantha and Super. His other Super Hit films include Gokarna, Gowramma, Auto Shankar, Aishwarya and Anatharu. His other moderately successful films are H20 which was based on the Kaveri river issue, Hollywood in which he played 3 roles out of which one was that of a robot and Omkara which was his first underworld gangster film.
In contrast to the many Indian movies where the hero usually has a stereotypical 'good-boy' character, Upendra's roles have both negative and positive aspects. His character in the film A had many negative shades such as hatred towards women. In the film Upendra, he plays one such character who is initially the protagonist but later tranforms into the antagonist of the film. In the films Preethse and Nagarahaavu, he stops at nothing to achieve his goal and goes on committing series of murders. His character in Rakta Kanneeru was extremely egoistic with many negative shades. In the film Omkara, Upendra plays an underworld gangster. In the film Buddhivantha he plays a most wanted conman who marries four women one after another to rob them of their wealth. Thus Upendra has proved that a hero can have both positive and negative aspects.
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[edit] Career as a director
- Tharle Nan Maga was his maiden venture as a director. This film was Jaggesh's first movie as a lead actor and was a great commercial success.
- His second movie was Shhh! with Kumar Govind in the lead. This surprise suspense thriller also starred Kashinath and introduced Kumar Govind as mainstream hero. It has a small cameo by Uppi as a wannabe actor in police costume. This film too went on to be a major commercial success.
- His next directorial venture Om was a movie starring Shivrajkumar and Prema. This story explored and exposed Bangalore's mafia scene. The movie was controversial because of presence of numerous famous real-life rowdy sheeters (underworld gang members). It had a very good soundtrack with numbers like "Hey Dinakara", and "College Kumaru" etc, scored by Hamsalekha. The film went on to become one of the biggest blockbusters of that time and also gained recognition in the National arena.
- His next was Operation Antha, a sequel to the 1982 movie Antha, which starred Ambareesh in lead. This movie carried a strong feeling against corruption, where the protagonist is obsessed by the corrupt world and finds a way to change the system through extremist way. The movie also made some controversies because of its taunts on some real life political figures. The movie was a Hit.
- In his next directional movie A, he played the lead role for the first time. It was a psychological love story, with finely framed story from Upendra's real life thoughts about Love. It was basically a debate whether true love exists in this world or not[3]. It was presented with an out of the box narration, strong dialogues, beautiful soundtrack numbers like Sum Sumne, Mari kannu, Idu one day matchu etc and outstanding performances by both lead actors, despite being their first movie. This movie became a major blockbuster in the Kannada film industry and was even received very well by non-kannada speaking audiences. Later it was dubbed to Telugu and was remade in Tamil. This movie is one of the signature movies of Upendra, and one of the best in Kannada films.
- His next movie was Swasthik(symbol) with lead Raghavendra Rajkumar which hit the screens in 1999. Taking a plot with terrorism as its core, it narrates the story of an Indian raised by Pakistani parents living in India, who are later revealed to be terrorists. It was not received as good as his other movies and the movie was just a mere hit. But it is still remembered for its smart narration and innovative screenplay and is considered to be one of the best works of Upendra with respect to screenplay. The soundtrack number Idu Yelelu Janumada love became a huge hit. The film has attained cult classic status.
- His next film was named after himself as Upendra which again starred himself in the lead and also starred the Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon. The film was a psychological drama which explored human emotions. The film is a story of a commoner and his three emotions, which is metaphorically narrated through the story of the characters played by Upendra and the three heroines. The movie was a major blockbuster and went on to become a much bigger hit than his previous film A. The movie was also dubbed into Telugu. A Japanese national[who?] who saw the film in Bangalore was impressed by it, finding it similar to the story of Buddha, and got it released in Japan.
- Upendra gave music director Guru Kiran and photographer Venu their first break in the Kannada film industry. Bollywood star Deepika Padukone also started her film career with Upendra in the Kannada movie Aishwarya, directed by Indrajeet Lankesh.
- Upendra came back as a director after 10 years in 2010 with the movie Super. The movie was released in 42 theatres in Bengaluru and 150 theatres all over Karnataka and was also dubbed into Telugu. It tells the story of a NRI who, through political manipulations, helps India become a superpower in 2030. The film broke all records when it was released and went on to become the biggest hit of 2010 and also Upendra's biggest blockbuster.
- In January 2012 Upendra (@realupendra) had tweeted that he is planning to do a sequel to his 1999 blockbuster movie Upendra. He has confirmed this recently in an interview with oneindia that he might take up the project this year [4].
[edit] Trivia
- Upendra has much Recognition in Andhra pradesh. His films are frequently dubbed into Telugu. His Super Hit movies like A, Upendra, Rakta Kanneeru, Buddhivantha and Super were dubbed into Telugu and became big hits in Andhra Pradesh. He has also acted in several Straight Telugu films like Raa, Kanyadanam which were successful.
- Upendra explains that he always views his movies as a normal audience and not as a director, so he wants his movies to be filled with suspense and surprises, where a thought of "What's next??" should be chanting in the minds of audiences till the end of the movie. Also he doesn't want his movies to be categorized like Action or Drama or Comedy etc. Most of the times Upendra tries to keep under wrap, the plot or subject of his movie before its release, as he wants the audiences to see everything on the screen. Even with the titles of his movies, Upendra is cautious enough to choose names which are completely appropriate to the movie but does not disclose anything about the movie before watching the film.[5]. He has managed to give some movies whose titles are very different from normal ones. Shhh!, A, Swasthik (Hakenkreuz symbol), H2O (Chemical compound formula of water), Super (Vitarka mudra hand symbol) are a few to name.
- Upendra has acted with several Bollywood actresses like Raveena Tandon in the film Upendra, Sonali Bendre in the film Preethse, Jyothika in Nagarahavu, Shilpa Shetty in the film Auto Shankar, Deepika Padukone in the film Aishwarya (her debut film), and Celina Jaitley in the film Shrimathi.
- Usually Upendra's movies contain dialogues which are strong and humour mixed with irony, which has brought him a huge fan following. His movies like A, Upendra, Rakta Kanneeru, Omkara, Auto Shankar, Buddhivantha and Super contain dialogues written by Upendra himself, which captures the attention of the audience throughout the movie.
- Upendra is also a well known lyricist. Many of his songs contain normal slang, which is contrary to the popular practice, where only textual words are used in songs. Some popular tracks like MTV subbulaxmi ge from the movie Upendra, Dil ilde from H2O, Chitranna chitrana from Buddhivantha, Thu nan makla from Aarakshaka are a few to name.
- In January 2012 Upendra (@realupendra) had tweeted that he is planning to do a sequel to his 1999 blockbuster movie Upendra on which he is currently working and has stated recently in an interview that he might start shooting the film by the end of 2012.
[edit] Endorsements
In 2004 he ventured into ad film making through his own start-up advertising agency UppiAds. He acted as brand ambassador for United Breweries, Navratna Oil, Lunars Walkmate, Karnataka Milk Federation and Mavalli Tiffin Room.
[edit] Family
- Wife: Priyanka Upendra
- Son: Ayush
- Daughter: Aishwarya
- Father: Manjunath Rao
- Mother: Anasuya
- Brother: Sudeendra
Upendra resides in Kathriguppe, Banashankari III Stage in Bengaluru. Banashankari, Bangalore is a locality where many Sandalwood (Kannada Film Industry) Stars reside.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] As director
| Year | Film | Lead Actor(s) | Box Office Verdict | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Tharle Nan Maga | Jaggesh | Super Hit | Appears as narrator, writer, lyricist, Debut film as director |
| 1993 | Shhh! | Kumar Govind | Super Hit | Cameo appearance, writer, lyricist |
| 1995 | Om | Shivaraj Kumar | Blockbuster | Voice-over for few extras, writer, Filmfare Best Director award |
| Operation Antha | Ambareesh | super Hit | Cameo appearance, writer, lyricist | |
| 1998 | A | Himself | Blockbuster | Protagonist, writer, lyricist |
| 1999 | Swasthik | Raghavendra Rajkumar | super Hit | Writer, lyricist |
| Upendra | Himself | Blockbuster | Protagonist, writer, lyricist, Filmfare Best Director award | |
| 2010 | Super | Himself | Blockbuster | Protagonist, writer, lyricist |
[edit] As actor
| Year | Film | Role | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Anathana Avanthara | Kannada | cameo appearance (Lord Kamadeva in a song) | |
| 1991 | Ajagajanthara | Kannada | cameo appearance | |
| 1993 | Shhh! | Kannada | Cameo appearance | |
| 1995 | Operation Antha | Kannada | Uncredited role | |
| 1998 | A | Surya | Kannada & Telugu | |
| Kanyadanam | Telugu | Debut movie in Telegu | ||
| 1999 | Upendra | Naanu | Kannada & Telugu | |
| 2000 | Preethse | Chandru | Kannada | |
| Oke Mata | Sooryam | Telugu | ||
| 2001 | Raa | Sridhar | Telugu | |
| 2002 | H2O | Udayashankar | Kannada, Tamil, Telugu | |
| Neethone Vuntanu | Ravi | Telugu | ||
| Super Star | Praveen, Deependra |
Kannada & Telugu | ||
| Nagarahavu | Ajay | Kannada | Opposite to Jyothika | |
| Naanu Naane | Raja | Kannada | ||
| Hollywood | Upendra, Surendra, Robot US47 |
Kannada & Telugu | ||
| 2003 | Kutumba | Vijay | Kannada | |
| Rakta Kanneeru | Mohan | Kannada & Telugu | ||
| Gokarna | Sidda | Kannada | ||
| 2004 | Omkara | Sathya | Kannada | |
| 2005 | Gowramma | Venkat Swamy | Kannada | |
| News | Guru | Kannada | ||
| Auto Shankar | Shankar | Kannada | ||
| 2006 | Uppi Dada MBBS | Rao Bahaddur Upendra | Kannada | |
| Tandege Takka Maga | Kannada | |||
| Aishwarya | Abhishek Hegde | Kannada | ||
| 2007 | Parodi | Vijay | Kannada | |
| Masti | Siddappaji | Kannada & Telugu | ||
| Toss | Neelakanta | Telugu | ||
| Anatharu | Rudra | Kannada | ||
| Lava Kusha | Chakri | Kannada | ||
| 2008 | Sathyam | Manickvel | Tamil | |
| Buddhivantha | Joseph Fernandez | Kannada & Telugu | In Telugu as Buddhimanthudu |
|
| Mast Maja Maadi | Kannada | Special appearance | ||
| 2009 | Dubai Babu | Babu | Kannada | |
| Rajani | Rajani | Kannada | ||
| 2010 | Super | Subhash Chandra Gandhi | Kannada & Telugu | Billionaire NRI |
| 2011 | Shrimathi | Kannada | Released | |
| 2012 | Aarakshaka | Kannada | Released | |
| Godfather | Kannada | |||
| Kalpana | Kannada | |||
| Katari Veera Surasundarangi | Kannada | The first full length 3D film in Kannada | ||
| Topiwala | Kannada |
[edit] Awards
- Filmfare Award for Best Director - Om (1995)
- Karnataka State Award for Best Director - Om (1995)
- Filmfare Award for Best Director (Kannada) - Upendra (Kannada film) (1999)
- Filmfare Award for Best Film (Kannada) - Upendra (Kannada film) (1999)
- Suvarna Filmfare Award for Best Director (Kannada) - Super (2010)
