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Upendra (actor)

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This article is about the Kannada film actor and director. For the film, see Upendra (film).
Upendra
File:Upendra in movie Aishwarya.jpg
Upendra
Born
Upendra

(1968-09-18) September 18, 1968 (age 56)
Kundapura, Karnataka
Other namesUppi
Height5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
SpousePriyanka Upendra

Upendra, (popularly also called Uppi) is a Kannada film actor, director, screen writer, lyricist and singer. He is recognised as an established Superstar actor and director of the Kannada film Industry. Born in a middle class family at Koteshwara near Kundapura, he belongs to Tulu speaking Koteshwara Magane kota 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 forces 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 is known for his work in blockbusters like A(1998), Kanyadaanam (1998), Upendra(1999), Preethse(2000), Raa (2001), H2O(2002) which was based on the Kaveri River water dispute, Stupid(2002), Hollywood(2002), Kutumba(2003), Rakta Kanneeru(2003), Gokarna(2003), Omkara(2004), Gowramma(2005), Auto Shankar(2005), Aishwarya(2006), Anatharu(2007), Buddhivantha(2008), Super(2010), Aarakshaka(2012) and Katari Veera Surasundarangi(2012).

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 transforms 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.

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 horror-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.
  • 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 and it also marked the dubut of star music director Guru Kiran. 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 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 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 and released in 95 theatres across Andhara Pradesh, a total of 250 theatres. 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 became 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]

Career as an actor

As an actor, he acted in many commercially successful films. A, Upendra, Rakta Kanneeru, Buddhivantha and Super are his biggest commercial blockbusters. His other Super Hit films include Preethse, Kutumba, Gokarna, Gowramma, Auto Shankar, Aishwarya, Katari Veera Surasundarangi. Films like H2O which was a metaphorical representation of the century old Kaveri River Water Dispute, Superstar, Hollywood, Omkara, Anatharu and Arakshaka were also moderately successful at the box office. His straight Telugu films like Kanyadaanam & Raa were also successful at the box office. For his performance in his first movie itself (A), Upendra won the Udaya Film Award for Best Male Actor. Through his hard hitting unique dilogue delivery in movies like A, Upendra, Kutumba, Rakta Kanneeru, Omkara, Auto Shankar, Buddhivantha, Super, etc Upendra has scored a huge fan following.

Trivia

  • 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.
  • Bollywood star and Bengaluru girl Deepika Padukone also started her film career with Upendra in the Kannada movie Aishwarya, directed by Indrajeet Lankesh. The songs in the movie composed by Rajesh Ramanath were all chart busters.
  • Usually Upendra's movies contain dialogues which are strong and humorous, 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.

Endorsements

In 2004 Upendra ventured into ad film making through his own start-up advertising agency UppiAds. He has been brand ambassador for :

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.

Filmography

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 Semi Hit Cameo appearance, writer, lyricist
1998 A Himself Blockbuster Protagonist, writer, lyricist
1999 Swasthik Raghavendra Rajkumar Semi Hit Writer, lyricist
Upendra Himself Blockbuster Protagonist, writer, lyricist, Filmfare Best Director award
2010 Super Himself Blockbuster Protagonist, writer, lyricist

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 Cameo Appearance
1998 A Surya Kannada & Telugu First movie as a hero, The film became the biggest Hit of 1998, Successfully completed 25 weeks, did a business of Rs 20 Crores at the box office.

Awards : Upendra won the Udaya Film Award for Best Male Actor (1998).

Kanyadanam Telugu Debut movie in Telegu, Successfully completed more than 125 days in Andhra Pradesh
1999 Upendra Naanu Kannada & Telugu Biggest Hit of 1999, Successfully completed 25 weeks. The film starred bollywood actress Raveena Tandon opposite to Upendra.

Awards : Upendra won the Filmfare Award for Best Director (Kannada) (1999), Filmfare Award for Best Film (Kannada) (1999)

2000 Preethse Chandru Kannada Biggest Hit of 2000, Successfully completed 25 weeks. The film starred the bollywood actress Sonali Bendre opposite Upendra.
Oke Mata Sooryam Telugu
2001 Raa Sridhar Telugu Successfully completed 100 days in Andhra Pradesh
2002 H2O Udayashankar Kannada, Tamil, Telugu Successfully completed 75 days.
Neethone Vuntanu Ravi Telugu
Super Star Praveen,
Deependra		 Kannada & Telugu Telugu version was released as Stupid which successfully completed 100 days in Andhra Pradesh
Nagarahavu Ajay Kannada Opposite to Jyothika
Naanu Naane Raja Kannada
Hollywood Upendra,
Surendra,
Robot US47		 Kannada & Telugu Decent Hit, Completed 50 days.
2003 Kutumba Vijay Kannada Successfully completed 125 days.
Rakta Kanneeru Mohan Kannada & Telugu Biggest Hit of 2003, Successfully completed 120 days.
Gokarna Sidda Kannada Successfully completed 25 weeks.
2004 Omkara Sathya Kannada Decent Hit, Completed 50 days.
2005 Gowramma Venkat Swamy Kannada Successfully Completed 125 days.
News Guru Kannada
Auto Shankar Shankar Kannada Successfully Completed 100 days. The film starred Shilpa Shetty opposite Upendra.
2006 Uppi Dada MBBS Rao Bahaddur Upendra Kannada
Tandege Takka Maga Kannada
Aishwarya Abhishek Hegde Kannada Successfully Completed 75 days. It was the Debut film of the bollywood actress Deepika Padukone.
2007 Parodi Vijay Kannada
Masti Siddappaji Kannada & Telugu
Toss Neelakanta Telugu
Anatharu Rudra Kannada Successfully completed 9 weeks.
Lava Kusha Chakri Kannada
2008 Sathyam Manickvel Tamil
Buddhivantha Joseph Fernandez Kannada & Telugu Biggest Hit of 2008, Successfully completed 100 days, released as Buddhimanthudu in Telugu which completed 50 days in Andhra Pradesh.
Mast Maja Maadi Kannada Special appearance
2009 Dubai Babu Babu Kannada
Rajani Rajani Kannada
2010 Super Subhash Chandra Gandhi Kannada & Telugu Successfully completed 150 days and became one of the highest grossing Kannada movies by collecting more than Rs 50 crores.

Awards : Upendra won many awards for this film including: Karnataka State Film Award for Best Film, Karnataka State Film Award for Best Director, Udaya Film Award for Best Screenplay, Suvarna Film Awards 2011 - Favorite Film Award, Suvarna Film Awards 2011 - Favorite Director Award.

2011 Shrimathi Kannada
2012 Aarakshaka Kannada Decent Hit, recovered its investment within 2 weeks.
Katari Veera Surasundarangi Kannada Running Successfully, first full length 3D film in Kannada.
Godfather Kannada Slated for June 2012 release.
Kalpana Kannada Slated for 2012 release.
Topiwala Kannada Slated for 2012 release.

Awards

References

  1. ^ Excited Upendra on Tamil Film 'Sathyam'
  2. ^ Upendra Kannada Film Super Box Office Report, Collections
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ http://entertainment.oneindia.in/kannada/news/2012/upendra-arakshaka-interview-250112.html
  5. ^ [2]

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