Thursday 22 March 2012


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, he returned to the role of director with the multi-lingual movie Super, which was well-received critically and commercially.
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 like A, Upendra, Preethse, H20 which was based on the Kaveri River water dispute, Kutumba, Rakta Kanneeru, Gokarna, Omkara,Gowramma, Auto Shankar, Aishwarya, Anatharu, Buddhivantha and Super.
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 filmsPreethse 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.

Upendra

Upendra
BornUpendra
September 18, 1968 (age 43)
Kundapura, Karnataka
ResidenceBangalore, Karnataka, India
Other namesUppi
Height5'9"
SpousePriyanka Upendra

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 commercially successful films are Preethse, H2O which was a metaphorical representation of the century old Kaveri River Water Dispute, Kutumba, Gokarna, Omkara, Gowramma, Auto Shankar, Aishwarya, Anatharu. For his performance in his first movie itself, Upendra won the Udaya Film Award for Best Male Actor for the movie A. Through his hard hitting unique dilogue delivery in movies like A, Upendra, Kutumba, Rakta Kanneeru, Omkara, Auto Shankar, Buddhivantha, and Super, Upendra has won the hearts of many people and scored a huge fan following.

Endorsements

In 2004 Upendra 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.

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

YearFilmLead Actor(s)Box Office VerdictNotes
1992Tharle Nan MagaJaggeshSuper HitAppears as narrator, writer, lyricist, Debut film as director
1993Shhh!Kumar GovindSuper HitCameo appearance, writer, lyricist
1995OmShivaraj KumarBlockbusterVoice-over for few extras, writer, Filmfare Best Director award
Operation AnthaAmbareeshFlopCameo appearance, writer, lyricist
1998AHimselfBlockbusterProtagonist, writer, lyricist
1999SwasthikRaghavendra RajkumarSemi HitWriter, lyricist
UpendraHimselfBlockbusterProtagonist, writer, lyricist, Filmfare Best Director award
2010SuperHimselfBlockbusterProtagonist, writer, lyricist

[edit]As actor

YearFilmRoleLanguageNotes
1989Anathana AvantharaKannadacameo appearance (Lord Kamadeva in a song)
1991AjagajantharaKannadacameo appearance
1993Shhh!KannadaCameo appearance
1995Operation AnthaKannadaCameo Appearance
1998ASuryaKannada & TeluguFirst 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).
KanyadanamTeluguDebut movie in Telegu, Successfully completed 100 days
1999UpendraNaanuKannada & TeluguBiggest Hit of 1999, Successfully completed 25 weeks. The film starred bollywood actress Raveena Tandon opposite to Upendra.
2000PreethseChandruKannadaBiggest Hit of 2000, Successfully completed 25 weeks. The film starred the bollywood actress Sonali Bendre opposite to Upendra.
Oke MataSooryamTeluguBecame a Decent Hit in Andhra Pradesh.
2001RaaSridharTeluguSuccessfully completed 100 days in Andhra Pradesh
2002H2OUdayashankarKannada, Tamil, TeluguSuccessfully completed 75 days.
Neethone VuntanuRaviTelugu
Super StarPraveen,
Deependra		Kannada & TeluguTelugu version was released as Stupid which successfully completed 100 days in Andhra Pradesh
NagarahavuAjayKannadaOpposite to Jyothika
Naanu NaaneRajaKannada
HollywoodUpendra,
Surendra,
Robot US47		Kannada & TeluguCompleted 50 days.
2003KutumbaVijayKannadaSuccessfully completed 125 days.
Rakta KanneeruMohanKannada & TeluguBiggest Hit of 2003, Successfully completed 120 days.
GokarnaSiddaKannadaSuccessfully completed 25 weeks.
2004OmkaraSathyaKannadaCompleted 50 days.
2005GowrammaVenkat SwamyKannadaSuccessfully Completed 125 days.
NewsGuruKannada
Auto ShankarShankarKannadaSuccessfully Completed 100 days. The film starred Shilpa Shetty opposite Upendra.
2006Uppi Dada MBBSRao Bahaddur UpendraKannada
Tandege Takka MagaKannada
AishwaryaAbhishek HegdeKannadaSuccessfully Completed 75 days. It was the Debut film of the bollywood actress Deepika Padukone.
2007ParodiVijayKannada
MastiSiddappajiKannada & Telugu
TossNeelakantaTelugu
AnatharuRudraKannadaSuccessfully completed 9 weeks.
Lava KushaChakriKannada
2008SathyamManickvelTamil
BuddhivanthaJoseph FernandezKannada & TeluguBiggest Hit of 2008, Successfully completed 100 days, released as Buddhimanthudu in Telugu which completed 50 days in Andhra Pradesh.
Mast Maja MaadiKannadaSpecial appearance
2009Dubai BabuBabuKannada
RajaniRajaniKannada
2010SuperSubhash Chandra GandhiKannada & TeluguSuccessfully completed 150 days and became one of the highest grossing Kannada movies by collecting more than Rs 50 crores.
Awards : Upendra won The Suvarna Filmfare Award for Best Director (Kannada) (2010)
2011ShrimathiKannada
2012AarakshakaKannada
GodfatherKannadaReleasing in April 2012.
KalpanaKannadaSlated for 2012 release.
Katari Veera SurasundarangiKannadaThe first full length 3D film in Kannada, Slated for 2012 release.
TopiwalaKannadaThe film is yet to go on floors.

Awards

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