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 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 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[link]

• 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 mere a hit in BO. 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[link]

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, Gowramma, Auto Shankar and Aishwarya. Films like Hollywood, Omkara, Anatharu and Aarakshaka were also moderately successful at the box office. His commercially successful Telugu films include Kanyadaanam, Okemaata, Raa, & Stupid. 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, and Super, Upendra has scored a huge fan following.

Trivia[link]

• Upendra is not only an established Superstar of the Kannada Film Industry, but also 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, Okemaata, etc. 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.

• 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[link]

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

• United Breweries
• Navratna Oil
• Lunars Walkmate
• Karnataka Milk Federation
• Mavalli Tiffin Room(MTR).

Family[link]

• 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[link]

As director[link]

As actor[link]

Awards[link]

• Filmfare Award for Best Director - Om
• Karnataka State Film Award for Best Director - Om
• Udaya Film Award for Best Male Actor - A
• Filmfare Award for Best Director (Kannada) - Upendra (Kannada film)
• Filmfare Award for Best Film (Kannada) - Upendra (Kannada film)
• Suvarna Film Awards 2008 - Special Award for Performance - Anatharu
• Suvarna Film Awards 2011 - Favorite Film Award - Super
• Suvarna Film Awards 2011 - Favorite Director Award - Super
• Udaya Film Award for Best Screenplay - Super
• Karnataka State Film Award for Best Director - Super
• Karnataka State Film Award for Best Film - Super..

References[link]

External links[link]

• www.facebook.com/RealstarUpendra
• Namuppi.com
• [3]
• Upendra at the Internet Movie Database
• Uppi Stylish Stills
• OurKarnataka
• Uppi Fans' Portal
• Upendra's Telugu interview on YouTube
• Upendra's photo gallery
• Filmmaking is my passion:Upendra

Raveena Tandon
Raveena Tandon at The Premiere of Vicky Donor, 2012
Born	(1974-10-26) 26 October 1974 (age 37) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Occupation	Actress, producer, TV host
Years active	1991–2006, 2011-present
Spouse	Anil Thadani (2004-present)
Children	4

Raveena Tandon (born 26 October 1974^[1]) is an Indian actress, producer, and a former model. She has primarily worked in Bollywood films, though she appeared in a few Tamil, Kannada and Telugu films as well.

Tandon made her acting debut with Patthar Ke Phool (1991), and won a Filmfare Lux New Face Award for her performance in the film. During the 90s, she was part of several commercial successes such as Mohra (1994), Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996) and Ziddi (1997), among others. Despite attaining popularity, she was not particularly recognised as an actor. This however changed in the early 2000s, when she ventured into more serious roles and turned towards arthouse and parallel cinema. She got high critical acclaim for her performances in films like Aks (2001) and Satta (2003), and had the peak of her career in 2002, when she won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in Kalpana Lajmi's Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence (2001).

She recently turned into TV host with her new chat show, Isi Ka Naam Zindagi (2012).

Early life[link]

Raveena Tandon was born in Mumbai, to filmmaker Ravi Tandon and Veena. Her name is an amalgamation of her parents' name. She attended Jamnabai Narsee School in Juhu and studied at Mithibai College. She completed her first and second years at the college. During her time as an intern, she got her first film offer from Shantanu Sheorey which she accepted.^[2] She dropped out of college and decided to pursue her film career.^[2]

Her father was a producer and director of some films in the 1970s and 1980s. She has a brother named Rajiv Tandon, who had a brief career in Bollywood films as Raaj Tandon. One cousin, Kiran Rathod is a South Indian actress.^[3] One other cousin, Reshma Singh, acted in television serials. A third cousin, Vishal Singh, is a successful actor for television serials.

Career[link]

1990s[link]

Raveena Tandon debuted with the film Patthar Ke Phool (1991) which was a hit;^[4] she received the Filmfare Lux New Face Award for her debut performance.

Her next films Mohra (1994) and Dilwale (1994) were big hits at the box office whilst Laadla (1994), although an average performer, still earned her a Filmfare nomination as best supporting actress. Mohra was the second biggest hit of 1994.^[5] Her other releases of that year included the thriller Imtihaan and the comedy Andaz Apna Apna. The former was an average performer.^[5] but has since gained a strong cult following over the years. She reportedly got into a fight with her co-star Karisma Kapoor on the sets of the film. In 1995, she starred with Shahrukh Khan for the first time in Zamaana Deewana; the film failed to do well.^[6] Her next few films also failed to do well at the box office and her career saw a drop in her success. Her career was back on track with hit films like Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996)^[7] and Ziddi (1997), both being big hits each of its respective year.^[8] In 1997, she was to play her first villainous role in Dus but the film was shelved after the director's death when 40% of the film's shooting had been completed.

In 1998, Tandon had eight releases. Her last release of that year Bade Miyan Chote Miyan co-starring Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda turned out to the second biggest hit of the year.^[9] Coincidentally, Tandon was offered the second lead in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai which went on to be the biggest hit of 1998, but she turned it down.^[10] Her other releases of that year were Gharwali Baharwali which gained a below average status and Vinashak, Pardesi Babu and Aunty No. 1 all of which were un-successful.^[9]

2000s[link]

In the 2000s, Tandon turned her career professionally. She went on to work more with art film directors and realistic cinema. It proved to be a good turning as films like Shool (1999), Bulandi (2000) and Aks (2001) won her huge acclaim. She won many awards as well as the Filmfare Special Performance Award for her performance in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Aks.^[11]

Her years in the industry paid off when she won the coveted National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in Kalpana Lajmi's Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence (2001), where she played a battered wife to an abusive husband.^[12] She surprised critics and audiences with her performance in the film and received much appreciation for her work. Critic, Taran Adarsh said, "Raveena Tandon lends credibility to the role of a battered wife and walks away with the honours. The pathos she conveys through her expressions makes you realise that she's a performer of substance".^[13]

Since then, she has starred in a number of critically acclaimed films, such as Satta (2003) and Dobara (2004), but has not had much box office success. Her role as a middle class woman thrust into the world of politics in the former was praised. Critic, Taran Adarsh wrote, "Raveena Tandon delivers a bravura performance. The actress takes giant strides as a performer, giving the right touches to her character. Here's a performance that's bound to be noticed".^[14] Her role as a schizophrenic in Dobara was also praised with one critic saying, "Raveena is in sync with her character, essaying her part with elaan".^[15] Her only release in 2006 was Sandwich which opened to poor reviews and reception.^[16] Tandon has also produced the films Stumped (2003) and Pehchaan: The Face of Truth (2005), neither of which had much success at the box office.

Personal life[link]

She adopted two girl children Pooja and Chhaya as a single mother in the 1995 when they were 11 and 8 years old.^[17]

Tandon began dating film distributor Anil Thadani during the making of her film Stumped (2003). Their engagement was announced in November 2003.^[18] She married Thadani on 22 February 2004 in Jag Mandir Palace in Udaipur, Rajasthan according to Punjabi style.^[19] She gave birth to a baby girl called Rasha on 16 March 2005. She gave birth to her second child, a baby boy named Ranbir on 12 July 2007.^[20]

Controversies[link]

Tandon was chairperson of the Children's Film Society of India from 2003, but from 2004 the actress began to get complaints that she did not attend the organization's meetings and that she was not involved with the activities set up by the society. In September 2005, Tandon resigned from her post citing personal reasons.^[21]

In November 2005, Tandon sued the websites, Shaadi.com and Shaaditimes.com, claiming that they were using un-authorized images of her to promote the site. She also sued the owner Satyanet Solutions, as they claimed that Tandon and her husband had met through the website.^[22]

Commitments[link]

In November 2002, Tandon signed on to support the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. She has posed in many advertisement campaigns joining the likes of Shilpa Shetty, Amisha Patel and John Abraham. On the issue of cows being slaughtered for their skin, she said "their abuse at the hands of corrupt skin and meat traders must be stopped".^[23]

Awards[link]

• 1992: Filmfare Lux New Face Award, Patthar Ke Phool
• 2002: Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards Best Supporting Actress, Aks^[24]
• 2002: National Film Award for Best Actress, Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence
• 2002: Filmfare Special Performance Award, Aks
• 2002: Star Screen Award Best Supporting Actress, Aks
• 2002: Bollywood Movie Award – Best Supporting Actress, Aks
• 2002: Bollywood Movie Award – Critics Award Female, Aks
• 2002: Awadh Samman by the Government of Uttar Pradesh

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

Television[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Raveena Tandon at the Internet Movie Database
• Raveena Tandon to host a chat show

Ar Rahman may refer to:

• Ar-Rahman, sura of the Qur'an
• A. R. Rahman, Indian musician and composer

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

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