The cinema of Karnataka, sometimes colloquially referred to as ''Sandalwood'' and as Chandanavana in Kannada, is a South Indian film industry in the Indian state of Karnataka based in Bangalore. Today more than 100 films are made every year. A handful of the movies are released in the USA, Australia, Germany, UK and other countries. Efforts to further expand its market have met with some success. A total of 650 cinema theatres in Karnataka gives great scope for the cinema industry.

In 1934, the first Kannada talkie, Sati Sulochana, appeared in theatres, followed by Bhakta Dhruva (aka Dhruva Kumar).

Both Sati Sulochana and Bhakta Dhruva were major successes. Sati Sulochana was shot in Kolhapur at the Chatrapathi studio; most filming, sound recording, and post-production was done in Chennai. It was difficult, as well, to find financial backing for new film projects in the region; thus, very few movies in Kannada were released during the early years of Indian sound cinema.

Gubbi Veeranna could be considered the doyen of Kannada cinema during the mid to late forties. In 1949, Honnappa Bhagavathar who had earlier acted in Gubbi Veeranna's films, produced Bhaktha Kumbara and starred in the lead role along with Pandaribai. In 1955, Honnappa Bhagavathar again produced a Kannada film Mahakavi Kalidasa in which he introduced B. Saroja Devi.

Chiranjeevi Sarja (Kannada: ಚಿರಂಜೀವಿ ಸರ್ಜಾ)(born 17 October 1984), mononymously known as Chiru, is an Indian film actor based in Kannada Film Industry. He is the nephew of Indian film actor Arjun Sarja. He is the grand son of veteran Kannada actor Shakti Prasad.

Chiru was born in Bangalore. He completed his schooling in Baldwin Boys High School, Banglore. Graduated from Vijaya College, Bangalore. He worked as an Assistant Director with his uncle Arjun Sarja for about 4 years. He made his debut in the Kannada movie Vayuputra in the lead role.

Ragini Dwivedi (born 24 May 1990) is an Indian film actress and model, who works in the Kannada and Tamil film industries.

She was born on 24 May 1990 in Bangalore, Karnataka. She was the runner up of 2009 Femina Miss South India contest held in Chennai, while she won the Miss Beautiful Hair title at the Femina Miss India contest.

She made her acting debut with the Kannada film Veera Madhakari with Sudeep as the hero. She is acting in several south Indian films and hopes to do some Bollywood movies as well.

Meghana Raj is an Indian film actress, who works in the South Indian film industries. She made her acting debut in the 2009 Telugu film Bendu Apparao R.M.P.

Meghana Raj was born in Bangalore, Karnataka as the only daughter to film actors Sundar Raj and Pramila Joshai. Her father Sundar Raj has acted in more than 180 films, predominantly in Kannada language, while her mother Pramila Joshai is a noted Kannada film actress and film producer. Because of her mixed background, Meghana is fluent in both Kannada and Tamil, speaking Kannada at home and Tamil at her grandparents' house. She is currently pursuing her Bachelor's degree in psychology at Christ University, Bangalore.

Meghana Raj first debuted as a theater artist, when she was a child, acting alongside her father Sunder Raj in the play Jokumaraswamy. During the audio launch function of the Tamil film Poi in February 2006, she was invited by its director K. Balachander to pursue an acting career, starring in one of his forthcoming films. Accepting his offer, she was given the lead female role in the Tamil film Krishnaleelai, a Balachander production, directed by Selvan. However, despite continuing shooting throughout 2008, which was completed in early 2009, the film got stuck in production hell, and its release got delayed for various reasons.

Kriti Kharbanda (Kannada: ಕೃತಿ ಖಾರ್ಬಂದ)(Telugu: కృతిఖర్బందా) is an Indian film actress who appears in Kannada and Telugu films. She made her debut with the Telugu film, Boni. After being rejected for the role in the 2010 film Orange, she went on to appear in a film directed by Jayanth c. paranjee, Theenmaar alongside Pawan Kalyan.. She also played a small role in a Telugu film Ala Modalaindi and acted in Mr. Nookayya alongside Manoj Manchu.