By S.N. Venkatnag Sobers
Namma Mysuru, with a vast cultural diversity, has been contributing to Kannada Film Industry since decades. Many actors, directors and technicians from our city have scaled great heights and are rated among the best in the country. Mysuru is also home for many young talented artistes, who have been making a mark for themselves in the industry. This Weekend Star Supplement introduces the rising stars from the cultural capital of Karnataka.
The Kannada Film Industry or Sandalwood is also referred to as Chandanavana. In 1934, the first Kannada talkie, Sati Sulochana, appeared in theatres followed by Bhakta Dhruva. Karnataka has been home for many directors and actors who have made a mark for themselves in Indian Cinema.
Mysuru, the heritage city, which is also known for its cultural diversity, has to its credit some of the prominent personalities who are considered to be among the greatest. Be it Kanagal Prabhakar Shastry, Puttanna Kanagal, K.S. Ashwath, K.M. Rathnakar, Mysore Lokesh, Vishnuvardhan, Ambarish, Mandya Ramesh, Yash and Dhananjaya — they have all created a fan-base for themselves.
In the past couple of years, young actors, directors, musicians from Mysuru have been making a name for themselves.
Anup Bhandari, who came with a bang with his directorial debut Rangitharanga has been working on his next venture Rajaratha, a bi-lingual movie (Kannada and Telugu) starring his younger brother Nirup Bhandari and Avantika Shetty in the lead role. This pair was a hit in Rangitharanga. Anup’s popularity is such that he would be soon seen directing ‘Power Star’ Puneeth Rajkumar.
Apart from these, there are also other rising stars such as Akshatha Pandavapura, who was recently adjudged as the Best Supporting Actress for her role in the movie ‘Pallata’ directed by our city’s own S.P. Raghu. Playback singer Sangeetha Ravindranath was also in the news for winning the Best Female Playback Singer Award this year.
Another talented actor Poornachandra, who hails from Mysuru, has been making slow but steady inroads into the industry. The other talented artistes, who have been making sound in the industry include singers Udith Haritas, Ananya Bhat and Sudhir (Rangavalli). In fact, Sudhir was seen in the recently released Chakravarthy.
Meet city’s young artistes, who have been working towards bringing out the best in them to entertain the mass.
POORNACHANDRA
His first entry into acting was through B.V. Karanth College Rangotsava organised by Rangayana. Poornachandra, then a B.Com student, took part in theatre camp organised by Rangayana at Mahajana First Grade College and performed on stage receiving appreciation from both his family and friends.
Later, his entry into Rangayana inspired him to take up acting seriously and pursue his career in the same field. Like many actors, who come to industry without Godfathers, Poornachandra, who is associated with GPIER, had to struggle for a few years before getting offers.
The young actor, who has been residing in Bengaluru for some years now, has acted in about 25 short films in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and English. He played a cameo in Pawan Kumar’s directorial debut ‘Lucia,’ which also featured many talents from Mysuru.
Currently, his two movies ‘BB5’ and ‘Dayavittu Gamanisi’ is all set for release. He is also playing the lead role in the movie ‘Orchestra’ directed by Sunil, again another Mysurean, who shot to fame with the song ‘Baarisu Kannada Dindimava’ produced by the Department of Kannada and Culture.
Speaking to Star of Mysore, Poornachandra said that the biggest motivation for him would be to deliver what the director expects.
“If a director says that I have acted well it is the best thing that could happen to an actor. This actually motivates people like me to continue with the work,” he added.
For Poornachandra, the biggest inspiration in the movie industry has been late Vishnuvardhan, Jack Nicholson and Shah Rukh Khan.
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