Sudeepa

Sudeep Sanjeev (born 2 September 1971), also known as Sudeepa or Kichcha Sudeep, is an Indian actor, director, producer, screenwriter, television presenter and singer, who primarily works in Kannada films.

He has also worked in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil films.

Sudeepa was born on 2 September 1971 to Sanjeev Manjappa and Saroja in Shimoga in Shimoga district of present-day Karnataka as Sudeep.

The family had migrated to Shimoga from Narasimharajapura, Chikmagalur district.

He obtained a bachelor's degree in Industrial and production engineering from Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, Bangalore.

He represented the college in under-17 cricket.

He attended the Roshan Taneja School of Acting in Mumbai, where he overcame his 'shyness'.

Sudeepa began his acting career with a supporting role in Thayavva (1997) and Prathyartha (1999), followed by his breakthrough with a leading role in Sunil Kumar Desai's romance Sparsha (2000).

Sudeep began his film career in Thayavva (1997).

He then played a supporting role in Prathyartha, directed by Sunil Kumar Desai, and a lead role in the same director's Sparsha.

He established himself in the critically acclaimed role in Huchcha (2001).

His performance in the 2001 film, Huchcha, earned him the nickname Kichcha Sudeepa by his fans.

In 2001, a role in Huchcha gave him his first big following.

He frequently sings in his screen roles, including Vaalee (2001), Chandu (2002), Ranga SSLC (2004), Nalla (2004), #73, Shaanthi Nivaasa (2007), Veera Madakari (2009), Kempe Gowda (2011), Bachchan (2013) and also for others movies such as Mandya to Mumbai (2014), Ring Road Shubha (2014) and Raate (2015).

He starred further in several commercially successful films including Nandhi (2002), Kiccha (2003), Swathi Muthu (2003), My Autograph (2006), No 73, Shanthi Nivasa (2007), Mussanjemaatu (2008), Veera Madakari (2009), Just Maath Maathalli (2010), Vishnuvardhana (2011), Kempe Gowda (2011), the Telugu-Tamil bilingual Eega (2012), Maanikya (2014), Ranna (2015), Kotigobba 2 (2016), Hebbuli (2017), The Villain (2018), Pailwaan (2019), Telugu-Hindi bilingual Rakta Charitra and the Hindi film Dabangg 3 (2019).

He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Kannada for three consecutive years for his films Huchcha, Nandhi and Swathi Muthu.

Sudeepa's directorial debut was My autograph in 2006 which went on to complete 175 days and was a commercial success.

From then he has directed many Kannada films like No 73, Shanthi Nivasa, Veera Madakari, Just Maath Mathalli, Kempe Gowda and Maanikya.

He also wrote the script for Just Maath Mathalli.

He owns a film production company named Kiccha Creations, which is credited with My Autograph (2006), No 73, Shantinivasa (2007), Jigarthanda (2016), Maanikya (2013), Ambi Ning Vayassayto (2019).

Sudeepa made his TV debut in the serial Premada Kadambari, named after a line in the song Bandhana on Udaya TV.

He was roped in to play the main host of the reality show Pyate Hudgeer-Halli Lifu, aired on Suvarna, which was an immediate success.

Endemol Shine Group's flagship show Big Brother was adapted to Kannada as Bigg Boss Kannada and Sudeepa was the chosen to play the host for the first season which was aired on ETV Kannada.

In 2008 he made his Bollywood debut in Phoonk.

He has also starred in Ram Gopal Varma's movies Rann, Phoonk 2 and Rakta Charitra.

Starting from Veera Parampare (2010), he changed his stage name from Sudeep to Sudeepa per S. Narayan's advice and after the film's success he decided to keep the name.

His subsequent films, Kempe Gowda and Vishnuvardhana (2011), also were successes.

Sudeepa made his debut in Telugu cinema in 2012, with S. S. Rajamouli's Eega, a fantasy film in which he portrayed an industrialist who, on falling for an NGO worker (played by Samantha Ruth Prabhu), kills her alleged lover, who begins to haunt him in the form of a housefly.

The film and Sudeepa's performance were highly acclaimed.

He is one of the highest paid actors of Kannada Cinema and is one of the first Kannada actors to be listed in the Forbes list of top 100 celebrities of India since 2013.

He has received several awards including four Filmfare Awards South and one Karnataka state award

Since 2013, he has been hosting the television reality show Bigg Boss Kannada.

In 2013, Bachchan and Varadanayaka were released.

His next film was a drama titled Maanikya that he also directed, a remake of the Telugu film, Mirchi (2013) which was a huge hit.

In 2015 he starred in Ranna, a remake of the Telugu film, Attarintiki Daredi, which again was a blockbuster and played a cameo role as a Persian arms trader in Baahubali: The Beginning, directed by S. S. Rajamouli—the year's highest-grossing film.

In 2019, Sudeepa was seen in the Hindi film Dabangg 3 where he played the archenemy of Salman Khan's Chulbul Pandey.

He also plays Avuku Raju in Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy.

Sudeepa completed his 26 years in film industry.

Sudeepa's next Vikrant Rona, directed by Anup Bhandari, featured Nirup Bhandari and Neetha Ashok.

He is also set to play an extended cameo as Bhargav Bakshi in the upcoming Pan India movie Kabzaa starring Upendra.