Upendra (actor)

Upendra (born 18 September 1968) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, producer, screenwriter and politician who worked primarily in Kannada films.

He has also worked in a few Telugu films.

Upendra was known for his thematic representation of Indian politics and society in his films.

Upendra was born to Manjunath Rao and Anusuya in Bengaluru, on 18 September 1968.

His father was from Thekkatte, Koteshwara, Kundapur Taluk, Udupi district in Karnataka, formerly Mysore State.

He is the second son of his family; his older brother is Sudheendra Rao.

Rao's family was poor.

As a baby, he had an eye problem, the result of which can be seen when he rolls his eyeballs in many film sequences.

He obtained his Bachelor of Commerce degree from APS College of Commerce, Bangalore.

During his time at the college, he participated in plays and often formed troupes with his friends.

His association with actor and director Kashinath, a distant relative of his, began during his final year in college.

Upendra assisted filmmaker Kashinath in various departments apart from assisting in writing songs, dialogues, and screenplay for his films.

He co-directed a film with Kashinath.

Upendra turned towards a project to direct an extended version of the 1981 film Antha and called it Operation Antha.

The film had Ambareesh reprise his role from Antha as Kanwar Lal.

The film was not very successful; it was also controversial for its taunts on some real-life political figures.

In the mid-1990s, Upendra directed Om (1995) which emerged as a blockbuster at the box office and became a cult film.

He later made the film in Telugu as Omkaram. This was followed by A, in which he debuted as an actor.

The film went to be a major success and catapulted him to new heights of fame.

His first directorial venture was Tharle Nan Maga (1992).

Upendra started as a director with a typical Kashinath style comedy called Tharle Nan Maga in 1992.

The film introduced famed comedian Jaggesh.

It went on to be a success and has since achieved a cult following.

Upendra directed a horror suspense thriller next called Shhh! in 1993.

The film featured Kashinath and a young producer and actor, Kumar Govind.

The film was a major box office success, and Upendra came out as an independent director.

Upendra's next film was a crime drama titled Om, (1995), which he wrote after being inspired by a real incident in the 1980s.

Shiva Rajkumar played a gangster, Sathya, alongside other real-life gangsters who appeared in cameos.

Prema played the female lead.

The film's unique story-telling in the form of multiple flashback sequences supporting the plotline won critical praise and was also a major commercial success.

This film too went on to attain cult status among Kannada audiences.

In 1997, Upendra directed A, through which he made a successful transition to acting.

The film is about a love affair between a film director and an actress, in which the actress rejects the director, causing him to become an alcoholic.

His next film was the psychological thriller Upendra (1999), which became a cult film.

After a decade of acting, he returned to directing with Super, which was well-received critically and commercially''.

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Upendra is known for his works in films such as Preethse (2000), Super Star (2002), Kutumba (2002), Gokarna (2002), Hollywood (2002), Raktha Kanneeru (2003), Gowramma (2005), Aishwarya (2006), Anatharu (2007), Budhivanta (2008), Kalpana (2012), Godfather (2012), S/O Satyamurthy (2015), Uppi 2 (2015), and I Love You (2019).

He received an Honorary Doctorate from Angkor University in 2015.

He started his film career as a writer and an assistant director with actor and film director Kashinath.

In 2017, He joined the political party Karnataka Pragnyavanta Janata Paksha, before quitting the party in 2018 due to internal differences and formed another party named Uttama Prajaakeeya Party (UPP), which was based on the principles of Prajakiya (citizen-centric administration).