Vishnuvardhan

Vishnuvardhan Biography

Dr. Vishnuvardhan was one of the prominent figures of south Indian cinema. More than a Kannada actor, he was better known as The Phoenix of Indian Cinema. He has acted in all south Indian languages and Hindi. His real name is Sampath Kumar. He adopted the name Vishnuvardhan at the insistence of Puttanna Kanagal, who directed his second movie, Naagarahaavu. It was the first Indian film with slow-motion recording of a song. Both Vamshavruksha and Naagarahaavu were released in the year 1972. This single movie gave him the image of ‘Angry Young Man’ of Kannada cinema. He was also a martial art expert. He has acted in more than 220 films of which 200 exclusively belong to Kannada language. He has also played lead role as main character Venkat Rao, in a story of Doordarshan’s popular serial, Malgudi days. Karnataka government renamed the life time achievement award as Dr. Vishnuvardhan Lifetime Achievement Award in honour of him.

Vishnuvardhan was born in Mysore to H. L.Narayan Rao, an artist and musician and Kamakshamma. He had 6 siblings. His sister Rama Ramachandra is a Kathak dancer. Vishnuvardhan started his career with the National Award-winning movie Vamshavruksha (1972) directed by Girish Karnad. He played lead role for the first time in his second movie, Naagarahaavu directed by Puttanna Kanagal. It was the first movie in Kannada film history to complete 100 days in 3 main theatres of Bangalore. Thus it marked the beginning of Vishnuvardhan magic onscreen! He has acted in both commercial movies as well as art films. Harakeya Kuri is one such instance.

Most of his songs have been sung by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam. It was widely believed that S. P. B’s voice perfectly suits this actor and their association clicked with his first movie as a lead actor. SPB has also composed all songs of Vishnuvardhan's film Sowbhagyalakshmi. Vishnuvardhan occasionally sings for movies and devotional albums also. He was married to south Indian actress Bharathi.

Published: N/A

Updated: March 18, 2014