List of Kannada Movies directed by R. Nagendra Rao

List of Kannada Movies directed by R. Nagendra Rao: R. Nagendra Rao is one of the important names in the history of south Indian cinema. His contribution to the Indian cinema and theater is huge. He was a multi talented artist. He was an actor, director, writer, composer and producer. He worked in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi movies.

R. Nagendra Rao was born on 23 June 1896, in Holalkere, in Kingdom of Mysore of British India. He started to act in plays in the early age of 8. His career in movies started in early 1930’s. He acted in Telugu, Tamil and Kannada movies. He enacted the role of Ravana in 1934 film ‘Sati Sulochana’- The first talkie film in Kannada.

He made his directorial debut in 1943 through the Kannada film Satya Harishchandra. He went to direct, act and produce films in different languages. He won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor for the For the 1968 Kannada film ‘Hannele Chiguridaga’ starring Rajkumar and Kalpana.

R. Nagendra Rao had four children. His second son, R. N. K. Prasad, was a cinematographer, his third son, R. N. Jayagopal was a renowned lyricist and his youngest, R. N. Sudarshan was an actor.

R. Nagendra Rao is considered one of the most influential personalities in the history of South Indian cinema. Government of India awarded ‘Padma Shri’ to R. Nagendra Rao in 1976 for his contribution to Indian Cinema.

He directed 10 films in Kannada. Let’s check Kannada Movies directed by R. Nagendra Rao.

Kannada Movies directed by R. Nagendra Rao

1. Satya Harishchandra [1943] : Satya Harishchandra is a 1943 Kannada film which marked the debut of R. Nagendra Rao as director. He wrote, direct and co-produced the film with A. V. Meiyappan. This is the first Kannada movie to be dubbed into other languages. The film was dubbed into Tamil and released in 1944.

Satya Harishchandra features Subbaiah Naidu, Lakshmibai, J. V. Krishnamurthy Rao, R. Nagendra Rao, B. S. Raja Iyengar, and others. The music of the film was composed by R. Sudarshanam and the songs were written by Gamiki Ramakrishna Sastry. Kamala Bai, Lakshmi Bai, and Raja Iyengar sung the songs in this film.

2. Mahatma Kabir [1947] : Mahatma Kabir is a 1947 Kannada film directed by R. Nagendra Rao. The film features R. Nagendra Rao, Subbaiah Naidu, Lakshmi Bai, Kamalabai, M. G. Mari Rao, H. Ramachandra Shastry, and others. S. Subbaraman was the music director of this film. The film was about Hindu-Muslim unity. The film was appreciated and the effort of R. Nagendra Rao was praised by by critics.

3. Jataka Phala [1953] : R. Nagendra Rao’s next Kannada directorial film was Jataka Phala featuring himself and Sarangapani. R Goverdhan was the music director of this film. The film was also released in Telugu as ‘Jatakam’.

4. Premada Putri [1957] : Premada Putri is a 1957 Kannada film directed R. Nagendra Rao. Apart from directing R. Nagendra Rao, acted and produced this film under the banner R. N. R. Pictures. The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada for the year 1957.

Premada Putri movie cast includes Udayakumar, Sandhya, Sri Ranjini, Gummadi Venkateswara Rao, R. Nagendra Rao and others. R. N. K. Prasad son of R. Nagendra Rao was introduced in this film as a cinematographer.

H. R. Padmanabha Shastry and T. G. Lingappa were the music directors of this film. R. N. Jayagopal wrote Four songs and K. Prabhakara Shastry wrote one song. Singers Ghantasala, P. Leela, and R. N. Panigrahi rendered the songs.

5. Vijayanagarada Veeraputra [1961] : Vijayanagarada Veeraputra is a 1961 Kannada movie directed and produced by R. Nagendra Rao. The film stars the ensembel cast of R. N. Sudarshan, B. Sarojadevi, Kalyankumar, Udayakumar, R. Nagendra Rao, Balakrishna, Narasimharaju, Sandhya, Lakshmidevi, Ramadevi, and others.

R. N. Jayagopal worte the story, screenplay, Dialogue and songs for this film. R. N. K. Prasad was the Cinematographer. R. Nagendra Rao’s three sons R. N. K. Prasad, R. N. Jayagopal, and R. N. Sudarshan were part of this film.

Famous music director duo of Vishwanathan-Ramamurthy composed the songs. The song ‘Apaara Keerthi Galisi Mereva’ is still very popular song. P. B. Srinivas, P. Susheela, P. Leela, P. Nageswara Rao, L. R. Eshwari sung songs in this film.

6. Ananda Bashpa [1963] : R. Nagendra Rao directed and produced Ananda Bashpa Kannada film which was released in is a 1963. The film starred R. N. Sudarshan, K. S. Ashwath, Harini, Rajani, R. Nagendra Rao, and others. G. K. Venkatesh was the music director of this film.

7. Pathiye Daiva [1964] : The next Kannada film directed and produced by R. Nagendra Rao was Pathiye Daiva released in 1964. The film  had an ensemble cast of R. N. Sudarshan, Kalpana, Jayanthi, Pandari Bai, R. Nagendra Rao and others. Vijaya Bhaskar was the music director of this film.

8. Premakku Permitte [1967] : Premakkoo Permitte is a 1967 Kannada film, directed by R. Nagendra Rao and produced by Harini. The film stars Kalyan Kumar, Kalpana, Narasimharaju, Jr. Revathi, R. Nagendra Rao, Dinesh, H. Ramachandra Shastry, P. Vadiraj, B. Ramadevi, and others. Vijaya Bhaskar composed the songs. R. N. Jayagopal wrote the lyrics of the songs. Singers P. B. Sreenivas, S. Janaki, P. Susheela rendered the songs of this film.

9. Namma Makkalu [1969] : Namma Makkalu was a 1969 Kannada Movie directed by R. Nagendra Rao. The film features K. S. Ashwath, Pandari Bai, Chandrashekar, Amarnath, Rohini, Adavani Lakshmidevi, R. Nagendra Rao, Ramadevi, Vadiraj, Indrani, B. Jaya, and others.  Actors Kalpana, Balakrishna, Shivaram, N. S. Vaman made guest appearance in this movie.

Songs of this movie were composed by Vijaya Bhaskar and written by lyricist R. N. Jayagopal son of R. Nagendra Rao. Singers P. B.  Srinivas, S. Janaki, B. K. Sumithra, L. R. Anjali, Kousalya had lent their voice to the songs. ‘Ninnolume Namagirali Thande’ is one of the unforgettable song from this movie.

Namma Makkalu film won four Karnataka State Film Awards 1968-69. It won the award for Second Best Film, Best Supporting Actor award for K. S. Ashwath, Best Supporting Actress for Pandaribai, Best Dialogue Writer for R N Jayagopal.

10. Nadina Bhagya [1970] : Nadina Bhagya is the last Kannada film directed by R. Nagendra Rao. This 1970 Kannada film, featured R. N. Sudarshan, T. R. Narasimharaju R. Nagendra Rao, Ku Ra Seetharama Shastry, B. M. Venkateshin, and others. Dr. Rajkumar made an extended cameo in this the movie. The film has musical score by R. Rathnam.

List of Kannada Movies directed by R. Nagendra Rao

1. Satya Harishchandra [1943]
2. Mahatma Kabir [1947]
3. Jataka Phala [1953]
4. Premada Putri [1957]
5. Vijayanagarada Veeraputra [1961]
6. Ananda Bashpa [1963]
7. Pathiye Daiva [1964]
8. Premakku Permitte [1967]
9. Namma Makkalu [1969]
10. Nadina Bhagya [1970]

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