Kannada cinema industry has a handful of talented directors. For the past decade or so, new directors are making their presence felt with captivating concepts. While many of them enjoy a good following among the Kannada audience, a few are even spreading wings are gaining a pan-India image. Now, we bring you the list of Best Kannada Movie Directors for the past decade.
Yogaraj Bhat is active in Kannada films since 2001. He started his directional career with a film titled, Chakra. He is also an actor and lyricist. In 2013, Yogaraj Bhat won Filmfare Award for the Best Lyricist for his own directional film, Drama. He also bagged Bangalore Times Film Award for the same film for the song titled, Bombe Adsonu. Currently, he is busy directing a sequel to his 2008 film, Gaalipata.
Nanda Kishore made his directional debut in the year with a film titled, Victory. To date, seven films from Nanda Kishore are released including earlier this year released, Pogaru. Nanda Kishore is currently busy directing his eighth film, Raana. To date, Nanda Kishore is only restricted to Kannada films and he is yet to get pan-India recognition.
To date, Pavan Wadeyar directed eight films and is filming his ninth film titled, Raymo for the past two years. Debuted with Govindaya Namaha in 2012 as the director, Pavan Wadeyar got good fame in the 2013 film, Googly. He even directed the Telugu film, Potugadu with Manchu Manoj in 2013. Pavan Wadeyar won a few state, Filmfare and SIIMA awards for his work as the director.
Made his directorial debut in 2007 with a film titled, Sixer, Shashank is one of the noted directors in the Kannada industry. To date, eight films of Shashank released and two other films are at the filming stage. His immediate film is Love 360 which will have a theatrical release in 2022 and later has a project with Upendra and Haripriya in the pipeline. For films like Krishna Leela, Bachchan, Krishnan Love Story and Moggina Manasu, Shashank got a few Filmfare and state awards.
Sukka Suri aka Duniya Suri became famous with the screen name after the blockbuster success of his directorial debut film, Duniya. Earlier, he was a screenwriter and later turned director. To date, twelve films Duniya Suri are our and three more are under the production stage. He is restricted to only Kannada films and is yet to get a pan-India identity.
Made his directorial debut with the 2014 film, Ugramm, Prashant Neel has caught the Indian audience attention with his second film, KGF Chapter 1 which had a theatrical release in 2018. Currently, he is waiting for the release of KGF Chapter 2. The film is slated to hit the screens on April 14, 2022. On the other hand, he is also directing Prabhas’ action film, Salaar.
Made his directorial debut with the 2014 film, Mr and Mrs Ramachari, to date, four films are out from the director. Apart from directing films, Santhosh Ananddram is also known for providing scripts for other films. Earlier, this year, his film, Yuvarathnaa with late Kannada star Puneeth Rajkumar was released. Currently, he is busy working on his next project, Raghavendra Stores. For films like Mr and Mrs Ramachari and Raajakumara, Santhosh Ananddram won multiple state and Filmfare awards.
Prashant Shetty popularly known as Rishab Shetty is one of the popular directors in Kannada. He started his directorial career with the 2016 film, Ricky. He got recognition with the same year released, Kirik Party. Apart from directing films, Rishab is known for actor and producing films. Currently, he has three exciting projects in the pipeline like Kantara, Rudraprayag and SRK126. He won a couple of Filmfare and state awards for films like Kirik Party.
Pawan Kumar made his directorial debut with the 2011 film, Lifeu Ishtene. He shot to fame with the 2016 film, U-Turn which is later remade in Telugu with the same title by Pawan Kumar with Samantha. Pawan started his career as a screenwriter and later turned director. He even directed Aha’s Telugu web series, Kudi Yedamaithe with Amala Paul and Rahul. Currently, the talented director is busy with his new film, Dvitva. He even acted in a good number of films and got a Filmfare award as the best director for U-turn.
Started his career as a short film director with the 2007 film, Hasivu, Jayathirtha eventually turned as the feature film director with the 2011 film, Olave Mandara. He is currently busy filming the sequel to his 2019 film, Bell Bottom and has a film titled, Banaras ready for the theatrical release. Apart from writing and directing films, Jayathirtha is also known as the theatre director.
