Telugu Megastar Chiranjeevi appeared in 1996 Kannada film alongside V. Ravichandran in the action film Sipayi. The film was big box-office hit.
Chiranjeevi did an extended cameo role of Major Chandrakanth. Later Sipayi was dubbed in Telugu as Major in 1998, it was dubbed in Tamil language also.
People of Karnataka liked the appearance of Chiranjeevi in a Kannada film for the first time and also liked his performance in the film Sipayi. The song, ' Snehakke Sneha…’ picturized with Chiranjeevi and Ravichandran was a major hit song.
Ravichandran himself has written, directed and produced the film. Soundarya did the female leading actress role.
Chiranjeevi appeared as Lord Shiva in 2001s Kannada film Shri Manjunatha. It was major box-office hit. Other actors such as Arjun Sarja, Soundarya, Meena, Ambareesh and others acted in the film, K. Raghavendra Rao directed the film.
So far Chiranjeevi has acted in 2 Kannada films and both the films received good response from the audience.
Sai Kumar:
He is very well known actor for the people of Karnataka, basically a Telugu actor. He acted in numerous Kannada films as a leading hero, as a supporting actor and also in negative characters. As a hero some of his noted and major box-office hit films are Police Story in 1996, Agni IPS in 1997, Central Jail in 1997 and Police Story 2 in 2007.
Sai Kumar made his Kannada debut in 1992 with the film Prema Sangama in a supporting role, since then he is constantly acting in Kannada films in various different types of roles.
He acted in Kannada film Rangi Taranga, it was one among the 300 films eligible to get nominated for Oscars in 2016. It was a big hit film and emerged as the highest grossing film of the year. Sai Kumar has given a stand out performance in Rangi Taranga and he also won 3 awards : Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor, IIFA Utsavam for Best Supporting Actor and SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role.
In 2019, Sai Kumar starred alongwith his two brothers Ravi Shankar and Ayyappa in the film Bharrate. For this film he won SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role.
For the last time in 2022 he acted in 3 Kannada films : Avatara Purusha, Ombattane Dikku and Made In Bengaluru.
Sai Kumar always credited Kannada Cinema for his success, says that Kannada people made him a star and he is always indebted to Karnataka for giving him a chance to act in Police Story during his struggling days. During the promotional event of the film ‘Made in Bengaluru', he proudly said that he is also made in Bengaluru.
Several noted Telugu actresses such as Jaya Prada, Jaya Chitra, Sumalatha, Saritha, Bhanupriya, Radha, Radhika, Malashri, Roja, Ramba and many other Telugu actresses made a big name in Kannada cinema and some acheived big success in the Kannada film industry.