Upendra Rao
The Kannada star has three phases of his career- his films purely as a director where he doesn't play a role, films where he was both actor as well as director and films he did purely as an actor.
Upendra started his career as an assistant to another director turned actor Kashinath (director and actor of films like Anubhavam which he directed in Hindi as Anubhav). As a director Upendra got acclaim with the monstrous hit Om which is considered one of the biggest blockbuster of the Kannada cinema. The film was remade in many languages including in Hindi as Arjun Pandit.
Soon he also acted in his own directional films like Super or A which were very successful. Some of these films were also controversial for the depiction of women in these films but these films are considered cult classic.
Lastly he started getting offers as an actor from outside productions and he has since worked in more than 50 films with films like Preethse which was the remake of Darr, and Aishwarya (debut film of Deepika Padukone much before Om Shanti Om). More recently he was seen in a supporting role in Rajanikanth’s Jailer. However as a lead actor his last few films have not fared well including his ambitious film as actor and director UI. His film Kabzaa was one of the biggest disasters of Kannada cinema and he has not delivered a proper hit since many years.
But still he is recognised as one of the most formidable figures in the Kannada industry who has occasionally worked in Tamil and Telugu films as well.