Kannada film industry's one of the most famous actors Upendra’s full name is Upendra Rao. His proper is Thekkette, Koteshwara, Kundapur Thakuk, Udupi district, Karnataka.
He was born in Bangalore in 1968 to Manjunath Rao and Anasuya. He is the second son, his elder brother is an Army officer. Upendra graduated in Bachelor of Commerce from APS College of Commerce, Bangalore.
Since his college days he was interested in acting, he used to participate in plays and often formed troups with his friends. Actor, director Kashinath is Upendra's distant relative, he was associated with him since his college days.
Upendra is also known as Uppi in the Kannada film industry. In 1989 he began his filmy career as a writer and as an assistant director to Kashinath. Kashinath is also an actor and a film director.
Before becoming an actor Upendra received major recognition and success by directing films, his first directorial film was Tharle Nan Maga which was released in 1992. In 1993 he directed horror suspense film Shhh! and it was a major box office success As a director he got a big name with the block-buster film Om in 1995, in which Shiva Rajkumar was the leading hero. Later he made it in Telugu as Omkara.
In 1998, Upendra became an actor with his own directorial film ‘A’ which had become a major hit film. Its Telugu dubbed version was also a big hit and was screened for 100 days in Andhra Pradesh.
Before A he appeared in cameo roles, in 1989s Kashinath‘s film Ananthana Avantara, he did the role of Lord Kamdeva in a song Come on Come on Kamanna. After that he did cameo roles in Ajagajantara, Shhh! in 1999 and Operation Antha in 1995.
In 1999 the film Upendra brought him further fame and success, the film made many box office records and became a much bigger hit than film A in both Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In this film Upendra he had casted the Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon. He is in the film Industry since more than 35 years and acted in more than 60 films and directed 10 films.
His several films have completed 100 days such as , A, Upendra, Preethse, Kutumba, Rakta Kanneeru, Gokarna, Gowramma, Auto Shankar, Super, Budhivanta and Uppi 2.
In the film industry he worked in various fields as an actor, director, producer, dialogue writer, screen writer, lyricist and playback singer.
In 2015, he directed and acted in Uppi 2, though it received mixed reviews because of its confusing storyline and screenplay, it was a commercially hit film. It became the second highest grossing Kannada film of all time in the US.
In 2023 Upendra starred in Kabzaa and it couldn't impress the audience due to its similarity with KGF series.
After Uppi 2 he took a long break from direction. In 2024 his directorial film UI got released.
Referring to Upendra's political journey:
In 2017, he joined a political party by name Karnataka Prgnyavanta Janatha Paksha but he quit the party in 2018 due to internal differences.
On 18th September 2018, Upendra launched his own political party, Uttama Prajaakeeya Party (UPP) with a new manifesto based on ART (Accountability, Responsibility and Transparency) of governance . Prajaakeeya means people's centric as opposed to Rajakeeya.
Upendra's party UPP contested in 2019’s Lok Sabha Elections with candidates in all 28 constituencies in Karnataka, they followed a strict rule, only ordinary citizens with no criminal records or any corruption charges against them had contested. So being a celebrity Upendra himself didn't contest in the elections.
Party candidature is extrnded to the open public and candidates are chosen via a written test (based on the candidates reason for joining politics, their developmental plans and many more), an interview and extensive background checking is in the procedure. Apart from all these the candidates are expected to wear a uniform resembling a working structure as in any private establishment.
Referring to his personal life:
In 2003 Upendra got married with actress Priyanka, she was also Miss Kolkata. the duo starred together in two films, Telugu film Raa and Kannada film H2O. The couple have 2 children.
Upendra is known for directing his films in a naturalstic way. He never hesitated to project his ideas or thoughts on the silver screen. So Kannada people fondly called him as the Real Star of the Kannada Cinema and as such he holds this title. He got appreciated for his acting talents and direction skills, at the same time he got criticized for projecting the things in extreme ways. But is is true that he has his own talents in many fields of the film field, he has his own ideas in filmmaking and he has come up with his own talents, capabilities and efforts.
In 2011, during a private screening of Upendra's film Super, Tamil superstar Rajinikanth called Upendra a great actor and director and said that there is hardly anyone in the Indian cinema who would think like Upendra and he also added that he likes upendra's films and he also expressed his desire to work in Upendra's films.
Upendra's upcoming films are Kannada film Buddhivanta 2 ( the sequel of 2008 block-buster Budhivanta) and Tamil film Coolie in which he has a prominent role, starring alongside Rajinikanth. He returned to the Tamil film industry after acting in Vishal starred film Satyam in 2008.
