Sri Murali Gowda (born 17 December 1981),[1] known as Sriimurali and sometimes Murali,[2] is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Kannada cinema. After making his debut in 2003 in Chandra Chakori, he appeared in Kanti as the eponymous lead, a performance that won him the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor in 2004.[3][4] His performance in the 2014 Kannada film Ugramm received unanimous praise and emerged as a major success.[5]

Sriimurali
Murali during press conference of Ugramm in 2014.
Born
Sri Murali Gowda

(1981-12-17) 17 December 1981 (age 42)
Other namesMurali Dev, Roaring Star
OccupationActor
Years active2003–present
Spouse
Vidya
(m. 2008)
Children2
FatherS. A. Chinne Gowda
RelativesVijay Raghavendra (brother)
Prashanth Neel (brother-in-law)
See Rajkumar family

Early and personal life

edit

Sriimurali was born on 17 December 1981 in Bangalore, Karnataka, in a family of film people. His father S. A. Chinne Gowda is a film producer and brother Vijay Raghavendra, an actor. Actor Rajkumar was his uncle and actors Shiva Rajkumar and Puneeth Rajkumar his cousins. He married his Telugu girlfriend, Vidya from Andhra,[6] on 11 May 2008.[7][8] They have a son - Agastya and a daughter - Atheeva together, who are born in 2009 and 2014 respectively.[9] Vidya is the sister of Prashanth Neel, a director in Kannada cinema, and cousin of Aadarsh Balakrishna, an actor in Telugu Cinema.[10]

Career

edit

Sriimurali made his debut in films in 2003 with a romance film, Chandra Chakori. The film performed well and his performance received praise.[11][12] In Kanti set in the backdrop of the Karnataka–Maharashtra border dispute, he played the eponymous lead of a college student who, on falling in love with a Marathi girl, gets embroiled politically.[13] His performance won him the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor.[14]

Sriimurali then appeared in films such as Yashwanth, Siddhu, Shambu and Preethigaagi, which did not perform well at the box office. In 2008, he appeared in Minchina Ota, produced by his father, also starring brother Vijay Raghavendra. He also takes care of the production responsibilities of his family banner Sowbhagya Pictures, under which several films produced by his father were made such as Sevanthi Sevanthi and Ganesha Matthe Banda.[15] After hits Chandra Chakori, and Kanti, Sri Murali could not keep up the expectations of the audiences and all of his consecutive films were flops.[16][17]

Prashanth Neel (Murali's brother in law) came up with an action drama story in 2008, exclusively for taking off Sri Murali's career again on a high note. The movie was initially named Nandhe and later changed to Ugramm. It took nearly 4–5 years for completion of the project, which marked Neel's directorial debut. The film was released in 2014. In the film, Sri Murali played the role of Agastya, a mechanic, who protects Nithya (played by Haripriya) from being caught alive by goons, and takes on the mafia. The film emerged as a critical and commercial success with his performance receiving acclaim.[2] A. Sharadhaa of The Indian Express wrote: "This is definitely a 'comeback' film for Murali, a carefully thought-out project for him by the director. Murali is smarter than he looks and tougher than people expected him to be."[18] He received his first nominations for Best Actor in Filmfare Awards South and SIIMA Awards. Following the massive success of the film, it was reported that he was flooded with offers for film totaling to 67, all of which he rejected.[19]

Filmography

edit
  • Note: He was credited as Murali from 2003 to 2007. He was credited as Sriimurali from 2008 onwards.
Key
Denotes films that have not yet been released
Year Film Role Notes Ref.
2003 Chandra Chakori Puttaraju Debut as lead role
2004 Kanti Srikantha "Kanti"
2005 Yashwanth Yeshwanth credited as Murali Dev [20]
Siddhu Siddharth "Siddhu" [21]
Shambu Shambu [22]
2006 Gopi Gopi credited as Murali Dev [23]
2007 Preethigaagi Sanjay
2008 Minchina Ota Bhadra
2009 Shivamani Shivamani
Yagna Yagna
2010 Sihigali Dharani
Sri Harikathe Hari
2011 Hare Rama Hare Krishna Rama / Krishna
2012 Sri Kshetra Adichunchanagiri Sri Balagandhranatha Swami
2013 Loosegalu Kabira
Bhajarangi Himself Special appearance in song "Bossu Nam Bossu"
2014 Ugramm Agastya
Adyaksha Himself Special appearance in song "Phonu Illa"
2015 Murari Murari
Rathavara Rathavara Also playback singer for song "Hudugi Kannu"
2017 Raj Vishnu Murali Special appearance
Mufti Gana
2018 Iruvudellava Bittu Narrator Voice role [24]
2019 Bharaate Jagan Mohan & Jaya Ratnakara Dual role
2021 Madhagaja Surya
2024 Bagheera DSP Vedanth Prabhakar IPS / Bagheera [25]
As singer
Year Film Song Co-singer Composer
2016 Zoom "Hey Diwana" Radhika Pandit S. Thaman
2017 Mahanubhavaru "Gadige Hornu Breaku" Puneeth Rajkumar Satish Mourya

Awards

edit
Film Award Category Result Ref.
Kanti 2004–05 Karnataka State Film Awards Best Actor Won [26][3][27]
Ugramm 62nd Filmfare Awards South Best Actor Nominated [28][29]
4th SIIMA Awards Best Actor Nominated [30]
Mufti 7th SIIMA Awards Best Actor Nominated [31][32]
Critics Choice - Best Actor Won
Bharaate 9th SIIMA Awards Best Actor Nominated

References

edit
  1. ^ "Srimurali's magnanimous cake". The Times of India. 18 December 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Shaping rage into strength". Deccan Herald. 22 February 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Shruti, Murali bag Karnataka film awards". The Times of India. 22 September 2005. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  4. ^ "Karnataka State Film Awards 2004-05". viggy.com. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  5. ^ "After 14 flops, Sri Murli finally got success". Deccan Chronicle. 30 May 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  6. ^ "KGF Director Prashanth Neel's Special Connection with Andhra Pradesh. Learn More". 27 April 2022.
  7. ^ "Murali to marry girlfriend Vidya". bangalore365.com. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  8. ^ "Murali to marry". indiaglitz.com. 25 January 2008. Archived from the original on 28 January 2008. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  9. ^ Christopher, Kavya. "Srimurali blessed with a baby girl". The Times of India. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  10. ^ As, Sashidhar. "New baddie on the block: Aadarsh Balakrishna". The Times of India. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  11. ^ "Murali". The Times of India. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  12. ^ Rao, K. N. Venkatasubba (4 January 2004). "2003, a flop for Kannada cinema". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 28 February 2018. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  13. ^ "Kanti". Deccan Herald. 11 July 2004. Archived from the original on 25 August 2004. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  14. ^ "Murali, Shruthi bag Best Actor awards; 'Mona Lisa' best film". oneindia.com. 25 March 2006. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  15. ^ "Love Cinema and Make it - Srimurali". supergoodmovies.com. 7 August 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  16. ^ "After 14 flops, Sri Murli finally got success". Deccan Chronicle. 31 May 2014.
  17. ^ R., Shilpa Sebastian (10 June 2019). "Kannada star Sri Murali is back with his next outing 'Bharaate'". The Hindu.
  18. ^ A. Sharadhaa. "A Grand Avatar of Sri Murali in 'Ugramm'". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  19. ^ A. Sharadhaa (4 June 2014). "Sri Murali Rejects 67 Scripts After Ugramm". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  20. ^ "'Yashawanth' film review - a film starring Murali and Rakshita".
  21. ^ "Siddu: Good for Murali fans".
  22. ^ "Shambu Review | Shambu Kannada Movie Review by R.G.Vijayasarathy". 20 October 2005.
  23. ^ "Gopi: Even Murali fails to save it".
  24. ^ "'Iruvudellava Bittu' review: A family entertainer with a contemporary twist". The News Minute. 21 September 2018.
  25. ^ "Upcoming Movies of @SRIMURALIII to watch out for". FilmiBeat. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  26. ^ "Karnataka State Film Awards 2004-05". kannadamoviesinfo. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  27. ^ "Karnataka State Film Awards 2004-05". viggy.com. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  28. ^ "62nd Filmfare Awards South 2015 Kannada Nomination: Puneeth Rajkumar, Rakshit Shetty, Sharan, Srimurali, Yash in 'Best Actor' Category". IBtimes. 4 June 2015.
  29. ^ "62nd Filmfare Awards South 2015 Nominations". Daily India. 4 June 2015. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015.
  30. ^ Ujala Ali Khan (8 August 2015). "Dubai hosts fourth South Indian International Movie Awards". Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  31. ^ "SIIMA Awards 2018 - Telugu, Kannada nomination list out". International Business Times. 5 August 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  32. ^ "SIIMA Awards 2018 Telugu Kannada winners list". International Business Times. 16 September 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
edit