Sunil Rao (born 4 September 1978) is a Kannada cinema actor from India. He is also a singer who has performed for few Kannada film songs. He has acted in numerous films as a child artist and also featured in a few television series.[1]
Sunil Rao | |
|---|---|
| Born | Karnataka, India |
| Other names | Sunil Rao |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, singer |
| Years active | 1987–1994 2001–2010 2017–present |
| Spouse | Shreya Iyer |
| Mother | B. K. Sumitra |
| Family | Sowmya Rao (sister) |
Personal life and family
editSunil Rao comes from a family of well-known musicians. His mother B. K. Sumitra, is a prominent Sugama Sangeetha (light music) singer. His sister Sowmya Rao is also an established playback singer who has performed for various films in different languages.[1] He was also interested in playback-singing and entered the film industry aspiring to be one. But he had to change his path towards acting since offers came pouring ever since he was a child. He studied in Bangalore's National College.[citation needed]
Career
editAs a child artist
editRao started his career as a child artiste in the year 1987 for the films such as Kendada Male and Elu Suttina Kote. [citation needed]He performed his roles much to the attention of producers and went on acting in a few more films.[citation needed]
Television artist
editRao, aspiring to be a playback singer, re-entered acting in his teens. He appeared in a few soap operas that included Janani, Chaduranga, Punarjanma, B. Suresha's Sadhane and T. N. Seetharam's Manvantara and Bhageerathi. In Janani, he was cast as the grandson of Bharathi Vishnuvardhan's character.[2]
Films
editSunil Rao began his film career acting in some non-significant character roles in the films such as Chitra and Panchaalee. However, he shot to fame in the 2003 released Hinglish film Freaky Chakra. He starred alongside Deepti Naval as a young boy infatuated by an older woman. He also starred as a teenage lover in the Kavita Lankesh directorial Preethi Prema Pranaya opposite Anu Prabhakar, the same year. Then came his most successful Kannada film Excuse Me (2003) where he played an anti-hero character alongside Ajay Rao and Ramya.
In 2005, he starred in a series of unsuccessful films like Chappale, Masala and Sakha Sakhi. The latter was a remake of the Tamil hit Thiruda Thirudi. Most of his films during this time featured him alongside other male lead characters. Sakha Sakhi was an exception to this. In 2006, he starred in the critically acclaimed Belli Betta directed by Shivaraj Hoskere.[3]
Following these ventures, Rao became choosy and featured in very few films in the late 2000s. Minugu opposite Pooja Gandhi was his solo release in the year 2010. Noted film maker Sunil Kumar Desai announced a film called Sarigama in 2008 with Rao and Prajwal Devaraj in the lead. This film, expected to have a 2012 release got shelved due to unknown reasons.[4]
Reports of him coming back to acting after a hiatus made news with his longtime associate director announcing his project called Bangalore Calling. It reported that Sunil would play one of the three main lead roles.[5]
Filmography
edit| † | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Kendada Male | As child artist | |
| 1988 | Elu Suttina Kote | Ganesha | As child artist |
| 1991 | Readymade Ganda | As child artist | |
| Shanti Kranti | As child artist | ||
| 1992 | Prana Snehitha | As child artist | |
| Mysore Jaana | Anand | As child artist | |
| 1994 | Gandugali | As child artist | |
| 2001 | Vande Matharam | Abhishek | |
| Chitra | Ramu's friend | ||
| 2003 | Panchaali | ||
| Freaky Chakra | Unannounced Guest | Hindi film | |
| Excuse Me | Sunil | ||
| Preethi Prema Pranaya | Vivek | ||
| 2004 | Baa Baaro Rasika | Vishwa | |
| Chappale | Vijay | ||
| 2005 | Masaala | Vishwa | |
| Sakha Sakhi | Siva | ||
| 2006 | Belli Betta | Shiva | |
| Jackpot | Himself | Guest appearance; also playback singer | |
| 2010 | Minugu | Aditya | |
| Premism | Prasanna | Guest appearance | |
| 2022 | Old Monk | Krishna | Guest appearance |
| Thurthu Nirgamana | Vikram | also playback singer | |
| 2024 | Maryade Prashne | Satisha | [6] |
Web series
edit| Year of Release | Film | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Loose Connection | First Kannada webseries |
- As playback singer
Awards
editHe has been awarded the 'Roopakala Belli Kanmani Award' as a 'Naada shreshta Kalavida' by the 'Roopakala Utsava-25' linked with the Karnataka State in the year 2011.[citation needed]
References
edit- ^ a b "Entertainment Bangalore : Small and spicy". The Hindu. 9 September 2005. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
- ^ Srinivasa, Srikanth (9 February 2003). "Two guys & a goal". Deccan Herald. Archived from the original on 29 December 2003. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
- ^ "Sunil Raos back – Bollywood Movie News". Indiaglitz.com. 10 December 2005. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
- ^ "Kannada Movie/Cinema News – SUNIL KUMAR DESAI IS BACK WITH 'SARIGAMA'". Chitratara.com. 9 November 2008. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
- ^ "Sunil Rao to act again?". Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
- ^ "A middle class story - Bangalore Mirror". bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com. 27 June 2024.
- ^ https://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/kannada/movies/news/sunil-rao-records-a-song-in-his-upcoming-film/amp_articleshow/67710467.cms [bare URL]