V. Somashekhar

Venkatappa Somashekhar (27 July 1937 – 22 August 2003) was an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter in Kannada and Malayalam cinema. In 40 years of his career as a director, he directed 49 films, including commercial successes such as Premada Kanike (1976), Shankar Guru (1978), Seetharamu (1979), Chakravyuha (1983), and Prathap (1990). Widely known for action-oriented movies, he was much sought as a hit-machine.

Following his directorial career, he worked as the President of Kannada Film Directors Association. Recognizing his contribution to Kannada cinema, he was awarded the Puttanna Kanagal Award in 2001.

Career

In 1955, in Madras (now Chennai), at the age of 18, Somashekhar entered cinema hoping to become an actor and started as a clapperboard operator. He then appeared in uncredited film roles before working as a dubbing artist. Following this, he worked as an assistant director to popular film directors at the time, R. Nagendra Rao, N. G. Rajan, Y. R. Swamy, Ramamurthy and Babu Rao.

Actor Dr. Rajkumar was impressed by Somashekhar's work in Choori Chikkanna (1969), and urged to him direct films independently. Somashekhar started out with Rajkumar's 1974 film Bangaarada Panjara. The film was a commercial success. Collaborating with Rajkumar, he followed this up with other hit films such as Premada Kanike (1976), Shankar Guru (1978), Thayige Thakka Maga (1978), Havina Hede (1981) and Parashuram (1989).

Somashekhar was instrumental in building the career of Shankar Nag as an action hero, directing him in films such as Seetharamu (1979), Aarada Gaaya (1980) and Devara Aata (1981). He directed Ambareesh in the 1983 film Chakravyuha for Eshwari Productions, after their previous venture Ajith ran well. Chakravyuha, a commercial success, was remade in Hindi as Inquilaab, and revived the latter's career following a series of failures. Ambareesh went on to do a string of films with Somashekhar, namely Gajendra, Chaduranga, Deverelliddaane, Mrugaalaya, Bete, Mr Raja and Bedi, each having a tone of a rebel hero fighting against the corrupt, earning the sobriquet "Rebel Star."

With Vishnuvardhan, Somashekhar worked in Kalinga (1980) and Chanakya (1984). Other popular films directed by Somashekhar include Point Parimala (1980), Ranaranga (1988) and S. P. Bhargavi (1981). In the late 1980s, he floated a production company, Vijaya Shekhar Productions with another director Vijay. They collaborated with writer C. V. Shivashankar and made a string of successful films together.

Final years and death

Following his film career as a director after retiring in 1992, Somashekhar associated himself with the Kannada Film Directors Association, serving as its president and as a working committee member of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce.

Recognizing his contribution to Kannada cinema, he was awarded the Puttanna Kanagal Award in 2001, for 1999–2000.

He took to agriculture in the following years and also suffered from renal disorder during this time. He died on 22 August 2003, at a hospital in St. John's Medical College, Bangalore.

Filmography

External links

• at IMDb