T. S. Nagabharana


Talakadu Srinivasaiah Nagabharana is an Indian film director, in the Kannada film industry and a pioneer of the parallel cinema. He is one of the few film directors to have straddled the mainstream and parallel cinema worlds. He achieved success both in television and cinema. He has made 36 films in Kannada which have earned him 10 national awards, 23 State awards, 8 films entered into Indian Panorama in International Film Festivals.
He has contributed a lot to Kannada theatre. Being a student of legendary theatre personality Padmasri B V Karanth, Nagabharana has been active in theatre in capacities as actor, director and writer. He has directed 36 plays. He has been an administrator for several theatre repertories, especially Rangayana, Mysuru and Benaka Theatre Group, Bengaluru.
He has produced and directed number of serials and other programs for Doordarshan and other channels.
His movies were noted to be a major inspiration for some of the popular Hindi movies. His movie Mysore Mallige was an inspiration for . The core plot of Chigurida Kanasu was an inspiration for Swades. The movie Nagamandala was an inspiration for Paheli. The core plot of Kallarali Hoovagi was an inspiration for the storyline of Bajrangi Bhaijaan.
He has been the recipient of international, national, state and other awards for 20 of his 34 Kannada movies in the last 40 years. He was nominated as the chairman of Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy, Bangalore . Currently he is the Chairman of Kannada Development Authority of Govt of Karnataka.

Early life

T S Nagabharana was born on 23 January 1953 to A Srinivasaiah and Rudramma at Talakadu, Mysuru district, Karnataka. He is the second of the total five siblings. His grandfathers on both paternal and maternal side, Maddale Girigowda and Tippegowda were agriculturists but also Yakshagana exponents. Their influence on young Nagabharana was immense. His father Srinivasaiah served as deputy director in Agriculture Department, Bengaluru. After primary education in Talakadu, Nagabharana’s further education was at Bengaluru. During his college days Nagabharana came under the indelible influence of the great playwright Adya Rangacharya. As a student he directed two plays Evam Indrajit and Shoka Chakra. He got involved with amateur theatre and initially worked backstage and as a technician and eventually became an actor, singer and director.
During his theatre days he met Nagini, who was also involved with theatre. They fell in love and got married on 10 December 1979. They continue to work together in films, TV and theatre till date. Nagini Bharana has won National Award for Best Children’s Film, State award for Best Costume for Kallarali Hoovaagi, directed by Nagabharana. The couple have a son Pannaga Bharana, who is also a film director and a daughter Shrutha Bharana, who takes care of BAPA as faculty.

Career

By the time he completed his BSc degree, Nagabharana had established himself as a serious actor- director. He directed and acted plays like Sangya Balya, Kathale Belaku, Shakarana Sarotu, Jokumaraswamy, Oedipus, Sattavara Neralu, Krishna Parijata, Tingara Buddanna, Mundena Sakhi Mundena, Hayavadana, Neegikonda Samsa, Baka and Blood Wedding.
He joined LLB course in Sri Jagadguru Renukacharya collage of Law. Even as a student he worked as assistant director in the films Kaadu, directed by Girish Karnad, which won the national award; as associate to B V Karanth for Chomana Dudi. Even as a student he wanted to direct his own film and directed his first film Grahana, which won the National Award 1979- Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration, National Film Award for Best Screenplay – T S Nagabharana & T S Ranga, Karnataka State Film Awards 1978-79 - First Best Film, Best Cinematographer – S. Ramachandra. The film was also selected for Internationales Film festival Mannheim-Heidelberg,Germany.
He also worked as a backstage worker, actor, singer and director. He associated with leading theatre personalities like B. V. Karanth, Chandrashekhara Kambara and Girish Karnad.
He received a gold medal from the Government of India for his achievement in theatre. He is the founder of a theatre organisation called "Benaka". He also started Shruthalaya, an organisation for organising, writing, composing, camera work, lighting, art, acting, editing and directing.

Theatre

He is a fan of Akira Kurosawa and Ingmar Bergman.

TV

National Network

National Network
Regional Network

As Actor

Nagabharana has also acted in many movies. Some of them are-
YearFilmRoleNotes
1983Adi ShankaracharyaMruthyu
1985AccidentRamanna
2001NeelaDoctor
2008Mr. GaragasaSharath
2011KiratakaYash's father
2012Kamsaale KaisaaleAs father
2014VasundharaAs villain
2014Jai LalithaSrikantaiah
2016Uppina KaagadaMain protagonist
2018TV Chanel Owner

Achievements

Nagabharana has won nine National and 14 State awards.

National Film Awards

Karnataka State Awards

Filmfare Awards South

Others