Ganesh

Ganesh Kishan (born 2 July 1978), known mononymously as Ganesh, is an Indian actor, director, producer and television presenter known for his work in Kannada cinema.

Through his career in films and television shows, he has become one of the most popular celebrities and highest-paid actors in Kannada cinema.

He is the recipient of several awards, including two Filmfare Awards.

Ganesh was born on 2 July 1980 in Adakamaranahalli, a village in Nelamangala of Bangalore Rural district in Karnataka.

His father, Kishan, is originally from Nepal and belong to the Gurkha clan whilst his mother, Sulochana, is from Karnataka.

His first noticeable supporting role was of a villain character in the film Tapori (2002) which was directed by B. Suresha.

Portraying the character was a "gory" experience for Ganesh, since "the hero was supposed to hit on face and hit so hard that (his) nose started bleeding".

Following this, in 2003, he played side-kick roles in three films out of which M. D. Sridhar's Game For Love was noteworthy while the other two under-performed at the box-office.

He continued such roles in the years 2004 and 2005 starring in films such as Dayal Padmanabhan's Baa Baaro Rasika (2004) playing Sunil Raoh's friend, V. Ravichandran's Aham Premasmi (2005) and Nagathihalli Chandrashekar's Amrithadhare (2005) co-starring Dhyan, Ramya which also had a guest role played by Amitabh Bachchan.

Ganesh shot to fame with the film Mungaru Male (2006), which set a record in Kannada cinema.

In theatres, it was speculated to have collected over ₹75 crore by the end of its record-breaking 865-day theatrical run.

It was the first movie to be screened continuously for one year in a multiplex in any language in India.

The success of Mungaru Male brought Ganesh the nickname, "Golden Star".

In 2006, director M. D. Sridhar approached Ganesh to play the lead role in his film Chellata and he signed the project.

Featuring alongside Rekha Vedavyas, Ganesh's performance was well received, and the film was a box office success despite getting mixed reviews.

Soon after, director Preetham Gubbi approached him and outlined the story of his next script titled Mungaru Male, which had rain as a backdrop and to be directed by Yogaraj Bhat.

He was actively involved throughout the script development process and became curious to act in the movie.

He also helped director Bhat to meet the producer, E. Krishnappa.

Since Krishnappa knew Ganesh (both hails from Adakamaranahalli, Nelamangala), he agreed to finance the film.

Actress Pooja Gandhi was roped in to play the female lead and the film was mainly shot during the rainy season in places like Madikeri, Sakaleshpura, Jog Falls and Gadag.

The film was released on 29 December 2006 and was critically acclaimed particularly drawing praises for Ganesh's performance as Preetham.

The film went on to become one of the highest grossers ever in the history of Kannada cinema and acheieved cult status.

The film became the first ever Kannada film to be screened in multiplexes for a year.

His other major success was Cheluvina Chittara (2007) after Mungaru Male.

He then acted in Krishna (2007), Romeo (2012), Shravani Subramanya (2013), Zoom (2016), Chamak (2017), 99 (2019), Gaalipata 2 (2022), Triple Riding (2022).

Ganesh won two consecutive Best Actor awards at Filmfare for the romantic comedy-drama Gaalipata (2008) and in the romantic drama Maleyali Jotheyali (2009).

He married Shilpa Barkur on 11 February 2008 and has 2 children: Charithriya Ganesh and Vihaan Ganesh.

Ganesh received primary education at Basaveshwara English School in Nelamangala and secondary education in Standard English School in Dasarahalli, Bangalore.

According to Ganesh, he was "mischievous and was always made to kneel down outside the classroom, but was also the darling of the teachers due to the active participation in cultural activities".

While in college, he participated actively in inter-collegiate drama skits.

Ganesh's first project was Guttu, a telefilm directed by India's youngest female film director, Priyabharati Joshi, which remains unreleased.

Joshi offered the project to Ganesh just as he was about to graduate from Adarsh Film Institute, against the advice of industry insiders who criticized her choice of a newcomer.

Guttu was eventually screened at film festivals and in a few theatres in the USA, as the producers weren`t able to find a suitable time slot to show it on TV.

After graduating in diploma in film acting, he was offered roles in Television series and sitcoms.

He was also performing at various road shows and orchestras.

However, a major breakthrough in television came with the comedy talk-show Comedy Time aired on Udaya TV.

Through the success of the show, Ganesh gained immense popularity among the audience with his comic-timing getting prominent notice.

He earned the sobriquet "Comedy Time" Ganesh post the show's success.

Ganesh's initial film appearances were largely as extra actor playing uncredited roles as the lead characters' friend.

He has two younger brothers, Mahesh and Umesh; Mahesh debuted as an actor in the Kannada film Namak Haraam (2015).