Mukhyamantri Chandru

Honnasandra Narasimhaiah Chandrashekar (born 28 August 1953), known popularly as Mukhyamantri Chandru, is an Indian actor and politician.

As an actor, he is known for his work in Kannada theatre and cinema.

The sobriquet Mukhyamantri (Chief Minister) stuck to his name after the play of the same name that sees him portray the title role became widely popular.

Chandru was born on 28 August 1953 into a family of farmers of Narasimhaiah and Thimmamma in Honnasandra, a village in the taluk of Nelamangala of Bangalore Rural district, in the Indian State of Mysore (now called Karnataka).

He completed schooling at Siddaganga Matha in Tumkur He is a follower of Jainism before obtaining his bachelor's degree in science from Government Arts and Science College in Bangalore in 1974.

There he was drawn to theatre after being a regular viewer of plays at the Ravindra Kalakshetra.

He subsequently worked as a clerk in Bangalore University and also acting in plays at the same time.

Titled Mukhyamantri, Chief Minister in Kannada, the play is an adaptation of a 1976 book of the same name written by Ranjit Kapoor.

In the play, the Chief Minister's role is shortened to KD Kaushal or KeDi, a word used to refer to a delinquent.

Chandru "incorporated [his] own dialogues while acting, eventually turning the serious drama into a comedy".

The play became widely popular and the sobriquet 'Mukhyamantri' stuck to him.

In 1978, Chandru, then a part of the troupe Kalagangotri, was chosen to play Krishna Dwaipayana Kaushal, the Chief Minister of a fictitious Indian State of Udayanchal.

The role went to him after Lohithaswa, the actor who was to play the role, fell ill.

Having portrayed mostly comic and negative roles throughout his career, Chandru is a character actor, and has acted in over 500 films since making his debut in 1983.

Chandru married actress Padma in June 1983.

Chandru's career in films began in 1983 when he was cast by producer N. Veeraswamy to play a supporting role in Chakravyuha.

Chandru joined the Janata Party in 1985 and won the year's assembly elections from Gauribidanur.

Following the term, he contested unsuccessfully from the Chikballapur constituency in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections.

His party merged with two other parties at the time to become Janata Dal.

His other notable role came in the comedy Ganeshana Maduve (1990) that saw him play an overbearing landlord, alongside Anant Nag.

Chandru accepted the ticket offered by the ruling Janata Party to contest the assembly elections from Gauribidanur.

This followed after actors Anant Nag and Shankar Nag denied.

Chandru won the seat by a margin of over 6,600 votes.

Speaking about an incident to The Times of India of his stint as the Member of the Legislative Assembly, he said that the officers who assisted him when he "decided to get tough with the sand-mining mafia controlled by a liquor baron in his constituency" were transferred, and when he complained to Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde, he was to told to "get practical".

In the early 1990s, with "rift between Ramakrishna Hegde and Deve Gowda worsening", Chandru quit the Janata Dal.

In 1991, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Switching to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he became a member of the legislative council in 1998 and 2004.

He was nominated as a member of the Karnataka Legislative Council in 1998 and for the second time in 2004, completing the term in 2010.

They appeared as a couple in the Oohh Lalaa and the latter played Chief Minister in the 2000s soap opera Maneyondu Mooru Bagilu.

They have two sons together, Bharath and Sharath.

Recognizing his contribution to Kannada theatre and activism in promoting and safeguarding Kannada-language, Chandru was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Gulbarga University.

In 2008, he was appointed the chairperson of the Kannada Development Authority.

The beginning of his tenure saw a significant development in that, on 31 October 2008, Kannada was given the status of a classical language.

He served as the chairperson of the Kannada Development Authority till 2013 before quitting the party to join the Indian National Congress (INC) in 2014.

Eight years later, he joined the Aam Aadmi Party.

The position was the same rank of a cabinet minister, and Chandru was retained by the subsequent governments, despite his resignation from BJP in 2013.

He cited "dedicat[ing himself] for the cause of the State and Kannada language" as the reason for the quitting.

In March 2014, he joined the Indian National Congress (INC).

In his tenure as the chairperson of the Kannada Development Authority (KDA), Chandru advocated very strongly for the protection and promotion of the Kannada-language.

As of January 2020, the play completed its 700th show across India and outside.