SANDALWOOD - The Karnataka Film Industry

The word Sandalwood is disambigous as considering here. Usually Sandalwood means a wood that is used for medical, aesthetic purposes and also for beauty care.

Here, Sandalwood means the Karnataka Film Industry, in India.

The Cinema of Karnataka encompasses movies made in the Indian state of Karnataka.

Most of the movies are made in the Kannada language, with a handful of them in Konkani or Tulu. Kannada films form an important component of the Cinema of India.

The most popular actor in Kannada films was late Dr.Rajkumar. He has acted in over 200 movies and is a recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award.

Other actors, actresses, directors and producers in Kannada films include dozens like B.R. Pantulu, G.V.Iyer, Gubbi Veeranna, Balakrishna, Puttanna Kanagal, Sunil kumar desai and over the last few decades Vishnuvardhan, Ambarish, Shivarajkumar,Jayamala, Aarathi, Bharathi, Manjula, Ravichandran, Shankar Nag, Anant Nag, Girish Karnad, Girish Kasaravalli, M.P. Shankar, Vajramuni and Upendra.

The most famous comedians in Kannada cinema have been Narasimharaju and Dwarakesh.

Bollywood's latest sensation Deepika Padukone had her debut in Kannada movie AISHWARYA before she moved to hindi film industry. Also, the world fame, renowned hollywood actress 'Miss World' Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's (also known as ASH) native is Karnataka.