Director, Actor Upendra is one of the rare film personalities who made their mark earned fame in other languages from Kannada Industry. After Dr Raj Kumar, Vishnuvardhan, it is Upendra who earned name in Tollywood from Sandalwood. Upendra strated as a director and then became a hero in his own direction. His films earned cult status for their unique out of the box themes.
Upendra started his career as an assistant to Kannada director Kashinath and later turned director with a low budget horror film titled 'Sshhh'. It went on becoming a superhit. During early 90's it was also dubbed into Telugu. Upendra collaborated with Shivarajkumar for his second film, 'OM'. The film which was made as a gangster love story is inspired from real events and even featured real life gangsters in the film. The film became Industry Hit in Sandalwood and made Upendra a star director. He remade OM in Telugu as Omkaram with Rajasekhar.
Then Upendra turned as Hero and made 'A', a film about a director who was lost in love with his film's heroine and gets rejected by her. He then turned into alcoholic and deals with his redemption. At that time there were rumours that 'A' was Upendra 's real story between him and his 'OM' film heroine Prema. It gained popularity around the film and became highest grosser in Kannada films. It also got dubbed in Telugu and became a superhit.
Upendra made a self-titled film, Upendra where he played both Hero and Villain. It was shot three dimensionally with three shades in his character. It went on becoming biggest hit in both Kannada and Telugu. Upendra is now a star director and hero. Then, he gave a break to direction and continued as an actor doing many straight Telugu films.
After a hiatus of 10 years, Upendra back to direction with his film 'Super' costarring Nayanthara. It became a blockbuster in Kannada and a commercial success in Telugu with Upendra 's mark. He made Uppi 2 in his direction which scored a decent success in Kannada. Now he is coming again with UI in his own direction.
CineJosh wishes Real Star Upendra a very Happy Birthday and grand success with upcoming projects.