# Ramesh Aravind

Ramesh Aravind (born 10 September 1964), known mononymously as Ramesh, is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter and television presenter. Ramesh has predominantly worked in Kannada and Tamil films along with a few Telugu and Hindi films.
He has made his acting career with K. Balachander's Sundara Swapnagalu in 1986. Ramesh has appeared in over 140 films besides directing about 10 films in Kannada & Tamil.
He has so far received two Karnataka State Film Awards namely, for America America (1997) and Hoomale (1998) besides winning Best Story award for his writing; two Filmfare Awards South, two Udaya Film Awards and Suvarna Film Awards.
He has largely appeared in romantic drama in Kannada films such as Anuraga Sangama (1995), Karpoorada Gombe (1996), Nammoora Mandara Hoove (1996), Amruthavarshini (1997), America! America!! (1997), O Mallige (1997), Ulta Palta (1997), Mungarina Minchu (1997), Thutta Mutta (1998), Hoomale (1998), Sambhrama (1999) and Chandramukhi Pranasakhi (1999).
Later, Ramesh returned to act performance oriented roles in films such as Kurigalu Saar Kurigalu (2001), Kothigalu Saar Kothigalu (2001), Apthamitra (2004), Varsha (2005), Rama Shama Bhama (2005), Pushpaka Vimana (2017) and Shivaji Surathkal (2020).
Ramesh hosts the television show Weekend with Ramesh, which has aired for five seasons on Zee Kannada. He also hosted Season 3 of Kannadada Kotyadhipati, the Kannada version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) appointed Aravind as the awareness ambassador for COVID-19. He is the Brand Ambassador for 7 Wonders of Karnataka campaign jointly done by Suvarna News and Tourism Dept of Karnataka.
In 2022, he was awarded an honorary doctorate for his contribution to field of cinema by Rani Channamma University. Also in 2022, he was awarded the Dr. Shivarama Karanth Award for his services as an actor, director and resource person.
In 2025, Dr. Ramesh Aravind was ranked as the 4th Top Motivational Speaker in India and 28th globally by Feedspot, a leading blog and information platform. This recognition highlights his influence and impact in the field of motivational speaking.

## Career
### Acting

While studying at engineering college, Ramesh Aravind worked as an emcee at award functions, including an event celebrating the success of the film Sagara Sangamam (1983), where he met his long-term collaborator Kamal Haasan. He then started his television career hosting a show on Kannada television before working on a Kannada-language film titled Mouna Geethe, in which he had a supporting role. Prior to the release of the film, Aravind was approached by director K. Balachander who had been casting the role of Kamal Haasan for a Kannada version of the Tamil film Sollathaan Ninaikkiren (1973). After a brief audition, Balachander selected Aravind after being "impressed with his eyes" and cast him as the playboy character in Sundara Swapnagalu (1986), which released shortly before Mouna Geethe.
Balachander then gave Aravind a small role in Punnagai Mannan (1986) as Revathi's ex-lover but his scenes were edited out of the final version. Aravind worked with the same director in the Tamil film Manathil Uruthi Vendum (1987) but Balachander later recommended to Aravind to opt out of the film and work with K. Bhagyaraj instead to make his debut in a leading role. The proposed film was later shelved and Aravind returned to the cast of Manathil Uruthi Vendum, winning critical acclaim for his performance. Balachander introduced Ramesh Aravind into Telugu films through Rudraveena, having been introduced into three film industries by the same director.
Ramesh made his breakthrough portraying a student union leader in Vasanth's romantic drama film Keladi Kanmani (1990), whose commercial success. He earned critical acclaim in Tamil cinema for his portrayal of a love-ridden musician in Balachander's Duet (1994) and for his performance alongside Kamal Haasan in Balu Mahendra's comedy film Sathi Leelavathi (1995). In his return to Tamil films since the mid-1990s, Ramesh frequently collaborated with Kamal Haasan on projects including the unreleased Kanden Seethaiyai (1996), Panchathantiram (2002) and Mumbai Xpress (2005).
Subsequently, he returned to the Bangalore-based film industry to work in Kannada films. He appeared in several consecutive commercially successful Kannada films including Anuraga Sangama (1995), Karpoorada Gombe (1996), Nammoora Mandara Hoove (1996), Amruthavarshini (1997), America! America!! (1997), O Mallige (1997), Ulta Palta (1997), Mungarina Minchu (1997), Thutta Mutta (1998), Hoomale (1998), Sambhrama (1999) and Chandramukhi Pranasakhi (1999), becoming one of the industry's highest-paid actors.
Ramesh Aravind scripted the film Hoomale in 1998, leading to his career in film directing. Hoomale won Aravind the Best Actor Filmfare Award and the Karnataka State Award. His script for Amruthadhare (2005) won him the Raghvendra Chitravani Award for Best Story.

### Directing

Ramesh Aravind's directorial debut was Rama Shama Bhama (2005) with Kamal Haasan. After this, he directed Sathyavan Savithri and Accident. In 2009, he directed the comedy film Venkata in Sankata and later Nammanna Don in 2012.
When Kamal Haasan asked Aravind to direct the Tamil-language film Uttama Villain (2015), Aravind accepted the offer. Uttama Villain is the first Aravind-directed film in which he did not portray a leading role; he said he accepted the film due to the "challenging nature of the script" and the opportunity to direct his mentor K. Balachander.

### Writer

His Kannada book "Art of Success" which is a collection of his quotes, became a bestseller. His recent book "Preetiyinda Ramesh" as highly successful with 5 editions in 5 months of release Aravind has written and narrated the Kannada audiobook "MasadaMaatu with Ramesh", which is available on Storytel.
Ramesh was also a celebrity talk-radio host on Big FM. His more recent notable appearance was in Shivaji Surathkal 2 which was released all over cinema theatres on 14 April 2023.
In 2024, his popular book & the Best Seller of 2022 - 23 "Preethyinda Ramesh" was translated to Tamil language as "Anbudan Ramesh".

### Public speaking

Ramesh Aravind is also known for his work as a motivational speaker. A message in his voice was used as ringtone urging voters to vote in 2023 Assembly elections over Jio, Airtel platforms because of his noncontroversial and neutral image He was chosen as Brand Ambassador for Bengaluru Gold Shopping Festival - Edition 2 in 2023.

### Television

Ramesh Aravind has hosted the following shows: His show Weekend with Ramesh involves him inviting some of the prominent personalities from Karnataka to talk about their personal and professional lives. His show Weekend With Ramesh Season 5 is streaming on Zee Kannada. Dr. Ramesh Aravind turns as "Master-Mind" or Maha Guru for the show Mahanati (2024) telecasting every weekend in Zee Kannada channel. His inspirational speeches, and activities & other constant supporting abilities are appreciated by audience.

## Awards

Ramesh Aravind has won awards for his acting, directing and writing. He was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by Rani Channamma University for his contribution to cinema. In the year 2022, he was awarded the Dr. Shivarama Karanth Award for his work as an actor, director and resource person.
| Year | Award | Category | Film / Show |
| 1996–97 | Karnataka State Film Awards | Best Actor | America America |
| 1997 | Filmfare Awards South | Best Actor – Kannada | Amrutha Varshini |
| 1997 | Udaya Film Awards | Best Actor | O Mallige |
| 1997 | Screen Awards | Best Actor – Kannada | America America and Amrutha Varshini |
| 1998 | Filmfare Award South | Best Actor – Kannada | Hoomale |
| 1998 | Filmfans Association Award | Best Actor | Hoomale |
| 1998–99 | Karnataka State Film Awards | Best Actor | Hoomale |
| 1999 | Filmfans Association Award | Best Actor | Sambhrama |
| 1999 | Cinema Express Award | Best Actor | Chandramukhi Pranasakhi |
| 2005 | Raghavendra Prathishtana Awards | Best Story | Amrithadhare |
| 2006 | Udaya Film Awards | Best Director Debut | Rama Shama Bhama |
| 2006 | Suvarna Film Awards | Best Actor (Hero in a comedy role) | Rama Shama Bhama |
| 2015 | Zee Kutumba Awards | Pride of Zee Kannada | Weekend with Ramesh |
| 2016 | Zee Kutumba Awards | Pride of Zee Kannada | Weekend with Ramesh |
| 2018 | Zee Hemmeya Kannadiga | Proud Inspiration | |
| 2022 | Honorary Doctorate | In Contribution to Cinema Industry | By Raani Channamma University, Belagavi |
| 2022 | Dr. Shivarama Karanth Award | In contribution to Cinema & Society | By Dr Shivarama Karanth foundation |
| 2023 | Kannada Kala Bhushana Award | In Contribution to Cinema & Society | By Karunada Sambrama, Bengaluru |
| 2024 | 5th Chandanavana Film Critics Academy Awards | Best Actor | Shivaji Suratkal 2 |
| 2024 | Mantralaya Parimala Prashasti 2024 | In Contribution to Cinema Industry | By Mantralaya Mutt & Space Media |
| 2024 | Raghavendra Parimala Prashasti 2024 | In Contribution to Cinema Industry | By Parimala Geleyara Balaga |

## Personal life

Ramesh Aravind was born on 10 September 1964 to P.A. Govindachari and Saroja, who are originally from Tanjore district. He has four siblings. He studied in Karnataka from fourth standard onwards. He is married to Archana Aravind and they have two children.