page_title: Kannada cinema
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Kannada cinema / History / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: Actor Honnappa Bhagavathar (1915-1992) in 1948
context_page_description: Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. The 1934 film Sati Sulochana directed by Y. V. Rao was the first talkie film in the Kannada language. It was also the first film starring Subbaiah Naidu, and was the first motion picture screened in the erstwhile Mysore Kingdom. The film was produced by Chamanlal Doongaji, who in 1932 founded South India Movietone in Bengaluru.
  Major literary works have been adapted to the Kannada screen such as B. V. Karanth's Chomana Dudi, Girish Karnad's Kaadu, Pattabhirama Reddy's Samskara, which won the Bronze Leopard at Locarno International Film Festival, and T. S. Nagabharana's Mysuru Mallige.
context_section_description: In 1934, the first Kannada talkie, Sati Sulochana, appeared in theatres, followed by Bhakta Dhruva (aka Dhruva Kumar). Sati Sulochana was shot in Kolhapur at the Chatrapathi studio; most filming, sound recording, and post-production was done in Chennai.
  In 1949, Honnappa Bhagavathar, who had earlier acted in Gubbi Veeranna's films, produced Bhakta Kumbara and starred in the lead role along with Pandaribai. In 1955, Bhagavathar again produced a Kannada film, Mahakavi Kalidasa, in which he introduced actress B. Saroja Devi. B. S. Ranga was an Indian photographer, actor, writer, producer and director made many landmark movies in Kannada, under Vikram Studios.
caption: Kannada film doyen Honnappa Bhagavathar
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