Anup Bhandari

Early life Anup Bhandari was born on 2 March 1982 in Puttur, Karnataka to Sudhakar Bhandary, the director of the television serials Premada Kadambari (1996) and Kurigalu Sir Kurigalu, and Rathna Bhandary. He was brought up in Mysore, where he started learning piano at the age of four

Career Bhandari started off making short films while working for Infosys and won several awards. While in the US, he directed a short film called Words starring Russell Harvard. This paved way for his debut feature film RangiTaranga, starring his brother Nirup Bhandari, Radhika Narayan, Avantika Shetty and Sai Kumar.

RangiTaranga turned out to be one of the biggest blockbusters. It also opened overseas market for Kannada films in a big way. It became the first Kannada film to release in many countries, the first Kannada film to appear on the New York Box Office Listing and the first and only Kannada film to run for 50 days in USA. RangiTaranga was also one of the 305 films shortlisted for the Academy Awards (The Oscars) but did not make it to the final nominations.

Anup won several awards for his direction, music direction and lyrics including Filmfare, SIIMA, IIFA and Karnataka State Award.

Personal life

Anup Bhandari is married to Neetha Shetty, who works as costume designer for all his films. They have a daughter Nishka Bhandari. His brother Nirup Bhandari is an actor, who has featured in all of his directorials.

Filmography As film director

As an actor Year Film Role Notes 2010 Words 'R' announcer Short film 2015 RangiTaranga Gautham Suvarna 2018 Rajaratha Media reporter Cameo appearances 2022Vikrant RonaOld photographer 2025 Just Married Anand

As lyricist Year Film Notes 2015 RangiTaranga 2018 Rajaratha 2019 Aadi Lakshmi Puraana 2019 Dabangg 3 Kannada dubbed version 2021 Kotigobba 3 2022Vikrant Rona Nemesis 2010 Words

Discography As composer and playback singer Year Title SongsScore Notes Kurigalu Sir Kurigalu TV serial; composer of title song 1st IIFA UtsavamBest Picture Best DirectionBest Music DirectionBest Lyrics (for "Kareyole")63rd Filmfare Awards SouthBest Director Best Music Director5th South Indian International Movie AwardsBest Film- Kannada Best Debut DirectorBest Music DirectorBest Lyricist for "Ee Sanje" IBNLive Movie Awards Best Director South