Honnappa Bhagavathar

Chowdasandra Honnappa Bhagavathar (14 January 1915 – 2 October 1992; ) was an Indian theatre and film actor, producer, musician and singer. He was best known as a singer and as one of the pioneers of Kannada cinema. He was also active in Tamil cinema. Bhagvathar is known for bringing actress Saroja Devi into the industry. His son Bharath was also an actor who worked in Kannada films and serials.

Early life He was born in 1915 at Chowdasandra, Nelamangala to Chikkalingappa and Kallamma. He weaved for a living. At age 5 he lost his father and grew up listening to his mother's Bhajans and music. He moved to Bangalore for work, learned classical music, then accidentally he met his guru Sambandha Murthy Bhagavathar (Hari katha vidwan in three south Indian languages & also classical musician) in a relative's marriage function and became his disciple for learning classical music. He first became a pupil of his relative Murthy, then a pupil of harmonium player Arunachalappa.

Honappa staged a play in Salem and at the same time M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, who was a rising star in Tamil cinema, recommended Bhagvathar to director Ellis R. Duncan for a supporting role in his film Ambikapathi. Bhagvathar play was a success and he was honoured with the title "Bhagavathar" and was from then on credited as Honnappa Bhagavathar.

Career Bhagavathar acted in many Tamil films. Based now in Bangalore, Bhagavathar replaced M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar in the 1946 movie Sri Murugan, acting alongside MGR. Both Bhagvathar and Jeevaratnam sang in the movie, with music scored by S. M. Subbaiah Naidu. Bhagvathar is known for bringing actresses like B. Saroja Devi into the industry. In the film Valmiki, Bhagvathar replaced M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar as Valmiki, the sinner-turned-sage. Bhagvathar became a star after M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar's temporary exit, playing the lead role in many Tamil movies and later in Kannada. He played the bandit-turned-sage. He also played the lead role in Mahakavi Kalidasa, which is regarded as a classic in Kannada cinema. At the 3rd National Film Awards, the film won the award for Best Feature Film in Kannada.

In 1960, Bhagavathar started the music school "Nadabrahma Sangeetha Vidyalaya". He became a member of the Kannada Film Advisory Board and worked as a member of Karnataka Sangeeta Nruthya Academy. Film Year

1 Krishnakumar 1941 S. D. S. Yogi Tamil T. S. Rajalakshmi Lead Actor 2 Subhadra 1941 P. Pullaiah Kannada Gubbi Veeranna, J. Jayamma 3 Sathi Suganya 1942 T. R. Sundaram & P. V. Chari Tamil T. R. Rajakumari Lead Actor 4 Arundhathi 1943 M. L. Tandan & T. R. Sundaram Tamil U. R. Jeevarathinam Lead Actor 5 Devakanya 1943 R. Padmanaban Tamil U. R. Jeevarathinam Lead Actor 6 Prabhavathi 1944 T. R. Raghunath Tamil T. R. Rajakumari Lead Actor 7 Rajarajeshwari 1944 M. L. Tandon & T. R. Sundaram Tamil K. L. V. Vasantha Lead Actor 8 Burma Rani 1945 T. R. Sundaram Tamil K. L. V. Vasantha 9 Hemareddy Mallamma 1945 G. R. Rao & S. Soundararajan Kannada Gubbi Veeranna, B. Jayamma 10 Bhakta Kalathi 1945 R. Padmanaban Tamil K. Thavamani Devi Lead Actor 11 Subhathra 1946 T. R. Sundaram Tamil K. L. V. Vasantha 12 Sri Murugan 1946 M. Soma Sundaram & V. S. Narayanan Tamil MGR as support, U. R. Jeevarathinam, K. Malathi Lead Actor 13 Valmiki 1946 Sundarao Nadkarni Tamil U. R. Jeevarathinam, N. C. Vasanthakokilam, T. R. Rajakumari Lead Actor 14 Subathra 1946 T. R. Sundaram Tamil K. L. V. Vasantha Lead Actor 15 Kundalakesi 1947 Boman D. Irani Tamil N. C. Vasanthakokilam Lead Actor 16 Bhaktha Jana 1948 P. Pullaiah Tamil V. Nagayya, Santha Kumari 17 Gokuladasi 1948 K. Subramaniam Tamil M. V. Rajamma 18 Bhakta Kumbara 1948 Boman D. Irani Kannada Pandaribai Lead Actor & Producer 19 Deva Manohari 1949 A. T. Krishnaswamy Tamil P. Bhanumathi Lead Actor 20 Sathya Sodhanai 1953 H. L. N. Simha Tamil Pandaribai Lead Actor 21 Gunasagari 1953 H. L. N. Simha Kannada Pandaribai Lead Actor 22 Mahakavi Kalidasa 1955 K. R. Seetharama Sastry Kannada B. Saroja Devi (Introduced) Actor, Producer & Music Director 23 Aashadaboothi 1955 D. Shankar Singh Kannada B. Saroja Devi 24 Pancharathna 1956 K. Vembu Kannada Udaya Kumar, T. N. Balakrishna Actor & Music Director 25 Jagajyothi Basveshwara 1959 T. V. Singh Thagore Kannada Rajkumar, B. Saroja Devi 26 Uzhavukkum Thozhilukkum Vandhanai Seivom 1959 M. A. Thirumugam Tamil Prem Nazir, E. V. Saroja Producer, With M. Karunanidhi in a Role 27 Katari Veera 1966 Y. R. Swamy Kannada Udaya Kumar 28 Sadananda 1979 Ananth Hiregowder Kannada Actor & Producer

Awards Mahakavi Kalidasa and Jagajyothi Basveshwara received National Awards in 1955 and 1959 respectively. In 1956, the Madras Sina Pyans Associations awarded him 'Best Actor'. In 1976, he was conferred the title "Gana Kalabhushana". In 1978, Scholars of Mysore state conferred the title 'Gaanakalaa Gandharva' on him. In 1986, he was awarded the 'Rajyothsava Award'. In 1990, he was awarded the 'Sangeet Natak Academy Award' by the President of India. In 1991, the Center for Music Drama Academy awarded him for his contribution to music. Also awarded for his stage music in this year.