Mohan Shankar

Mohan Shankar, popularly mononymously as Mohan, is an Indian actor, writer and film director known for his work in Kannada cinema and television. After beginning his career staging, writing and acting in a variety of plays, his film career began in the late 1990s when he wrote screenplay and dialogue for a handful of Kannada-language films. After his acting debut came in Central Jail, he became recognized for his roles in Yaarige Saluthe Sambala (2000), Kurigalu Saar Kurigalu (2001) and Kothigalu Saar Kothigalu (2001) and Malla (2004). Mohan turned director with Krishna Nee Late Aagi Baaro (2010) also co-starring himself.

He also wrote story for films such as Lava Kusha (2007), in addition to writing screenplay, dialogue and lyrics for the soundtrack album of more than 50 films in the 2000s and 2010s. Mohan was a contestant in the reality television show Bigg Boss Kannada in its fourth season. His wife Vidya is a singer.

Early life Mohan was born and raised in Bangalore. His father, Shankar, worked with the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, while mother, Satyabhama, is a homemaker. He obtained a bachelor of science degree from National College, Bangalore in electronics. During this time, he began to act in and write plays. His future wife, Vidya, a singer, was his junior in the college, and the two married in 1998. They have a son together, Mayookha.

Career After briefly working for a private firm, Mohan joined the television channel Udaya TV in the mid-1990s, and worked as an art director and screenwriter for its soap operas. He then began working in films as a screenwriter, before being cast as one of the leads on Yaarige Saluthe Sambala (2000). Prior to that, he had appeared in supporting roles in films such as Central Jail (1997), Kurubana Rani (1998), Krishna Leele (2000) and Preethse (2000). After Yaarige Saluthe Sambala turned out to be a commercial success, Mohan was cast in the first two parts of the comedy film series, Kurigalu Saar Kurigalu : the namesake and Kothigalu Saar Kothigalu, both of which released in 2001 to commercial success. His appearance, partly as a woman, in Olu Saar Bari Olu (2003) received praise. it stars Mohan as a friend of Raghupati, who tricks the latter's landlord into believing that he is a woman by posing as one of his wives, named Chandralekha. He played Hanuma, a trusted friend of Ravichandran's eponymous lead, in Malla (2004), also directed by the latter. Mohan also wrote the dialogue for the film. He also made his foray into action based characters with the film Ugra Narasimha (2005).

Mohan made his directorial debut with the romance-drama Krishna Nee Late Aagi Baaro (2010), co-starring himself alongside Ramesh Aravind and Nidhi Subbaiah. Critics received the film well; the reviewer for The Times of India felt the film had "a neat script and lively narration", and termed the film "complete family entertainer". His second film was Narasimha (2012), set in the rural hinterland, where a village vigilante, played by Ravichandran, is at loggerheads with a landlord. The film was panned by critics. His other release of the year was a comedy-thriller, Manjunatha BA LLB, a remake of the Malayalam film Hallo (2007). Jaggesh features in the titular role as an alcoholic advocate, whose career is revived by a friend and a stranger who comes to him for legal representation in court.

In 2014, Mohan directed Sachin! Tendulkar Alla, a story about an autistic child that dreams of becoming a professional cricketer. The film stars Snehith as the boy, Suhasini Maniratnam as his sister and former cricketer Venkatesh Prasad as his coach. The film received acclaim for its subject matter and performances. His next directorial, a thriller titled Male Nilluvavarege was released in 2015, an adaptation of the play, Deadly Game. In addition to directing, Mohan played the lead role in the film, while also producing it and writing the film's screenplay and dialogue. He also wrote lyrics for the film's soundtrack and sang one of the tracks. Muralidhara Khajane reviewed the film positively for The Hindu. He felt the director uses rain (Male) as a metaphor "to represent guilt and tries to make the film different from the violent and romantic films hitting the screens these days." G. S. Kumar of The Times of India praised the film and wrote, "It's a one-man show by Mohan who plays his role to perfection." However, the film's theatrical release was marred by call for a bandh in Karnataka, leading to its poor commercial performance at the box office. Year Title Role Notes 1997 Central Jail 1998 Kurubana Rani 2000 Krishna Leele Preethse Yarige Salatte Sambala Ramanath 2001 Amma Kurigalu Saar Kurigalu Mohan "Moni" Ellara Mane Dosenu Jenugoodu Mr. Harishchandra Harishchandra Kothigalu Saar Kothigalu Mohan "Moni" 2002 Kodanda Rama 2003 Olu Saar Bari Olu Sadanand a.k.a Chandralekha Ramaswamy Krishnaswamy 2004 Shuklambaradaram Yarige Beku Ee Samsara Malla Hanuma 2005 Lati Charge Ugra Narasimha 2006 VIP 5 2007 Thamashegaagi Mohan Sathyavan Savithri 2008 Akka Thangi Accident Ugadi 2009 Eshtu Nagthi Nagu Karaavali Hudugi Gadibidi Hendti 2010 Krishna Nee Late Aagi Baaro Sundaram Pillai Shambo Shankara Tarangini Vishal 2012 Shikaari Samsaaradalli Golmaal Ramu 2013 Chathrigalu Saar Chathrigalu Mohan Sundar "Moni" 2018 Hello Mama 2020 Matte Udbhava

As writer

As director Year Title Note 2010 Krishna Nee Late Aagi Baaro 2012 Narasimha Manjunatha BA LLB 2014 Sachin! Tendulkar Alla 2015 Male Nilluvavarege 2018 Hello Mama

Television Kathegara Silli Lalli Nagini 2 Gowrishankara Shravani Subramanya