''Chitraloka.com'' is an Indian website focused on the

Kannada film industry Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. Kannada cinema is based ...

. Launched on 26 June 2000 by K. M. Veeresh, it was the first dedicated online portal for Kannada cinema. The website provides news, updates, and features on Kannada films and is available in both English and

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

. Alongside '' Viggy.com'', it was among the few websites in the early 2000s regularly covering Kannada cinema.

History

K. M. Veeresh, a photographer and journalist, conceived the idea for ''Chitraloka.com'' during a vacation in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, where he struggled to access updates on Kannada cinema. After acquiring a

personal computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

, he aimed to create a website to serve news on Kannada cinema, primarily for Kannada-speaking audiences overseas, particularly in the

Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from an ocean or their seas into a landmass, larger and typically (though not always) with a narrower opening than a bay (geography), bay. The term was used traditionally for large, highly indented navigable bodies of s ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Initially, he faced challenges in sourcing software that could support Kannada script. The website was launched in 1999, with

Parvathamma Rajkumar Parvathamma Rajkumar (6 December 1939 – 31 May 2017) was an Indian film producer and distributor. She was the wife and cousin of veteran Kannada actor Dr. Rajkumar. She produced successful films featuring him and their sons Shiva Rajkumar, Pu ...

present at the event. On its launch day, the website recorded 13,664 visits. In its early years, the website was primarily operated by Veeresh himself, with support from journalist colleagues as needed. During the kidnapping of Rajkumar, ''Chitraloka.com'' provided comprehensive updates on the incident. Initially updated biweekly, the website's content is now refreshed frequently. In 2009, ''Chitraloka.com'' was recognized by the

Limca Book of Records The ''Limca Book of Records'' is an annual reference book published in India documenting world records held by Indians. The records are further categorised into education, literature, agriculture, medical science, business, sports, nature, adve ...

for showcasing 3,000 Kannada film stills, ranging from ''Sati Sulochana'' (1935) to ''

Namyajamanru ''Namyajamanru'' is a 2009 Indian Kannada-language action drama film directed and written by T. S. Nagabharana. The film stars Vishnuvardhan along with Navya Nair and Vijay Raghavendra. The film was produced by Rajakumari Rajshekar. The film wa ...

'' (2009). In 2020, the website's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel received the Silver Creator Award, making it one of the few Kannada-language channels to achieve this distinction.

References

{{Reflist Indian film websites Film review websites Internet properties established in 1999 Kannada cinema 1999 establishments in India