Shashi Kumar (born 2 December 1965) is an

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

from

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. He works predominantly in

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

films.

Acting career

Shashi Kumar's first released film was ''Chiranjeevi Sudhakara'' starring

Raghavendra Rajkumar Raghavendra Rajkumar (born 15 August 1965) is an Indian actor, singer and producer of Kannada cinema. He is the son of actor Dr. Rajkumar and film producer Parvathamma Rajkumar. He made his debut as a lead in the film ''Chiranjeevi Sudhakar'' ...

. In 1989 he became popular with ''

Yuddha Kaanda ''Yuddha Kaanda'' () is a 1989 Indian Kannada-language film directed by K. V. Raju, starring Ravichandran, Poonam Dhillon and Bharathi Vishnuvardhan. It is a remake of the 1985 Hindi film ''Meri Jung''. Upon release, the movie received positiv ...

'' starring

V. Ravichandran Veeraswamy Ravichandran (born 30 May 1961), known mononymously as Ravichandran, is an actor, director, producer, music director, lyricist and editor in the Kannada Film Industry. He is the son of film producer N. Veeraswamy. As producer, Ravi ...

and

Poonam Dhillon Poonam Dhillon (born 18 April 1962) is an Indian actress and politician. A former Femina Miss India (1977), she is best known for her 1979 film ''Noorie.'' Some of her well-known films include '' Red Rose'' (1980), '' Dard'' (1981), ''Romance'' ...

and C.B.I Shankar with Shankar Nag. In 1990 two successful films ''Rani Maharani'' and Baare Nanna Muddina Rani established him as a top hero of Kannada cinema. Shashi Kumar and Malashri, who acted together in several hit films together are considered one among the all-time popular pairs of

cinema. He was also paired with other popular actresses of his time like

Sudha Rani Jayashree, known by her screen name Sudha Rani, is an Indian actress, voice artist and a former model. She has primarily worked in Kannada films.she also acted in a few Telugu, Tulu and Malayalam films. At the age of three, Rani was chosen as ...

, Tara, Soundarya and Sithara and Shruthi. At the peak of his career, he was involved in a car accident near the Bangalore Turf Club in 1998. The ensuing surgeries altered his looks and offers for lead roles from big banners stopped coming his way. For a few years, he starred in supporting roles in multi-starrers like ''

Yajamana In the Hindu tradition, a ''yajamana'' is the ritual patron, on whose behalf a religious ritual or a ''yajna'' is performed by a priest, generally a Brahmin.Society and Religion: From Rugveda to Puranas, Jayant Gadkari, Popular Prakashan, 1996 p. ...

'', ''

Habba ''Habba'' () is a 1999 Indian Kannada-language drama film written and directed by D. Rajendra Babu. The film has an ensemble cast including Vishnuvardhan, Ambareesh, Devaraj, Jayapradha, Urvashi, Shashikumar, Ramkumar, Vijayalakshmi, Kast ...

Kanasugara ''Kanasugara'' () is a 2001 Indian Kannada-language romantic drama film directed by Karan. Film stars V. Ravichandran, Prema and Shashikumar, Hema Choudhary in lead roles. ''Kanasugara'' is a remake of 1998 Tamil film ''Unnidathil Ennai Kodu ...

Snehaloka ''Snehaloka'' () is a 1999 Indian Kannada-language romantic drama film directed by S. Mahendar and produced by N. Bharathi Devi. The film has an ensemble cast comprising Ramesh Aravind, Ramkumar, Shashikumar, Vinod Raj and Anu Prabhakar in the ...

'' and ''

Yaarige Saluthe Sambala ''Yaarige Saluthe Sambala'' is a 2000 Indian Kannada-language comedy-drama film directed by M. S. Rajashekar and produced by B. G. Hemalatha. The film has an ensemble cast comprising Ananth Nag, Suhasini Maniratnam, Shashi Kumar, Urvashi, Mohan ...

''. He later decided to take the plunge into politics.

Political career

He was a member of the

13th Lok Sabha The 13th Lok Sabha (10 October 1999 – 6 February 2004) is the thirteenth session of the Lok Sabha (House of the People, or lower house in the Parliament of India). It was convened after 1999 Indian general election held during September–Oc ...

representing Chitradurga and contesting on a

Janata Dal (United) Janata Dal (United) ("People’s Party (United)”) abbreviated as JD(U) is an Indian political party with political presence mainly in eastern and north-eastern India. JD(U) is recognised as a state party in the states of Bihar , Arunachal Pra ...

ticket. He joined the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

in 2006. He has successfully contested and won the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

elections for Chitradurga constituency.

Selected filmography

References

External links

*
Shashi Kumar bioprofile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Shashi 21st-century Indian male actors Politicians from Bangalore Male actors in Kannada cinema Indian male film actors Living people 1965 births India MPs 1999–2004 Lok Sabha members from Karnataka Indian actor-politicians Janata Dal (United) politicians 20th-century Indian male actors Male actors from Bangalore Janata Dal (Secular) politicians Indian National Congress politicians