Yogaraj Bhat

Yogaraj Bhat aka YB (born 8 October 1973) is an Indian Kannada film actor, director, lyricist, producer and screenwriter. He is most predominantly known for the 2006 film Mungaru Male, which he co-wrote with Preetham Gubbi. He was also the director of the film and was one of the lyricists in the film. The film recorded the highest box-office collections in the history of Kannada cinema and currently holds the record for the longest running film at a multiplex.

Bhat is given the credit of introducing some of the very talented technicians to the film industry that include Pawan Kumar of Lucia fame, Pawan Wadeyar, Gadda Viji among others.

Early life

Yogaraj Bhat was born on 8 October 1973, in Tiluvlli, in the Haveri district of the erstwhile Mysore State (now in Karnataka). He was the youngest of Ramachandra and Jayalakshmi Bhat's seven children. He lost his father to a boat mishap.

Career

Director

During his college days in Mysore he watched a lot of foreign classics like Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, Akira Kurosawa's Ran. He is a great fan of Kurosawa and fed upon a staple diet of Fellini and Godard films. These films inspired him a lot. He came to Bangalore at the age of 22 hoping to be a film cameraman.

As a new entrant to the film industry, Yograj Bhat served as an assistant director under Girish Kasaravalli, V. Ravichandran, Sunil Kumar Desai and B Suresha. Talking about this experience he says "It was not about who the guru was. It was about being employed, It was the thrill of watching film-making at close quarters. I even enjoyed being admonished by these directors. The thrill of standing next to a camera and listening to its sound is inexplicable." He directed a TV serial, Chakra before making his first feature film.

It took him eight years before he found a producer to back him as an independent director. His first Kannada movie as a director was Mani. The highlight of the film was memorable performances by Umashree and Rangayana Raghu, both of whom won Karnataka State's Best Supporting Actor award for their respective roles in this movie. His second movie Ranga SSLC (2004) did not perform as expected. The film included Sudeep and Ramya in the lead, and Umashree as Sudeep's mother and Rangayana Raghu as "Bomb Naga." The story of the film was written by his friend Soori. The music of the film was composed by Sandeep Chowta.

For the next two years he did not direct any movies as it was very much testing times for him. He spent his time doing a lot of corporate films and documentaries. He had also decided to give himself a bit of time before he ventured into another film project. That was when the idea of Mungaaru Male came up. He spent almost one year writing the script. "Comedy Time" Ganesh liked the script very much, and he introduced a producer E Krishnappa who eventually produced the film. Mungaru Male became the biggest blockbuster of South India, creating a record of having a one-year run at the box office. It was followed by another blockbuster, Gaalipata.

He also started his acting career in the film Dyavre directed by one of his assistants.

His next movie Manasaare got rave reviews from the critics and did well all over Karnataka. After Manasaare, he directed and co-produced next movie titled Pancharangi which stars Diganth and Nidhi Subbaiah in the lead roles. Rediff declared as one of the best Kannada movies of 2010.

Next movie in 2011 was Paramathma starring Puneeth Rajkumar which was another hit movie liked by all class people. In 2012, he directed a film titled Drama with Yash and Radhika Pandit in the lead roles but the film was not like his regular movies but managed to gain decent appreciation. His next movie will be Dana Kayonu, likely to release in 2015.

Lyricist

Bhat is the top most lyricist of the Kannada Film Industry today and is considered as the greatest of all. He started his journey as a lyricist from the song 'Mungaru Maleye' from the mega hit film Mungaru Male. He has rendered lyrics to hundreds of popular, super hit songs for the films Mungaru Male, Gaalipata, Circus, Jackie, Junglee, Inthi Ninna Preethiya, Hudugaru, Paramathma, Manasaare, Pancharangi, Kiladi Kitti, Devru, Chingari, Drama, Puttakkana Highway, Super, Anna Bond, Only Vishnuvardhana, Kichha Huchha, Crazy Loka, Lucky, Lifeu Ishtene, Shiva, Jaanu, Cheluveye Ninna Nodalu, Johny Mera Naam, Victory, Paramatma,Male Barali Manju Irali, Dyaavre, Preethi Geethi Ityadi, Victory and many more. He is considered the most versatile writer who can pen lyrics for slow songs such as Mungaru Maleye, Doora Swalpa Doora, Nadheem Dheem Thana, Hookanasa Jokali, Chendutiya Pakkadali, Eradu Jadeyannu, Naa Naguva modalene, Hesaru Poorthi Helale and others and can pen fast songs like Hale Paathre, Kathlalli Karadi, Khali Quarter Bottle, Shiva Antha hoguthidde, Pancharangi Pom Pom and others very easily. He has won a film fare award and many other awards for penning the super hit song, 'Bombe Aadsonu' from the film Drama.

Filmography

Year	Film
		Director	Producer	Screenwriter	Lyricist	Notes
2001	Chakra (T.V. Serial)	Yes		Yes
2003	Mani	Yes
2004	Ranga S.S.L.C	Yes		Yes
2006	Mungaru Male	Yes		Yes	Yes
2008	Gaalipata	Yes		Yes	Yes
2008	Inthi Ninna Preethiya		Yes		Yes
2009	Manasaare	Yes		Yes	Yes
2010	Pancharangi	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2011	Paramathma	Yes		Yes	Yes
2011	Lifeu Ishtene		Yes		Yes
2012	Drama	Yes		Yes	Yes
2014	Vaastu Prakaara	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2015	Dana Kayonu	Yes		Yes	Yes	Post production
2016	Nanna Hesare Anuraagi	Yes		Yes		Announced

Yograj Movies

His production house Yograj Movies has produced quite a few films like the super hit Pancharangi, Dyavre, Preethi Geethi Ityadi, Parapancha, plus and others.

Awards

• Won – 2013 – Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist – Kannada for the song 'Bombe Adsonu' from his own directorial film Drama.
• Won – 2013 – The Bangalore Times Film Awards for 'The Best Lyricist' category for the song 'Bombe Adsonu'.
• Nomination – 2008 – Filmfare Award for Best Director – Kannada for the film Gaalipata.
• Nomination – 2010 – Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist – Kannada for the song 'Shiva Antha' from Jackie.

TV Series

1. Baale Paramapada Sopana as Director (Producer: Sihi Kahi Chandru)

Collaborations

With Actors and Actress

	Mani (2003)	Ranga S.S.L.C (2004)	Mungaru Male (2006)	Gaalipata (2008)	Manasaare (2009)	Pancharangi (2010)	Paramathma (2011)	Drama (2012)	Vaastu Prakaara (2015)
Mayur Patel	Y
Sudeep		Y
Ramya		Y
Rangayana Raghu	Y	Y		Y			Y
Daisy Bopanna				Y
Ganesh			Y	Y
Pooja Gandhi			Y
Anant Nag			Y	Y		Y	Y		Y
Diganth			Y	Y	Y	Y
Neethu				Y	Y
Aindrita Ray					Y		Y
Nidhi Subbaiah						Y
Puneet Rajkumar							Y
Ramya Barna						Y	Y
Deepa Sannidhi							Y
Yash								Y
Radhika Pandit								Y
Jaggesh									Y
Rakshit Shetty									Y
Parul Yadav									Y

External links

• "Pancharangi is all about Life Istene," says Yogaraj Bhat Oneindia
• Yogaraj Bhat at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview in OurKarnataka
• Article in Hindu
• Yogaraj Bhat Biography, Movies at FilmySphere