P. Ravi Shankar

P. Ravi Shankar grew up as a child in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Ravi Shankar's mother Krishna Jyothy Pudipeddi is a Telugu actress who acted with Kannada thespian Dr. Rajkumar and others in films such as Sri Krishna Garudi, Makkala Rajya and others. Ravi Shankar's father, Pudipeddi Jogeswara Sharma, was also an actor and dubbing artist who worked in many Telugu, Kannada and Tamil films. His elder brother Pudipeddi Sai Kumar entered the film industry as dubbing artist and later became an actor in Kannada Film Industry.[5] He is married to a Punjabi woman, Suchil Pudipeddi and the couple has one son named Adhvey Pudipeddi.[5] Ravishankar is all set to launch Adhvey as a hero in his own directorial film in Kannada.[9]

P. Ravi Shankar made his film debut as a lead actor in 1986 with R. Narayana Murthy's film Aalochinchandi.[5] He later was seen in supporting roles in films such as Madhura Nagarilo and Keechurallu. With no more offers, Ravi took a hiatus from acting and re-entered as a villain in 2001 with Gopi Chand's debut film Tholi Valapu.[10] Lack of success in his acting career forced him to pursue dubbing as a profession like his father and brother. He started dubbing professionally with the Telugu film Rowdyism Zindabad, where he dubbed for Tamil actor Mohan Raj.[5] He continued to dub for many character artists from other languages such as Raghuvaran, Mohan Raj, Devaraj, Charan Raj, Captain Raju, Nassar, Ashish Vidyarthi, Prakash Raj, Ashutosh Rana, Sonu Sood, Mukesh Rishi, Upendra and Pradeep Rawat etc.[11] He dubbed for over 4000 films with more than 1000 films each in Telugu and Tamil and over 150 films in Kannada.[11] In 2004, he directed a Kannada film titled Durgi, starring Malashri. The film was later remade in Telugu as Narasimhudu, starring N. T. Rama Rao Jr., Ameesha Patel and Sameera Reddy. Ravi provided the story for the film which was directed by B. Gopal.[12] The film was heavily criticised and bombed at the box office.[13]

His dubbing work in the 2009 film Arundhati, where he voiced for Sonu Sood, was praised in a review on Idlebrain.[14] He won a Nandi award for his performance and was referred to as "Bommali Ravi Shankar" by the media.

In a very recent Kannada TV show called Weekend with Ramesh on Zee Kannada Channel, Ravishankar said that even after his very successful career in the dubbing field, he was extremely frustrated in life to fulfill his and his mothers dream of becoming a successful actor and he had to wait for as long as 25 years for that to happen. The biggest break in his career was when he portrayed the character of a criminal named "Armuga" in the 2011 mega Blockbuster hit Kannada film Kempe Gowda, with actor Sudeep. The film became so popular that Ravishankar was hence called "Kempegowda Ravishankar" or "Arumugam Ravishankar" and he grew to become a household name in Karnataka. His performance was not only widely praised by the critics,[15] but he also bagged his dream Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Kannada at the 59th Filmfare Awards South.[8] Ravi Shankar, on the TV show, continued by saying that his mother could not see his success since she had died in 2006.

Ravi Shankar, after Kempe Gowda, became a busy supporting actor in the Kannada Film Industry and went on to become a household name in Karnataka.[2][3][4] He then acted in films such as Manikya, Dandupalya, Adhyaksha, Charulatha, Bachchan, Edegarike, Varadanayaka and others. He was also seen in Telugu films such as Kurradu and Happy Happy Gaa and in Tamil films such as Vettaikaaran and Kollaikaran.[16]

After the very successful Kempe Gowda that gave Ravishankar a huge break in his career, he went on to act in over 50 Kannada films in just 5 years and became one of the busiest and the most sought after actors in Kannada. He has acted in many super-hit Kannada films since then. His popularity in Karnataka grew so much that he became a household name in the state. Ravishankar, in every film is welcomed by whistles and claps by his Kannada fans.[9]

It is very common for fans to form "Fans Associations" for film stars. Ravishankar's popularity as a supporting actor in Kannada grew to an extent where he has many fans associations across Karnataka. Fans throng to his house in Bengaluru on his birthdays like it happens for a big hero.[9] One of his biggest fans associations in Bengaluru is called "Akhila Karnataka Sakalakalavallabha Ravishankar Abhimanigala Sangha".[17][18]

Ravishankar, in the recent Zee Kannada show Weekend with Ramesh, said that it was his mother's all time dream and his 25-year dream to become a successful actor one day and that his mother is now not here to see my success. He went on to say that he was extremely frustrated even after Arundhati, of not being able to become a popular actor and he said that Karnataka was one state that fulfilled his dream and that he would always be indebted to the state and will always give the Kannada industry first preference. He also said: "Telugu might be my mother tongue, but Kannada is my language of life and I will proudly call myself a Kannadiga".

He had also revealed that his first Kannada movie was Halli Krishna Delhi Radha.[19][20] and his second Kannada movie was Mana Mecchida Sose.[19] His 50th movie was Jigarthanda.

Ravishankar appeared in the dance sequence for the song "Allah, Allah, Nataraja Bartaanalla" for the film Nataraja Service. This song, which tells about the protagonist of the film Nataraja (Sharan), went viral much before its release.

He won his first Nandi Award for Best Male Dubbing Artist in 1999 for Ram Gopal Varma's Prema Katha. He dubbed for Manoj Bajpai in the film. He won his second Nandi Award in 2002 for Chiranjeevi's Indra, in which he dubbed for Mukesh Rishi. His next Nandi Award was in 2004 for his dubbing in S. S. Rajamouli's Sye. He dubbed for Pradeep Rawat in the film. He won four consecutive Nandi Awards from 2006 to 2009 for the films Pokiri, Athidhi, Arundhati and Anjaneyulu respectively. He also won Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Male Dubbing Artist for his dubbing for Ashish Vidyarthi in 2001 film Dhill.

• P. Ravi Shankar at IMDb