C R Simha

C R Simha was a Kannada actor, director, dramatist and a playwright. He was best known for his work in Kannada films and for his work in stage shows. Starting his career in Prabhat Kalavidaru, a famous theatre group based in Bangalore, he acted in numerous Kannada plays, which reached the cult status. He started his own theatre group called "Nataranga" in 1972 and directed many successful plays such as Kakanakote, Thughlaq and Sankranthi.

Simha has been felicitated with many prestigious awards in both cinema and theatre fields. In 2003, he was awarded with the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award by the Government of India recognizing his contribution to the theatre acting and direction.

Background

Simha was born in Karnataka on 16 June 1942. His younger brother Srinath is a famous film actor who acted in several mainstream Kannada cinema as both the leading actor and supporting actor.

Simha appeared on stage at the age of twelve. He was a student of National College at Basavanagudi, Bangalore. As a member of the Histronics Club, he acted in many Kannada plays like "Bahaddur Ganda" and "Manavemba Markata".

Besides making his strong presence in theatre, Simha was also a popular mainstream character actor in numerous Kannada films. He acted in close to 150 feature films. His portrayal of roles varied from critically acclaimed award-winning films like Samskara, Bara, Chithegoo Chinte and Anuroopa and also in commercially acclaimed films such as Indina Ramayana, Nee Bareda Kadambari, Parameshi Prema Prasanga, Rayaru Bandaru Mavana Manege, Nee Thanda Kanike among several others.

Besides acting, Simha has directed 5 films including Kakanakote, Shikaari, Simhasana, Ashwamedha (1990) and Angayalli Apsare (1993).

Television

Simha made his strong presence felt in television too and acted in several tele-serials in Kannada, Hindi and English languages. This includes the most famous worldwide serial Malgudi Days. Another noteworthy serial was Goruru In America based on the travelogue written by the humorist Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar. Simha played the part of Gorur and the serial was shot extensively in America, including New York, Washington D.C., Niagara Falls, Disneyland and Universal Studios - Hollywood.

Publications

Simha has written and published five plays in Kannada. He was a popular columnist, he wrote a column called "Nimma Simha" every Friday for six years in the popular daily newspaper Vijaya Karnataka and three volumes of this are published in the Book forum.

Death

CR Simha was hospitalized on February 27. The actor, who was suffering from Cancer, was admitted to Seva Kshethra hospital in Banashankari, Bangalore, and he passed away at Seva Kshethra hospital Bangalore on February 28th, 2014, at around 12 pm. He was 72, and was undergoing prostate cancer treatment.