In 1984, senior directors such as S.R. Puttanna Kanagal, Siddalingaiah, M.N. Lakshminarayana and others came together to form the Karnataka Film Directors’ Association – KANFIDA. For the past three years now, on the 1st of December, the association has been celebrating the birthday of its founding president and one of the legends of Indian cinema, S.R. Puttanna Kanagal, at the Karnataka Film Directors’ Association.
On that day, health check-ups are conducted for members and their families. This year too, along with celebrating Puttanna Kanagal’s birthday, a special program was organized under the leadership of the current president N.R.K. Vishwanath. On December 1, for the first time in the history of the film industry, 35 individuals — selected from all wings of the industry including senior workers, artistes, technicians, directors, and producers, from production assistants to producers — were honored with the KANFIDA Rajyotsava Award.
On this occasion, the chief guests were the Chief Minister’s media advisor K.V. Prabhakar, ISRO’s distinguished scientist Ramanagowda Venkangowda Nadagowdar, senior directors Om Shri Saiprakash, senior artistes Sridhar, Sundar Raj, Shivakumar, Aniruddha Jatakar, Mrs. Shriraksha Shivakumar, Mrs. Prameela Joshai, Puttanna’s disciple Chandrahas Alva, Mrs. Dr. Punyavati, Dr. B.M. Umesh Kumar, Krishnegowda, Gururaj, and Puttanna Kanagal’s children Bhuvaneshwari and Triveni, as well as dignitaries and seniors from the film fraternity.
Top Star Renukumar’s orchestra added charm to the event. Present at the occasion were association president N.R.K. Vishwanath, vice-presidents Joe Simon and Jagadish Koppa, secretaries Top Star Renukumar, joint secretaries Malavalli Saikrishna, treasurers Aditya Chikkanna, along with the association’s executive committee members and subcommittee members, who made the program a success.
KANFIDA Rajyotsava Award Recipients: Udupi Krishna – Production Assistant, Rajanna – Lighting, Mahabala – Vehicle Driver A.H. Bhatt Raghavendra – Outdoor Shooting Unit Owner K.C. Nagaraj – Costume Designer
N.K. Ramakrishna – Makeup Artist G. Nageshwara Rao – Hair Stylist Ravindranath K.S. – Dubbing Artist Ramanna N.L. – Production Manager Ashwath Narayan – Still Photographer, Mahendra – Sound Recordist
Shankar – Effects Engineer, Gangadhar Som – Publicity Art, Sudheendra Venkatesh – Press Relations, Journalist
Richard Lewis – Writer, Dattanna – Senior Film Artiste
Mrs. M.N. Lakshmi Devi – Senior Film Artiste, Raman Kanagal – Assistant Director, Raghunandan B. – Associate Director, Thriller Manju – Stunt Director, Babu Khan – Art Director, Vijay Ram – Choreographer
M.N. Swami – Editor, Mrs. B.K. Sumithra – Playback Singer, Mysore Mohan – Music Director
K. Vasudeva – Cinematographer, T. Srinivas – Regional Film Distributor, Exhibitor, Producer, Sundaresha B.K. Service to Fans, Aditya Chikkanna – Service to Fans, K.V. Chandrashekhar – Film Exhibitor, Narayan Reddy – Film Distributor, S.A. Srinivas – Producer Nanjaraaje Aras – Director and others.
