Rockline Venkatesh | |
|---|---|
 Venkatesh in 2018 | |
| Born | T. N. Venkatesh (1963-03-24)24 March 1963 (age 62) Chittoor,Andhra Pradesh, India |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Spouse | Pushpakumari |
| Children | 2 |
Thirupathi Narasimhalunaidu Venkatesh (born 24 March 1963), better known by his stage nameRockline Venkatesh, is an Indian actor and film producer known for his works inKannada, Tamil andHindi cinemas. He is the founder and owner of the production and distribution company, Rockline Entertainments which has directed over five films as of 2012. In 2015 he co-producedBajrangi Bhaijaan which earned theNational Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment at the63rd National Film Awards.[1]
Venkatesh began his career in films as a stuntman and playing supporting roles in 1987. In 1992, he produced his first television series,Ashawadigalu.[2] He started his production venture in 1996 with co-production ofAyudha. He has made films with original stories and also remakes from other languages. He has made films with top super stars of Kannada film industry likeVishnuvardhan,Ambareesh,Ravichandran,Shivaraj Kumar,Upendra,Sudeep,Puneeth Rajkumar,Darshan,Vijay and others and also made a few small budget films. He has used top film directors like Ravichandran,S.V.Rajendra Singh Babu, D.Rajendra Babu,S. Narayan, KV Raju,Om Prakash Rao, MS Rajashekhar,Sadhu Kokila, Dayal Padmanabhan, Meher Ramesh and others. In 2009, When IDBI started financing Kannada films, Rockline Venkatesh one of the initial producers to welcome the bank to Industry.[3] Rockline Productions has now become a brand name in the Kannada film industry which has produced several blockbusters likePreethse,Preethsodh Thappa,Yaare Neenu Cheluve,Ajay,Mourya,Diggajaru, andDakota Express.[4][5][6][7]
In 2010, The ongoing buzz was created when it was said superstar Upendra is directing a movie after 10 years, Rockline Venkatesh produced the movie and its said that they spend lakhs of money on photoshoot itself.[8] And in late 2013, after making films likeSuper,Preethse andMaurya, Venkatesh was very keen to remake Tamil filmSoodhu Kavvum in Kannada.[9] Later it was mentioned thatRohit Shetty from Hindi film industry would direct the Hindi version of the film.[10] Recently Venkatesh has been seen working with superstars from various industries, he made his debut as a Telugu film producer with 2014'sPower, starringRavi Teja,Lingaa starringRajnikanth which released in various languages and in 2015 he associated with Bollywood's superstarSalman Khan for the filmBajrangi Bhaijaan which emerged as a commercial success grossing over ₹6.25 billion worldwide and in the process and became thethird highest grossing Indian film[11] afterPK andBaahubali.
On New Year's Eve 2015,Killing Veerappan by Ram Gopal Varma was released. Rockline Venkatesh has keyed well in the prominent role as a police officer (where he has performed police roles in movies such asAgni IPS andPolice Story) who becomes one of the victim to the killings of Veerappan.
In mid 2016 Rockline Venkatesh acquired the remake rights ofMarathi blockbusterSairat for four southern languages.Sairat, the critically acclaimed love story is the first Marathi film to gross over ₹100 crore (US$15 million) worldwide.[12]Rinku Rajguru, heroine of the Marathi filmSairat will make Sandalwood debut with the Kannada version directed byS. Narayan.[13]
In January 2017, Rockline Venkatesh's firstMalayalam film was announced. The film, starringMohanlal andManju Warrier, was directed byB. Unnikrishnan whileTamil actorVishal has been cast as the main villain.[14][15]
| † | Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released |
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Hongkongnalli Agent Amar | [21] | |
| 1993 | Ananda Jyothi | Based on the novelMaangalya Maale by Kakolu Saroja Rao | |
| 1994 | Rasika | Rajeev | |
| 1996 | Police Story | ||
| 1997 | Agni IPS | Baasha Khan | |
| 2002 | Dheera | Remake ofEvadra Rowdy[22] | |
| Dakota Express | Krishna | Remake ofEe Parakkum Thalika | |
| Balarama | Balarama | Remake ofYerra Mandaram | |
| Nagarahavu | Remake ofBaazigar | ||
| 2007 | Police Story 2 | Vijay | |
| 2008 | Kaamannana Makkalu | Krishna | |
| 2009 | Devru | Remake ofThalai Nagaram which itself was based on Malayalam movieAbhimanyu | |
| 2012 | Dakota Picture | Krishna | Remake ofMalamaal Weekly |
| 2014 | Lingaa | Man at the bar | Tamil film Cameo appearance in the song "Oh Nanba" |
| 2016 | Killing Veerappan | T. Harikrishna | |
| Nataraja Service | Inspector Venkatesh | ||
| 2018 | Naachiyaar | Feroz Khan | Tamil film |
| 8MM Bullet | KK | ||
| 2019 | Kurukshetra | Shalya |
| International | |
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| National | |
