
Dinesh Baboo is an Indian film director, cinematographer, producer, actor and screenwriter. He has worked in both Malayalam cinema and Kannada cinema. His directorial ventures were chiefly with Kannada films. His popularity also is largely as a director rather than a cinematographer due to his many popular films in Kannada, some of which went on to become blockbusters.

D. Rajendra Babu was an Indian filmmaker and screenplay writer in Kannada cinema. He has directed over 50 films in various genres, most of them being sentimental films. He wrote and directed numerous blockbuster films, though many of them are re-makes. Apart from Kannada films, he directed a few Telugu and Tamil films along with a Malayalam and a Hindi film each. He is considered one of the most revered directors of the Kannada film industry.

S. V. Rajendra Singh is a Kannada film maker and producer. He was born and brought up in Mysore. His father, the late Shankar Singh was one of the great producers in Kannada Film Industry and has produced many films under the banner Mahatma Pictures (Mysore). Rajendra Singh Babu has made movies in various genres. He has written and directed love stories, War, suspense thrillers and comedy movies. Many of his films have been adapted from novels or short stories. He is not only famous in Karnataka, but also across all of India. Babu has won numerous awards for his films and has also directed movies in the Hindi and Telugu languages. His sister Vijayalakshmi Singh is the wife of actor Jai Jagadish.

Santeshivara Lingannaiah Bhyrappa is an Indian novelist, philosopher and screenwiter who writes in Kannada. His work is popular in the state of Karnataka and he is widely regarded as one of modern India's popular novelists. His novels are unique in terms of theme, structure, and characterization. He has been among the top-selling authors in the Kannada language and his books have been translated into Hindi and Marathi which have also been sellers.

Konda Subbarama Das or Doss was an Indian film director and film editor. He had directed many blockbuster films in many South Indian language films, primarily Telugu and Kannada films.

Sunil Kumar Desai is an Indian film director, writer and producer, known for his work in Kannada cinema. In most of his films, Desai blends art and commercial cinema. He has written and directed suspense/thrillers and love stories. He has won the Karnataka state awards in the Best Screenplay & Best Dialogues categories. He has also won the Filmfare awards 4 times. Desai worked with South Indian musicians like Illayaraja, Hamsalekha and Gunasingh.

Tripuraneni Gopichand was a Telugu short story writer, novelist, editor, essayist, playwright, film director, and a radical humanist. Gopichand was the son of renowned social reformer and play writer Tripuraneni Ramaswamy. Gopichand, inspired by M.N.Roy's Radical Humanism, became the first state secretary of the Radical Democratic Party (India) Andhra Pradesh. His second novel Asamardhuni Jivayatra, was the first psychological novel in Telugu literature. Gopichand was posthumously awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for Pandita Parameswara Sastri Veelunama in 1963, the first Telugu novel to win this award. His novels typically features gloomy, incomplete, unsatisfied and unsatisfying protagonist tortured by a sense of guilt.

Ganapathi Venkataramana Iyer, popularly known as G. V. Iyer, was a well-known Indian film director and actor. He was nicknamed "Kannada Bheeshma", and was the only person who made films in Sanskrit. His film Adi Shankaracharya (1983) won four National Film Award, including Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Audiography. His films were well known for their spiritual themes. He was born in 1917 in Nanjanagud in Mysore district of Karnataka state in South India. His most critically acclaimed films were Bhagavad Gita (1993), which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film and was nominated for Best Film at the Bogotá Film Festival and Swami Vivekananda (1998), for which Mithun Chakraborty won the national award for Best Supporting Actor.

P. Kalaimani was a writer, producer and director who worked in the Tamil cinema. He has written story, screenplay and dialogues for more than 100 films.

S. R. Puttanna Kanagal, fondly called as 'Chitra Bramha' was an Indian filmmaker and is considered as one of the finest filmmakers India has ever produced.

Babukodi Venkataramana Karanth was a film and theatre personality from India. Throughout his life he was director, actor and musician of modern Indian theatre both in Kannada as well as Hindi, and one of the pioneers of Kannada and Hindi new wave cinema. He was born in Dakshina Kannada.
Girish Karnad was an Indian actor, film director, Kannada writer, playwright and a Rhodes Scholar, who predominantly worked in South Indian cinema and Bollywood. His rise as a playwright in the 1960s marked the coming of age of modern Indian playwriting in Kannada, just as Badal Sarkar did in Bengali, Vijay Tendulkar in Marathi, and Mohan Rakesh in Hindi. He was a recipient of the 1998 Jnanpith Award, the highest literary honour conferred in India.

Karthik Saragur is an Indian film director, screenwriter and lyricist who works primarily in Kannada cinema.
Girish Kasaravalli is an Indian film director, in the Kannada cinema, and one of the pioneers of the Parallel Cinema. Known internationally for his works, Kasaravalli has garnered fourteen National Film Awards, including four Best Feature Films; Ghatashraddha (1977), Tabarana Kathe (1986), Thaayi Saheba (1997) and Dweepa (2002). In 2011, he was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award by Government of India.

Kathir is an Indian film director, producer, and screenwriter who works predominantly in Tamil cinema.

Hunsur Krishnamurthy was an Indian playwright, film director, producer, actor, screenwriter and lyricist in Kannada cinema.

Kavitha Lankesh is an Indian film director, screenwriter and a lyricist known for her work in Kannada cinema industry. She began as a documentary film-maker before directing her first feature film, Deveeri (1999), which went on to win international, national and state awards. She is considered to be one of the renowned film-makers of Kannada cinema. She has directed and produced more than fifty documentaries/informational films and more than forty corporate films. Some of the films Kavitha directed have won awards and accolades from critics.

Shankar Nagarakatte, better known as Shankar Nag was an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, and producer known for his work in Kannada-language films and television. He directed and acted in the teleserial, Malgudi Days, based on celebrated novelist R. K. Narayan's short stories.

Prashanth Neel is an Indian film director who works in Kannada cinema. He made his debut with the 2014 film, Ugramm starring Sriimurali and Hariprriya in lead. The film emerged as a blockbuster hit and launched his career. He then followed it up with the Kannada magnum opus KGF, which was written and directed by him and became all-time highest-grossing film of Kannada. His next film will be 2nd and final installment of KGF titled as KGF: Chapter 2.

Dayal Padmanabhan is a noted Indian film writer, director and producer, mainly working in Kannada cinema who is a two times Karnataka State award winner. Most of his films are experimental in the genre of Rom-Com and Thriller.

Baraguru Ramachandrappa is an Indian writer in the Kannada language from Karnataka. He is a film director, screenplay writer and a well known name in Indian documentary films. In 2008, he was given an honorary doctorate by the Kuvempu University and Rani Channamma University, Belagavi, Karnataka.

Kodlu Ramkrishna is a Kannada film director from Tirthahalli in Karnataka.

Bindiganavile Srinivas Iyengar Ranga was an Indian photographer, actor, producer and director who has made many landmark movies in Kannada, Tamil and Telugu. He was also the owner of Vikram Studios. He has directed and produced about 87 films in these three languages with a maximum of 18 films in Kannada alone starring matinee idol Rajkumar.

Mahesh Rao is an Indian director, screenwriter and lyricist who works in Kannada films. He is known for the movies Dheemaku, Murali meets Meera (2011) and Bhadra (2011). His next movie is with Yash and Radhika Pandit which is in pre-production stage to be produced by K.Manju.

Om Prakash Rao is an Indian film director, screenwriter, film producer and film actor who primarily works in Kannada film industry. He has, till date, directed about 25 films in Kannada language.

Singeetam Srinivasa Rao is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter, composer, singer, lyricist and actor, known for his works in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi films, across multiple genres. The octogenarian is widely regarded as one of the versatile directors of India. He is credited with having revolutionised the South Indian cinema with experimental films. He has garnered two National Film Awards, seven state Nandi Awards, three Filmfare Awards South, and three Karnataka State Film Awards.

K. R. Seetharama Sastry popularly known as Ku. Ra. Seetharama Sastry or simply Ku. Ra. Si was an Indian theatre actor, film actor, writer, lyricist and director in Kannada film industry. After a career in theatre, Sastry's career in films was those of an actor, director, producer, screenwriter, lyricist and an occasional composer. He is considered one of the most influential personalities in the history of Kannada cinema.

D Satya Prakash is a national award-winning (Kannada) filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer. His works often focus on social issues and human relationships. His debut film is Rama Rama Re..., which is followed by Ondalla Eradalla. Before making commercial films, Prakash directed the short film Jayanagara 4th block.

Shashank is an Indian film director, screenwriter and lyricist who works in Kannada cinema. He made his debut as a director with the 2007 film Sixer. His second directorial Moggina Manasu (2008) received critical acclaim for its screenplay and its coming-of-age theme. He went on to direct other successful films in the romance genre such as Krishnan Love Story (2010) and Krishna-Leela (2015). He is also credited to have introduced actors Yash and Radhika Pandit who went on to become successful actors in Kannada cinema.

Siddalingaiah was an Indian film director and writer in the Kannada film industry. He made his directorial debut in 1969 with Mayor Muthanna. He directed films including Bangaarada Manushya (1972) and Bhootayyana Maga Ayyu (1974). He frequently starred actor Rajkumar.

Prabhu Solomon is an Indian film director who has primarily worked on Tamil films. After making his debut in 1999, he had a middling career before rising to prominence with the success of the romantic tragedy film Mynaa (2010).

Venkatappa Somashekhar was an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter in Kannada and Malayalam cinema. In 40 years of his career as a director, he directed 49 films, including commercial successes such as Premada Kanike (1976), Shankar Guru (1978), Seetharamu (1979) and Chakravyuha (1983). Widely known for action-oriented movies, he was much sought as a hit-machine.

Sunil Kumar known by his screen name Suni, is an Indian film director, producer, lyricist and screenwriter who works in Kannada cinema. He made his debut with the 2013 critically and commercially successful film Simple Agi Ondh Love Story.

Kikkeri Shamanna Lakshminarasimha Swamy, popularly known as K. S. L. Swamy / Lalitha Ravee / Ravee, was an Indian film director, producer, actor and playback singer. He entered cinema at an early age as an assistant to popular directors of the time such as G. V. Iyer and M. R. Vittal. He debuted as an independent film director with the 1966 film, Thoogudeepa. His other films such as Gandhinagara (1968) and Bhagya Jyothi (1975) and Malaya Marutha (1986) proved successful. His 1989 film Jamboo Savari won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film at the 37th National Film Awards.

Y. R. Swamy was an Indian film director and screenwriter who worked primarily Kannada cinema. He directed over 35 films in his career, 17 of which came in films that stars Rajkumar in the lead role. He also holds the record for directing Rajkumar for the highest no. of times- seventeen.

Tikkavarapu Pattabhirama Reddy, was an Indian film screenwriter, producer, director, social activist, poet, and writer known for his pioneering works in Telugu cinema, and Kannada cinema.

Udaya Kumar is a Kannada Film Director and Editor based in India, who started his career as an Editor, working with Nagathihalli Chandrashekar and Directed a movie Kaarmoda Saridu in the year 2019

Chitnahalli Udayashankar was an Indian lyricist and dialogue writer in the Kannada film industry for over three decades, who penned more than 3000 songs for films and devotional songs. He was called 'Sahithya Rathna'. His dialogues, screenplay and lyrics were instrumental in the success of many movies of Rajkumar. Udayashankar received four Karnataka State Film Award for Best Dialogue and two Karnataka State Film Award for Best Screenplay. He was the son of lyricist Chi. Sadashivaiah. His son Chi. Guru Dutt is an actor and director in Kannada and Tamil feature films.

Upendra, is an Indian filmmaker, actor and politician known for his work in Kannada cinema.

Vasudevan Peethambharan, known professionally as P. Vasu, is an Indian director, writer and actor who works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and Malayalam films. In a career spanning three decades, Vasu has directed over 65 films.