Star Talk: Famous special appearances in Kannada Cinema over the years

The thrill of watching a big star suddenly burst on screen goes unmatched to most other movie-going experiences. The concept of a "guest appearance" is quite recent in Indian cinema but has evolved quite effectively over time. The element of anticipation does the trick in most cases as a large audience, despite being aware of the presence of a particular actor in the film, keenly looks forward to their entry with hopes of their energies being renewed thus forth. With Sudeep slated to make a special appearance in 'Kabzaa', it is perhaps not a bad idea to look back some of the key and valuable extended cameos that Kannada stars have made in the past. This isn't a comprehensive list by any means and it mostly includes appearances made in commercially successful films.

Image Courtesy: Facebook

Telugu Megastar Chiranjeevi's only Kannada outing came alongside V. Ravichandran when the former chose to play a small crucial part in the 1996 film 'Sipayi'. Directed by Ravichandran himself, Chiranjeevi plays Major Chandrakant in the film and shows up at an important juncture to light up the screen almost instantly. The song "Snehakke Sneha" still features as one of the most iconic moments of the '90s in Kannada cinema.

Image Courtesy: Facebook

In the Kannada remake of the 'Golmaal' (Hindi classic starring Amol Palekar), brothers Shiva and Raghavendra Rajkumar united on screen for the first time in their careers when the latter featured in an extended cameo in the film as himself. The film proved to be a commercial success and much of the credit could go to the on-screen camaraderie between the brothers. The film, quite interestingly, also features Rebel Star Amabareesh in a small but effective cameo.

Image Courtesy: Twitter and YouTube

Malayalam superstar and acting legend Mohanlal's tryst with Kannada Cinema began with S.V. Rajendra Singh Babu's 'Love' in 2004 but the film couldn't particularly manage to satisfy his many fans here. However, the actor would return to star in slightly longer but meatier role in the 2015 children's film 'Mythri'. The film also brought Puneeth Rajkumar and Mohanlal together in one single frame for the very first time and offered a rare treat to all the film enthusiasts. Puneeth Rajkumar, starring as himself, played a crucial role in 'Mythri'.

Image Courtesy: Facebook

Dr. Vishnuvardhan, especially, has made several guest and cameo appearances in his career and added value to each film as a result. Be it as Professor Manohar in Ravichandran's cult-classic 'Prema Loka' or as the classical singer in 'Driver Hanumanthu', the late actor has never shied away from making brief albeit impactful appearances to either help out his peers or simply as a dedicated artist. In H.R. Bhargava's 1982 film 'Pedda Gedda', starring Dwarakish and Aarathi, both Dr. Vishnuvardhan and Bharathi featured as the lawyer duo who come in the hero's rescue at the culminating moments of the film.

Image Courtesy: Twitter

Much like Dr. Vishnuvardhan, Ambareesh too made a number of sizeable cameos and apperances in films through the '80s and '90s. He would star as himself in a number of them, including the superhit 'Neenu Nakkare Halu Sakkare', but his contribution to actor Jaggesh's debut outing 'Bhanda Nanna Ganda' is quite significant. He would again star as an actor but with a few fictionalized elements added to his role (quite similar to Jackie Shroff's role in 'Rangeela').

Image Courtesy: Twitter

The modern-day biggies of the Kannada Film Industry too have exchanged a number of tokens of brotherhood and have starred in important cameos in various cameos. The 2007 film 'Arasu', starring Puneeth Rajkumar, Ramya, and Meera Jasmine, has two small but vital special appearances fulfilled by actors Darshan and Aditya. Reportedly, Sudeep was supposed to originally play the role that Aditya would go on to but the former had to drop out due to date clashes.

Image Courtesy: Twitter