N. Lakshminarayan (?-1991)

Kannada director born in Srirangapatna, Karnataka. First explicitly experimental filmmaker in Kannada with wordless short Bliss. Studied cinematography in Bangalore. Early career as apprentice to his uncle, B.R. Krishnamurthy; then to R. Nagendra Rao. Claimed influence of De Sica and Satyajit Ray in first attempts at art cinema in Kannada, prior to the Navya Movement-inspired notion of film as an extension of literature. His melodramatically inclined work claims roots in psychological realism. His Nandi was a big success and launched Kalpana as a star.

FILMOGRAPHY: 1961: Bliss (Sh); 1964: Nandi; 1969: Uyyale; 1970: Mukti; 1973: Abachurina Post Office; 1979: Muyyi; 1985: Bettada Hoovu; 1987: Belaku.

Director