Draft:Kenja Chethan Kumar

Kenja Chethan Kumar
Born3 April
Kenja Village, Udupi, Karnataka, India
OccupationFilm DirectorScreenwriterEditor
Years active2016- present
Known forPrema Geema Jaane Do • Devaru BekagiddareChow Chow Bath

Kenja Chethan Kumar, is an Indian film Director, Writer and an Editor known for his works in Kannada Films and Television shows.[1]

Early life and education

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Kenja Chethan Kumar was born in Kenja village in the Udupi district of Karnataka. He hails from an agricultural family. His parents are into agriculture.[1][2]

His grandfather, late Kemthur Doddanna Shetty[3][4] was a playwright, actor, singer and a director who wrote plays in the Tulu language.[5][6] One of his plays was staged 6666 times. In his childhood, Kenja came across an article about his grandfather which inspired him to start writing plays. He wrote his first play when he was 12 years old.[1][7]

He did his schooling in a Kannada medium school, Nithya Sahaya Hiriya Prathamika Shaale, Irandadi and completed his high school from Vidya Nagar Govt. High School in Mudarangadi. Due to financial problems at home he joined Besant Evening College, Kodailbail in Mangaluru as he could study in the evening while working in several jobs during the day.[1]

During his high school days he noticed that most of the audience preferred films over plays and Kenja realized that his own interests had begun shifting towards films. Around the same time he watched a movie directed by the well known Kannada actor Updendra and that was when he decided to pursue a career in film direction.[7]

Kenja came to Bengaluru to work towards film direction, during which he came across an Interview of the Indian filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani where he talks about being an Editor and that it helped his career as a film director. As one can learn a lot from the editing table. That is when Kenja took a few courses on Editing after which he worked in some well known TV channels like Asianet Suvarna, TV9 Kannada, Star India Pvt Ltd.[1] During the course of his work he acquired technical skills like DI, Stereo 3D, graphic software and gained some more knowledge on shooting and post production. He worked as a full time video editor for approximately 7 years before quitting his job to pursue his own direction ventures.[2][1]

Career

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Early work

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Kenja Chethan Kumar has worked in television channels as a video editor with Asianet Suvarna and TV9 in Karnataka, Star India Private Limited, Mumbai. He has done freelance work with Bigg Boss kannada, Family power, Dancing star and a few other popular shows.[1][8]

The short film, Traffic signal was officially his first project that was written, edited and directed by him.[9]

Kenja was also supposed to direct the Tulu film Katapadi Kattapa but he had to then back out of it due to the delay of the shoot that had resulted in his dates overlapping with another project.[10][11]

Television work as a full time Editor

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Channel Show Seasons Role/ Dept.
Asianet Suvarna Confident Star Singer Season 1 Video Editor
TV9 (News9)
  • On the road
  • I Dare To Dream
  • Body Is God
  • Film SPL Show
Video Editor
Star India PVT LTD BOB (Stereo 3D work/ StarSports.com
Endemol India PVT LTD Bigg Boss Kannada Season 1 Video Editor

Other Freelance work as an Editor

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Title Channel Seasons Work
Dancing Star Colors Kannada Season-1 Video Editing
Family Power Season-1
Comedy Talkies Season-1
Maja Bharath Season-1,2
Maja Talkies
Serial Sante
Super Minute Season-1
Comedy Company Season-1
Anubandha Awards Season-1,2,3,4,5,6,7
Bigg Boss Kannada Season-3,4,5,6,7 Finale and Launch Video Editing
Colors Kannada Channel Promo Promo Editing
Kannada kogile Colors Super Season-1 Video Editing
Daddy No.1 Zee Kannada Season-1
Comedy Circle ETV Kannada Season-1
Amrith Noni Power Plus ad.(feat. Shivrajkumar) Advertisement Video Editing
Amrith Noni Pain Oil ad.
Mumbhai (Hindi Movie) Trailer Editing
Neene Ne Bagavanta (Kannada Movie)
5 Adi 7 Angula (Kannada Movie) Song Editing

Directorial debut

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In 2016, Kenja made his directional debut with the soft romantic comedy film,[12] Prema Geema Jaane Do starring Gowtham Ghatke, Sheetal Shetty, Pallavi Gowda, Ramesh Bhat and Mandeep Roy.[13] The music was scored by Poornachandra Tejaswi, and lyrics written by Arasu Anthare.[14]

in 2019, Kenja directed his second film, titled Devaru Bekagiddare starring Master Anoop, Sathyanath, Prasad Vasista and the veteran actor Shivaram. It was about the journey of an innocent boy who decides to find his estranged parents after dealing with the loss of his foster father.[15][16] The child actor of this film, Master Anoop was nominated in the Chandanavana Film Critics Academy Awards 2020 for the best child actor category. Facebook[17]

His recent film is Chow Chow Bath, a Hyperlink Romantic Comedy film[8] which was released on 15th March 2024.[18] The film has been nominated in the Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFES) 2024 in the category Kannada Cinema Competition.[19][20]

Filmography

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Year Title Direction Writing Editing Notes
2016 Prema Geema Jane Do Yes Yes Yes Debut as a director[21]
2019 Devaru Bekagiddare Yes Yes Yes
2023 Chow Chow Bath Yes Yes Yes Nominated in BIFFES 2024 in the category Kannada Cinema Competition.[19]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Anandraj, Shilpa (2024-03-14). "Kenja Chethan Kumar on 'Chow Chow Bath': It is a hyperlink film". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2024-07-29.
  2. ^ a b Service, Express News (2024-03-12). "Hyperlinked romantic dramas are unexplored in Kannada cinema: Kenja Chethan Kumar". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2024-07-29.
  3. ^ Acharya, Dr V. S. (2009-09-29). "Dr V S Acharya: We are committed to promoting Tulu". Dr V S Acharya. Retrieved 2023-02-02.
  4. ^ shreenidhi (2023-01-05). "Kemthur Tulu drama fest to be held in Udupi from 8th January". News Karnataka - Udupi. Retrieved 2023-02-02.
  5. ^ "'Plays have a vital role in popularising Tulu'". The Hindu. 2015-12-20. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2023-02-02.
  6. ^ "Udupi: State Committed to Promote Tulu - Dr Acharya". www.daijiworld.com. Retrieved 2023-02-02.
  7. ^ a b "Sandalwood Supporting Actor Chethan Kumar Biography, News, Photos, Videos". nettv4u. Retrieved 2024-07-29.
  8. ^ a b "ಮೂರು ಲವ್ ಸ್ಟೋರಿಗಳ ವಿಭಿನ್ನ ಸಂಗಮದ "ಚೌ ಚೌ ಬಾತ್"". Kannada News Now. 2023-03-29. Archived from the original on 2023-03-30. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  9. ^ TRAFFIC SIGNAL - New Kannada Short Movie By Chethan Kumar., 21 August 2014, retrieved 2023-05-04
  10. ^ "Mangaluru: Brahmavar Movies 'Katpadi Kattapa' to start rolling soon". www.daijiworld.com. Retrieved 2023-02-02.
  11. ^ Katapadi Kattappa - Shivarajkumar Graces Song Recording Muhurta, 3 March 2017, retrieved 2023-02-02
  12. ^ "Kenja Chethan Kumar Movies". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2023-02-04.
  13. ^ "Prema Geema Jaane DoU". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2023-02-04.
  14. ^ Kumar, Kenja Chethan (2016-09-02), Prema Geema Jane Do (Comedy, Drama, Romance), Horizon Movies, retrieved 2023-02-04
  15. ^ vaishnavi. "ಸಿಕ್ಕಾಪಟ್ಟೆ ಸುದ್ದಿ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದೆ 'ದೇವರು ಬೇಕಾಗಿದ್ದಾರೆ' !". Asianet News Network Pvt Ltd (in Kannada). Retrieved 2023-02-03.
  16. ^ "ಅಪ್ಪಅಮ್ಮನ ಪಡೆಯಲು ದೇವರನ್ನು ಹುಡುಕುವ ಮುಗ್ಧ ಮಗು". ETV Bharat News (in Kannada). 12 October 2019. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
  17. ^ Udayavani. "ದೇವರು ಬೇಕಾಗಿದ್ದಾರೆ…ಹೀಗೊಂದು ಪ್ರಕಟಣೆ". Udayavani (in Kannada). Retrieved 2023-02-03.
  18. ^ Kumar, Kenja Chethan (2024-03-15), Chow Chow Bath (Comedy, Romance), Aruna Balraj, Sushmitha Bhat, Geetha Bangera, Horizon Movies, retrieved 2024-02-22
  19. ^ a b "BIFFES". www.biffes.org. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  20. ^ "Exclusive! Kannada's First Hyper-Link Rom-Com, Chow Chow Bath, Completes 50 Days". Times Now. 2024-05-06. Retrieved 2024-07-29.
  21. ^ "'Prema Geema Jane Do', says Kudla's upcoming Director Chetan Kumar". News Karnataka. 2016-08-31. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
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