Pradyumna Narahalli (born 10 April 1988), is an Indian actor, lyricist, writer, RJ, director and producer, known primarily for his work in Kannada television and cinema.

Pradyumna Narahalli
Pradyumna recording a show at Nammradio
Born (1988-04-10) 10 April 1988 (age 36)
Years active2012–present

He is known for his lyrics in the Kannada films Sundaranga Jaana (2016), Srikanta (2017), Manasu Malligey (2017), Bruhaspathi (2017). He also made his acting debut with Sundaranga Jaana, alongside Golden Star Ganesh, directed by veteran director Ramesh Aravind.

He started his career in television and has been a writer for superhit shows in Star Suvarna and Zee Kannada. He is known for designing content, talkback and scripting for superhit shows like Bigg Boss Season 2, Weekend with Ramesh Season 2 & 3, Drama Juniors Season 1 & 2 and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Season 12 & 13.

Since 2016, he has been active both in Kannada cinema & television working in various departments. His latest project was Pailwaan, starring Kiccha Sudeep, directed by acclaimed director S. Krishna which is a blockbuster hit of 2019. He worked as an associate director and actor in the movie.

Early life and education

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Pradyumna Narahalli was born to Somesh Narahalli and Vidya Somesh in Hassan district, Karnataka. His surname Narahalli, is the name of his native village in Mandya district, Pandavapura Taluk.

He did his schooling in Sri Vidya Mandir Education Society, Malleswaram. He was introduced to theatre at an early age of 6 in this very school. He was a regular in annual day celebrations which used to be held in Chowdaiah memorial hall. He was known for his confidence and improvisation skills on stage in front of thousands of live audience.

His pre-university college was MES Kishore Kendra. He started doing mimicry in this college and was known for imitating professors in MESKK. He was equally popular amongst students and faculty alike.

He obtained a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from M.S.Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore. He was active in cultural activities and was known for his mimicry and theatrical skills. He led the cultural team of MSRIT and won the VTU Cultural festival 2009 held in SBMJCE. He was awarded the Best outgoing student (Best Achiever) from the mechanical department in 2009.

After a brief stint in Accenture as a software engineer, he decided to pursue his passion in the entertainment industry. He did his master's degree in Media & Communication from Symbiosis School of Media & Communication. He topped the college in final semester in 2012.

Career

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Actor

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Narahalli made his silver screen debut as actor and lyricist in Sundaranga Jaana (2016).[1][2][3] He essayed the role of Gungru, friend of the protagonist Lucky, played by Golden star Ganesh. The movie was directed by veteran actor & director Ramesh Aravind. The movie was produced by well known producers from south Indian cinema, Rockline Venkatesh and Allu Aravind under their respective banners. The movie was a laugh riot and was declared a hit. The satellite rights of the movie was sold to Udaya TV.

He is also part of a theatre group called Rangasiri which is active from 2002. His role as 'Ujju' in a play called "Matryoshka" has garnered wide appreciation from the audience.[4]

Lyricist

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He made his debut as a lyricist for Kannada Cinema in Sundaranga Jaana in which he penned two songs Kalkondbitte & Fly Fly. B. Ajaneesh Loknath was the music composer for the album. The song 'Kalkondbitte' became a superhit romantic melody song and is included in various playlists of music sites like Saavn, Gaana & Raaga.[5]

His song "Kannane" from the movie Srikanta was sung by century star Dr. Shivarajkumar. He wrote lyrics for Manasu Malligey (2017) the official remake of the Marathi blockbuster movie Sairat. Sairat's music was retained in the Kannada version. Sairat Zala Ji was recreated as Thangaliya Roopa which was widely appreciated by the Kannada audience.

His latest songs "Dandamdashagunam" and "Amma Nannamma" are from the movie Bruhaspathi (2018) directed by Nanda Kishore and music composed by V. Harikrishna. Songs were widely appreciated by media and audience.[6]

He has also penned lyrics for small screen non-fiction shows like Suvarna Super Jodi (2013), Suvarna Parivaar Awards (2013) and Khiladi Kutumba (2017).

Narahalli an RJ in Nammradio, Kannada's first international online radio. Nammradio reaches out to listeners across 196 countries. He is known for his shows like ‘Punyaatmaru’, a show based on satire and ‘Bisi Bhale Bath’, a cookery show.[7]

Television

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He started his TV career in Star Suvarna as an executive producer but his role in the extended from script & talkback to content direction, voice-overs & commentary to anchoring, designing marketing strategies to executing them on the ground.[8] He made full use of the free hand given to him and grew as a technician.

His first major project was a weekend game show called Suvarna Super Jodi (2013).[9] This show along with Kannadada Kotyadhipathi 2 and fiction shows propelled Star Suvarna to become the No.1 channel in Karnataka beating the 19-year old leadership of Udaya TV.

He started scripting and directing on-ground events like Suvarna Sambhrama, Suvarna Samagama and Suvarna Parivaar awards.

He made his small screen debut as an anchor in Suvarna Comedy Awards, 2013 and co-hosted the show with the famous anchor Anushree and RJ Nikhil Swamy. His major break came in 2014, when he did the script and talkback for Kiccha Sudeep in Bigg Boss Season 2 which was shot in Lonavala, Pune. The show was a bigger success than its previous season in terms of TV Ratings.

After Bigg Boss, he started writing screenplay and dialogues for Khushi, a fiction show which was the remake of the Hindi superhit serial 'Iss pyaar ko kya naam doon Ek baar Phir'.

Later in his career, Narahalli shifted to Zee Kannada where he was made a name for himself as a creative writer. He has been designing content and scripting for all the reality shows and events telecasted in Zee Kannada. Weekend with Ramesh, SaReGaMaPa, Drama Juniors and Comedy Khiladigalu are the famous non-fiction brands which he has been an integral part of. Mega-events like Zee Kutumba Awards, Zee Dashakada Sambhrama, Zee Jaathre and other major events in Zee Kannada have had his script and direction.[10]

Jodi Hakki Maduve Receptionnu shot in Pandavapura, Mandya was produced and directed by Narahalli, through his partner company Blitz Creatives. The show was aired on 30 July 2017 and got a TVR of 5.4.

He was one of the expert panelists in the discussion held by Suddi TV program called Akhaada, wherein the topic of discussion was – "Do TV shows promote casteism in society?".[11] He was lauded for his sensible presentation of his viewpoints.

Amongst the various roles he has played in television, Pradyumna is mainly known for his skills in talkback and script for events and reality shows.[12] He has done script and talkback for Kiccha Sudeep (in Bigg Boss Season 2), Ramesh Aravind (Weekend with Ramesh Season 2 & Season 3),[13] Anushree (SaReGaMaPa Season 12 & Season 13, Zee Jathre & Zee Kutumba Awards), Master Anand (Drama Juniors Season 1 & Season 2),[14] Vijay Raghavendra (Zee Kutumba Awards), Srujan Lokesh (Kannada Chalanachitra Cup - Launch Event), Shalini & Arun Sagar (Zee Kutumba Awards).

Personal life

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Pradyumna lost his father Mr Somesh Narahalli during Covid and has ever since taken over his father's business V R Traders, a wholesale food store in the business hub of Bengaluru, K R Market.

He is also the creative head and partner of Blitz Creatives, a creative agency based in Bengaluru. He also works as a freelancer in Kannada films and television.[15]

Lyrics Chart

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Year Title Film / Album Music Director Singers Source
2016 "Kalkondbitte" Sundaranga Jaana B. Ajaneesh Loknath Haricharan [16]
2016 "Fly Fly" Sundaranga Jaana B. Ajaneesh Loknath Lavanya & Shashank [17]
2016 "Hello Future Ganda" Sundaranga Jaana B. Ajaneesh Loknath Lavanya & Shashank [18]
2017 "Kannane" Srikanta B. Ajaneesh Loknath Shiva Rajkumar & Bobby [19]
2017 "Thangaliya Roopa" Manasu Malligey Ajay–Atul Chinmayee & Ajay [20]
2018 "Dhandam Dashagunam" Bruhaspathi V. Harikrishna Ranjith & Team [21]
2018 "Amma Nannamma" Bruhaspathi V. Harikrishna K. S. Chithra & Pankaj [22]
2018 "Ee Sala Cup Namdhe" RCB Fan Anthem Sangeetha Rajeev Sangeetha Rajeev [23]
2018 "All these Feelings" BMS BMS Deepak Doddera & Sire [24]
2018 "Nan e life" Zindagi Sangeetha Rajeev Sangeetha Rajeev [25]
2019 "Lakshmi Baramma" Gini Helida Kathe Hithan Hassan Damodar Naik, Pragathi, Prabhu, Hithan Hassan [26]
2020 "You're My Love" YML Sangeetha Rajeev Sangeetha Rajeev [27]
2020 "Thank U Ma" Thank U Ma Sangeetha Rajeev Sangeetha Rajeev [28]
2020 "Badalagu Neenu" Badalagu Neenu Badalayisu Neenu V. Harikrishna Vijay Prakash, Rajesh Krishnan & Santosh Venky [29]
2020 "WedLock Down" Wedlock Down Sangeetha Rajeev Sangeetha Rajeev, Vasu Dixit [30]
2020 "Ena Madali" Ena Madali Sangeetha Rajeev Sangeetha Rajeev [31]
2020 "Sugar Sugar" Butterfly Amit Trivedi Karthik [32]
2021 "Appa" Appa Sangeetha Rajeev Sangeetha Rajeev [33]
2021 "Noda Noda" Noda Noda Sangeetha Rajeev Sangeetha Rajeev [34]
2022 "Lovvu Lovvu" Lovvu Lovvu Sangeetha Rajeev Sangeetha Rajeev [35]
2022 "Raymo Faymo" Raymo Arjun Janya Sanjith Hegde [36]
2022 "Mayanagari" Dollu Ananth Kamath M Sagar Puranik [37]
2024 "Kuvari Jawari" Kuvari Jawari Ultra Beats Rakesh Chatra [38]

Filmography

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Year Film Character Director Producer Source
2016 Sundaranga Jaana Gungru Ramesh Aravind Rockline Venkatesh & Allu Arvind [39]
2019 Pailwaan Doctor Krishna Swapna Krishna [40]

References

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  1. ^ *Director Ramesh Arvind talking about debutant Pradyumna
  2. ^ *Pradyumna and 3 others debut in Sundaraanga Jaana
  3. ^ *Actor & Lyricist pradyumna debuts in SJ
  4. ^ *Pradyumna as Ujju in Rangasiri's Matryoshka
  5. ^ * Kalkondbitte features in Romantic hits playlist
  6. ^ * Bruhaspathi title song written by Pradyumna gets appreciation
  7. ^ *RJ Profile of Pradyumna in Nammradio website
  8. ^ * Suvarna Plus promotional song by Pradyumna Narahalli
  9. ^ * Suvarna Super Jodi Grand Finale directed by Pradyumna Narahalli
  10. ^ Pradyumna Narahalli (2 July 2017). Zee Kutumba Awards 2017, Part 2 Full Event (in Kannada). zee5.com. Event occurs at 1:35:46.
  11. ^ * Pradyumna in Suddi TV expert panel
  12. ^ Pradyumna Narahalli (2 July 2017). Zee Kutumba Awards 2017, Part 2 Full Event (in Kannada). zee5.com. Event occurs at 1:05:36.
  13. ^ Pradyumna Narahalli (2 July 2017). Weekend with Ramesh Season 3 - Episode 28 - July 02, 2017 - Full Episode (in Kannada). zee5.com. Event occurs at 1:35:50.
  14. ^ Pradyumna on talkback for Master Anand in Drama Juniors
  15. ^ Filmmaker Pradyumna reacts to Mastigudi tragedy
  16. ^ * Pradyumna's debut song as Lyricist
  17. ^ * Climax song of Sundaranga Jaana
  18. ^ * Audio CD song only by Pradyumna
  19. ^ * Shivanna sings Kannane written by Pradyumna Narahalli
  20. ^ * Sairat Zala Jhi's Kannada version by Pradyumna
  21. ^ * Mass song by Pradyumna
  22. ^ * Emotional song about mother by Pradyumna
  23. ^ * Ee Sala Cup Namdhe written by Pradyumna Narahalli
  24. ^ * All these feelings: Kannadigas international collaboration
  25. ^ * Nan e Life: Zindagi, Featuring Sangeetha Rajeev & Baby Doll Aadya
  26. ^ * Fun duet song with Mass appeal
  27. ^ * You're My Love: YML, Featuring Sangeetha Rajeev
  28. ^ * Thank U Ma: Featuring Sangeetha Rajeev and others
  29. ^ * Badalagu Neenu: BNBN, Featuring All Stars of Sandalwood Superstars
  30. ^ * Wedlock Down: Featuring Sangeetha Rajeev and Rohith
  31. ^ * Ena Madali: Featuring Sangeetha Rajeev
  32. ^ * Sugar from Butterfly: Featuring Parul Yadav directed by Ramesh Aravind
  33. ^ * Appa by Sangeetha Rajeev: An emotional tribute to all fathers
  34. ^ * Noda Noda: A coastal Karnataka special
  35. ^ * Lovvu Lovvu: Kannda Folk Special
  36. ^ * Raymo Faymo: Title of Raymo
  37. ^ * Mayanagri: Song from National Award winning movie Dollu
  38. ^ * Kuvari Jawari is a Folk Fusion of North karnataka Special
  39. ^ * Cast & Crew of Sundaranga Jaana
  40. ^ * Cast & Crew of Pailwaan
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