Musuri Krishnamurthy

Musuri Krishnamurthy is an Indian film actor, producer, and director, who predominantly work in the Kannada film industry. He became popular as a comedian. He was born on March 10, 1930, to Subbamma and B.S. Vishweshwaraiah. Ever since his childhood, Musuri showed interest in singing and acting. When he attended the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations, he performed in front of Musiri Subramania Iyer, a renowned Carnatic vocalist, together with Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV, the previous Maharaja of Mysore.

Both were impressed by his performance and the latter compared his voice to Musiri Subramania Iyer. Since then, he became popular as Musuri Krishnamurthy. Musuri was debuted in the 1943 Kannada musical drama film, Vani; a film that also marks the debut of Pandari Bai Pandari Bai was a South-Indian actress. She was th >> Read More... . In a span of ten years, he consistently appeared in many films including Mangala Gowri (1953), Kanyadana (1954), and Kokilavaani (1956), from which he was debuted as a lead actor. After that, he started to assist top directors like Shankar Singh Shankar Singh was a writer, director, and producer >> Read More... , B.R. Panthulu, B. Vittalacharya, and much more.

Aside from that, he assisted Kanagal Prabhakara Shastry, a renowned lyricist, and director, who taught him the art of writing poems. During those times, filmmaking was not so popular. So, he shifted to the theater and worked with popular theater troupes. In the year 1962, he established his own drama troupe, which he called Amba Prasada Nataka Mandali. However, due to expenses issues, he ceased the group and returned to films in 1966. On his return to the big screen, he played supporting roles, villain, and also a comedian.

He earned fame as Connection Kalappa in the 1978 Kannada film, Paduvaaralli Pandavaru. Musuri established the Yashaswini Enterprises, a production company, who produced S. Shivakumar’s Number 5 Ekka. He later appeared in several films including Dharmasere, Guru Shishyaru, Ranganayaki, Mullina Gulabi, Nanna Devaru, Kaviratna Kalidasa, Ibbani Karagithu, Gandharva Giri, Bandhana, and his last appearance was in Vijay’s Veeradhi Veera in the year 1985. He got married to Susheelamma, and they have three children namely Gurudutt, Jayasimha, and Vishalakshi Krishnamurthy.

Gurudutt and Jayasimha are now handling the Yashaswini Enterprises and already produced more than 25 films. Jayasimha earned recognition for resembling his father in terms of comedy. On March 16, 1985, Musuri died at the age of 55. A Road (Ring Road) in Bangalore City was named Nata Chanakya Musuri Krishnamurthy as an honour for his contributions to the Kannada film and theatre industry.