Upendra Biography: Age, Wife, Films, Son Ayush

Key facts

Known for: Actor, director, writer and politician in Kannada cinema
Born: 18 Sep 1968, Bengaluru, Karnataka
Age: 58 years (as of 11 Nov 2026)
Spouse: Priyanka Upendra (m. 2003)

Which Upendra is this?

This page is about Upendra Rao, the Kannada actor and director known to fans as "Real Star" and "Uppi". Google's suggestions for the name also bring up the Marathi actor Upendra Limaye, the Gujarati actor Upendra Trivedi, the Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi and the politician Upendra Kushwaha, who are different people.

Early life in Bengaluru

Upendra was born on 18 Sep 1968 in Bengaluru to Manjunath Rao and Anusuya. His father's family came from Thekkatte, near Koteshwara in Kundapur taluk of Udupi district. He's the younger of two sons; his elder brother, Sudheendra Rao, served in the army. He took a commerce degree from APS College of Commerce in Bengaluru, where he spent much of his time on college plays.

He has said his family never celebrated birthdays when he was growing up. Today he calls 18 September "Fans Day", and crowds gather outside his house every year.

Career milestones

1992
Directs first film, Tharle Nan Maga
1995
Om, with Shiva Rajkumar
1998
First lead role in A
1999
Upendra; Filmfare Best Director
2003
Marries Priyanka Trivedi
2010
Returns to direction with Super
2018
Founds Uttama Prajaakeeya Party
2024
Directs and stars in UI

Learning under Kashinath

In his final year of college he began working with the actor-director Kashinath, a distant relative, as a writer and assistant director. He helped with dialogue, songs and screenplay, and made small cameos in Kashinath's films, including as Kamadeva in a song in Anantana Avantara (1989).

Director first: Tharle Nan Maga, Shhh! and Om

Upendra's first film as director was the comedy Tharle Nan Maga (1992), made in Kashinath's style. The horror thriller Shhh! (1993) was a bigger success and established him as a director in his own right.

Om (1995) made him famous. A gangster drama starring Shiva Rajkumar, it was inspired by a real case and told through layered flashbacks, and several real-life underworld figures appeared in it. It became a blockbuster and a cult film, won Upendra the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Screenplay, and he later remade it in Telugu as Omkaram.

A and Upendra: the director becomes the star

In A (1998) he cast himself in the lead for the first time, as a film director who's rejected by the actress he made famous and descends into drink and revenge. It ran for 175 days in Karnataka and 100 days in its dubbed Telugu version, and made him a star in both states. The Telugu film Kanyadanam (1998) followed.

The self-titled Upendra (1999), in which he played a narcissist called simply "Naanu" (I), opposite Raveena Tandon, Prema and Damini, was a bigger hit still, though critics attacked its treatment of women. It won him the Filmfare Awards South for Best Director and Best Film in Kannada.

A decade as a leading man

For the next ten years he concentrated on acting. Preethse (2000), a remake of Darr opposite Sonali Bendre, was another long-running hit. In Telugu he starred in Raa (2001), opposite his future wife, Priyanka Trivedi. Between 2003 and 2005 Kutumba, Raktha Kanneeru, Gokarna, Gowramma and Auto Shankar all did well, and Budhivanta (2008) was the top Kannada grosser of its year. Preethse was his third film in a row to run 175 days, and the success of his dubbed films in Andhra Pradesh gave him a following there too. Around the time of A he was approached by Amitabh Bachchan Corporation to make a film, but that project never materialised. The weaker stretch came between 2006 and 2009, when films such as Uppi Dada M.B.B.S., Masti and Dubai Babu went largely unnoticed, before Budhivanta pulled him back. Through these years he kept his habit of playing flawed, often unlikeable heroes, which set him apart from the clean-cut leading men of the time. Many other films in this period flopped, and his career had clear ups and downs.

Super, Uppi 2 and the Telugu crossover

He returned to directing with Super (2010), with Nayanthara, which ran 175 days. Rajinikanth watched it at a private screening in Bengaluru and said there was "hardly anyone in Indian cinema who would think like him". Katari Veera Surasundarangi (2012), a 3D fantasy, was one of the year's biggest Kannada hits.

Uppi 2 (2015), the sequel to Upendra, opened in more than 600 theatres in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and the US and set an opening-day record for a Kannada film, though its storytelling confused many viewers. The same year he played a supporting role opposite Allu Arjun in Trivikram Srinivas's Telugu hit S/O Satyamurthy.

Upendra: key films
Year	Film	Role	Note
1995	Om	Director, writer	Cult gangster film; Karnataka State Award for screenplay
1998	A	Director, lead actor	First lead role
1999	Upendra	Director, lead actor	Filmfare Best Director and Best Film (Kannada)
2010	Super	Director, lead actor	Return to direction
2015	Uppi 2	Director, lead actor	Record Kannada opening day
2015	S/O Satyamurthy	Actor	Telugu, with Allu Arjun
2024	UI	Director, lead actor	Released 20 Dec 2024
2025	Coolie	Actor	Tamil, with Rajinikanth
2026	Raktha Kashmira	Lead actor	Released 30 Jan 2026 after an 18-year delay

UI, Coolie and 45

After Kabzaa (2023), he directed and starred in UI, released on 20 Dec 2024. India Today called it an "extravagant story of introspection filled with metaphors", and reviews were mixed. In 2025 he made an extended cameo in Lokesh Kanagaraj's Tamil film Coolie, starring Rajinikanth, and co-starred with Shiva Rajkumar and Raj B. Shetty in Arjun Janya's 45, released on 25 Dec 2025. The Hindu called 45 uneven but said star power carried it.

2026: Raktha Kashmira and Next Level

Raktha Kashmira, an action drama with Ramya directed by S. V. Rajendra Singh Babu, was launched in 2007 and finally reached cinemas on 30 Jan 2026. It includes an 18-minute song featuring stars such as Vishnuvardhan, Ambareesh and Puneeth Rajkumar, all of whom have since died. On his birthday in September 2026 he unveiled the title of his next film, Next Level, directed by Arvind Kaushik.

Writer, lyricist, singer and brand face

Upendra writes most of his own films and many of their lyrics, and he sings too: his song "Sikka Patte" from Super earned him a Filmfare Awards South nomination for Best Male Playback Singer in Kannada. Off screen he has been a familiar face in Karnataka advertising, endorsing brands including Nandini dairy (Karnataka Milk Federation), MTR and United Breweries, and he was an early brand ambassador for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL.

Politics: Prajaakeeya

In 2017 Upendra joined the Karnataka Pragnyavanta Janata Paksha but left in 2018 over differences and founded the Uttama Prajaakeeya Party. Its idea, "Prajaakeeya", is citizen-centred government in which elected representatives act like workers answerable to voters. The party fielded candidates in Karnataka in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, though Upendra hasn't contested himself.

Wife and children

On 14 Dec 2003 Upendra married Priyanka Trivedi, an actress and former Miss Kolkata who'd starred with him in Raa and H2O. They live in Bengaluru with their son, Ayush, and daughter, Aishwarya. In a 2024 interview he said he was the more lenient parent and that the children would have to find their own way into films.

His son's debut and the director row

Update, 11 Nov 2026: Upendra was in Google Trends India on 10 November because of news about his son's first film. Ayush Upendra's debut, produced by Abhishek N. Sirivanta and launched with a 25-day schedule in Kashmir in February 2026, was being directed by Purushotham Suri. In early November Suri said he'd been dropped midway, after about half the film was shot. Priyanka Upendra responded in a letter to the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce and told Cinema Express on 9 November that she'd taken over as director "to protect the producers' heavy investment", that Suri's script had been scrapped and that she'd written a new story, keeping Ayush and the female lead. It will be her debut as a director. The film hasn't been titled or dated.

Style and legacy

Upendra's films are loud, self-referential and often deliberately confusing. Their heroes are arrogant, flawed men, and their titles are sometimes a single letter or symbol. He's said his scripts come from his own life and that the jumbled narratives reflect how the mind works. At their best, in Om, A and Upendra, they changed what Kannada mainstream cinema thought it could do, and his fans have followed him through flops, politics and three decades of experiments.

Frequently asked questions

How old is Upendra?

Upendra was born on 18 Sep 1968, so he is 58 years old as of November 2026.

Who is Upendra's wife?

The actress Priyanka Upendra (née Trivedi), a former Miss Kolkata. They married on 14 Dec 2003.

Who are Upendra's children?

A son, Ayush, and a daughter, Aishwarya. Ayush is making his debut as a lead actor in a film his mother is now directing.

Who is directing Ayush Upendra's debut film?

Priyanka Upendra took over in November 2026 after director Purushotham Suri was dropped. She says she has written a new script; the film is untitled.

What is Upendra's full name?

Upendra Rao. He's known to fans as 'Real Star' and 'Uppi'.

Which are Upendra's best movies?

As director, Om, A, Upendra and Super are his best-known films. As an actor, Preethse, Raktha Kanneeru, Budhivanta and S/O Satyamurthy were also successful.

Sources

Facts checked against the sources above by Tulasiram Pemmadi on 11 Nov 2026 (IST). Where reliable sources disagree, the article says so. Spotted an error? See our corrections page or email contact@nextplayintel.com.