Kannada Cinema
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50 free Kannada Cinema trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Kannada cinema has been telling stories since the 1930s, and in the past decade its biggest releases have filled theatres far beyond Karnataka. Behind those hits is a long history of matinee idols, bold art films and directors who started here before finding fame elsewhere. This quiz covers that whole sweep: the first talkies, the Rajkumar era, the parallel cinema movement, the stars and nicknames fans love, and the modern blockbusters and indie thrillers that changed how the industry is seen. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you pick up a story even when you miss. It suits lifelong fans of Kannada films, quiz hosts putting together a film round, and anyone who discovered the industry through a recent hit and wants to know what came before.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Kannada film industry, based in Bengaluru, is popularly known by which nickname?
Sandalwood
Sandalwood is the everyday name for Kannada cinema, an industry whose first talkie was shot far from home in a Kolhapur studio.
Q 02Which actor plays the gangster Rocky in the 2018 Kannada blockbuster K.G.F: Chapter 1, set in a brutal gold mine?
Yash
Yash grew his beard and long hair to play Rocky, and the part won him the Filmfare Award South for Best Actor. He had signed on with the director three years before release.
Q 03Which 2022 Kannada hit, directed by its star Rishab Shetty, centres on the spirit worship of coastal Karnataka?
Kantara
Kantara won Rishab Shetty the National Film Award for Best Actor. He based its clash between villagers and forest officers on disputes in his own hometown, Keradi, in the 1990s.
Q 04Which future Bollywood star made her acting debut opposite Upendra in the 2006 Kannada romantic drama Aishwarya?
Deepika Padukone
Deepika Padukone played the title character, an assistant manager who joins the hero's company. The film opened to record first-week collections before her first Hindi release.
Q 05Which forest bandit kidnapped Kannada screen legend Rajkumar from his Gajanur farmhouse in 2000 and held him for months?
Veerappan
Veerappan demanded the release of jailed gang members in exchange for the actor. Rajkumar walked free unharmed after 108 days in captivity.
Q 06Which breed of dog plays the title role opposite Rakshit Shetty in the 2022 Kannada film 777 Charlie?
Labrador
Labrador demand was reported to have risen after the film came out. A trainer prepared three dogs to share the part so the bond with the lead actor would look real.
Q 07Which actress, later a pan-Indian star, made her acting debut in the 2016 Kannada campus comedy Kirik Party?
Rashmika Mandanna
Rashmika Mandanna was offered the part after director Rishab Shetty read in a newspaper that she had won a pageant. Kirik Party became the year's highest-grossing Kannada film.
Q 08Which 1980s Doordarshan series did Kannada actor-director Shankar Nag film in the Karnataka village of Agumbe?
Malgudi Days
Malgudi Days turned Agumbe into the fictional town of the stories, with donkeys brought from Shimoga and elephants from Bangalore. Vintage cars were borrowed from friends.
Q 09Which Tamil superstar, once a Bangalore bus conductor, appeared in the 1976 Kannada anthology film Katha Sangama?
Rajinikanth
Rajinikanth worked for the Bangalore Transport Service before turning to acting. Katha Sangama came right after his first film, when a review had called the newcomer dignified and impressive.
Q 10The initials in the title of the Kannada action series K.G.F. stand for the gold fields of which Karnataka town?
Kolar
Kolar is the K: the first chapter is framed by a banned book on the history of the Kolar Gold Fields, and the 1980s mining town was rebuilt as a film set.
Q 11Which 1934 film, shot at a studio in Kolhapur, was the first talkie released in the Kannada language?
Sati Sulochana
Sati Sulochana ran to full houses in Bangalore for six weeks. A gramophone record jacket found decades later showed it had as many as 30 songs, not the 18 once believed.
Q 12Which 1954 devotional film was the first to star Rajkumar in a lead role, after years with a touring drama company?
Bedara Kannappa
Bedara Kannappa ends with its hero plucking out his own eyes for a bleeding Shivalinga. Fans recalled the scene when the actor's eyes were donated after his death, as he had wished.
Q 13Which national honour did Kannada screen legend Rajkumar receive in 1995 for his lifetime contribution to Indian film?
Q 21Which director made the K.G.F. films after a 2014 debut, Ugramm, that starred his brother-in-law Sriimurali?
Prashanth Neel
Prashanth Neel built Ugramm around his brother-in-law after studying the actor's mannerisms. His gold-mine saga then took more than a year and a half of preparation to get its period details right.
Q 22Which Bengaluru production house, founded in 2012, backed both the K.G.F. saga and Rishab Shetty's 2022 folklore hit?
Hombale Films
Hombale Films started out with the 2014 Puneeth Rajkumar film Ninnindale. Four years later it had the first Kannada film to gross 200 crore rupees worldwide.
Q 23Which 2015 Kannada comedy, cast with non-professional actors from Mandya villages, won two prizes at Locarno?
Thithi
Dadasaheb Phalke Award
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award came with a cash prize of one lakh rupees, which Rajkumar gave away to the Kannada Sahitya Parishat. He was the first person to win it for work in Kannada films.
Q 14Which state award was conferred on Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar in 2022, a year after his death?
Karnataka Ratna
Karnataka Ratna, the state's highest civilian honour, was conferred on him on 1 November 2022, three decades after his father became one of its first two recipients alongside the poet Kuvempu.
Q 15Which 1972 Rajkumar film ran for two years at one Bangalore theatre and inspired city youth to take up farming?
Bangarada Manushya
Bangarada Manushya means Man of Gold, a title that stuck to its star as a nickname for life. When the theatre tried to end the run after a year to screen a new film, it carried on to two.
Q 16Which director made the 1972 hit Naagarahaavu, the film that turned Vishnuvardhan and Ambareesh into stars?
Puttanna Kanagal
Puttanna Kanagal later remade the film in Hindi himself as Zehreela Insaan. The novelist whose books he adapted grumbled that he had turned a cobra into a rat snake.
Q 17Which 2006 Kannada romance starring Ganesh became the first Indian film to run for over a year in a multiplex?
Mungaru Male
Mungaru Male ran for 460 days at a PVR multiplex in Bangalore. Jog Falls, where its climax was shot, became a popular tourist spot after the release.
Q 18Which 1995 gangster film directed by Upendra cast real-life gangsters and has been re-released hundreds of times?
Om
Om gave four real gangsters small but important roles, and by 2015 it had been re-released more than 550 times. The story grew from a letter a friend showed the director in his college days.
Q 19Which 2013 psychological thriller by Pawan Kumar was the first Kannada film to be crowdfunded by the public?
Lucia
Lucia grew out of a blog post about the director's struggle to find a producer. The response in three days was so overwhelming that he invited readers to fund the film themselves.
Q 20Which Bollywood actor made his Kannada debut as the villain Adheera in the 2022 sequel K.G.F: Chapter 2?
Sanjay Dutt
Sanjay Dutt was diagnosed with lung cancer during production and took a break for treatment. By then he had almost finished filming, with his dubbing still to do.
Thithi follows three generations of men reacting to the death of their 101-year-old patriarch. One newspaper called it a milestone for Kannada cinema.
Q 24Which 1970 film starring Girish Karnad, from a U. R. Ananthamurthy novel, was the first Kannada film to receive a ban?
Samskara
Samskara was blocked by the Madras censors, who feared its anti-caste message could spark tensions. The ban was revoked, and the film went on to pioneer the parallel cinema movement in Kannada.
Q 25Which Kannada art-film director won the Golden Lotus for best feature with his 1977 debut, Ghatashraddha?
Girish Kasaravalli
Girish Kasaravalli went on to win the same top national prize three more times, for Tabarana Kathe, Thaayi Saheba and Dweepa.
Q 26Which 1987 black comedy starring Kamal Haasan, co-produced by a Kannada actor, was made without any dialogue at all?
Pushpaka Vimana
Pushpaka Vimana struggled to find a backer until Shringar Nagaraj joined its director as co-producer. With no lines to speak, the cast could be drawn from different parts of India.
Q 27Kannada filmmaker G. V. Iyer's 1983 film Adi Shankaracharya was the first Indian film made in which language?
Sanskrit
Sanskrit carried the whole film, which won the National Film Award for best film. Its director, fluent in the language, later made a second feature in it on the Bhagavad Gita.
Q 28Which 2002 romantic action film, the first to star Puneeth Rajkumar as a lead, took its title from his family pet name?
Appu
Appu was named by his elder brother Shiva Rajkumar, and the title became what the public called the actor too. Its story was later remade in Tamil and Bengali.
Q 29Which nickname did the media and fans give Shiva Rajkumar after the run of hits that began with his 1986 debut, Anand?
Hat-trick Hero
Hat-trick Hero marked three straight successes: Anand, Ratha Sapthami and Manamecchida Hudugi. He had trained in the Kuchipudi dance form before entering films.
Q 30Which Kannada star, the first host of Bigg Boss Kannada, played the villain haunted by a housefly in the film Eega?
Sudeep
Sudeep played an industrialist who murders a rival, only for the dead man to return as a fly. Fans call him Kichcha after his breakthrough in the 2001 film Huchcha.