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Ramesh Aravind (born 10 September 1964), known mononymously as Ramesh, is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter and television presenter, predominantly in Kannada cinema, in addition to Tamil cinema, Telugu cinema and Hindi cinema films.
He has made his acting career with K. Balachander's Sundara Swapnagalu in 1986. Ramesh has appeared in over 140 films besides directing about 10 films in Kannada & Tamil.
He has so far received two Karnataka State Film Awards namely, for America America (1997) and Hoomale (1998) besides winning Best Story award for his writing; two Filmfare Awards South, two Udaya Film Awards and Suvarna Film Awards.
He has largely appeared in romantic drama in Kannada films such as Anuraga Sangama (1995), Karpoorada Gombe (1996), Nammoora Mandara Hoove (1996), Amruthavarshini (1997), America! America!! (1997), O Mallige (1997), Ulta Palta (1997), Mungarina Minchu (1997), Thutta Mutta (1998), Hoomale (1998), Sambhrama (1999) and Chandramukhi Pranasakhi (1999).
Later, Ramesh returned to act performance oriented roles in films such as Kurigalu Saar Kurigalu (2001), Kothigalu Saar Kothigalu (2001), Apthamitra (2004), Varsha (2005), Rama Shama Bhama (2005), Pushpaka Vimana (2017) and Shivaji Surathkal (2020).
Ramesh hosts the television show Weekend with Ramesh, which has aired for five seasons on Zee Kannada. He also hosted Season 3 of Kannadada Kotyadhipati, the Kannada version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) appointed Aravind as the awareness ambassador for COVID-19. He is the Brand Ambassador for 7 Wonders of Karnataka campaign jointly done by Suvarna News and Tourism Dept of Karnataka.
In 2022, he was awarded an honorary doctorate for his contribution to field of cinema by Rani Channamma University. Also in 2022, he was awarded the Dr. Shivarama Karanth Award for his services as an actor, director and resource person.
In 2025, Dr. Ramesh Aravind was ranked as the 4th Top Motivational Speaker in India and 28th globally by Feedspot, a leading blog and information platform. This recognition highlights his influence and impact in the field of motivational speaking.
In a moment of historic recognition, Austin mayor pro team Vanessa Fuentes presented an official Mayoral proclamation declaring 23 August, as "Dr Ramesh Aravind Day" in Austin, Texas.
/ref> Prior to the release of the film, Aravind was approached by director K. Balachander who had been casting the role of Kamal Haasan for a Kannada version of the Tamil film Sollathaan Ninaikkiren (1973). After a brief audition, Balachander selected Aravind after being "impressed with his eyes" and cast him as the playboy character in Sundara Swapnagalu (1986), which released shortly before Mouna Geethe.
Balachander then gave Aravind a small role in Punnagai Mannan (1986) as Revathi's ex-lover but his scenes were edited out of the final version. Aravind worked with the same director in the Tamil film Manathil Uruthi Vendum (1987) but Balachander later recommended to Aravind to opt out of the film and work with K. Bhagyaraj instead to make his debut in a leading role. The proposed film was later shelved and Aravind returned to the cast of Manathil Uruthi Vendum, winning critical acclaim for his performance. Balachander introduced Ramesh Aravind into Telugu films through Rudraveena, having been introduced into three film industries by the same director.
Ramesh made his breakthrough portraying a student union leader in Vasanth's romantic drama film Keladi Kanmani (1990), whose commercial success. He earned critical acclaim in Tamil cinema for his portrayal of a love-ridden musician in Balachander's Duet (1994) and for his performance alongside Kamal Haasan in Balu Mahendra's comedy film Sathi Leelavathi (1995). In his return to Tamil films since the mid-1990s, Ramesh frequently collaborated with Kamal Haasan on projects including the unreleased Kanden Seethaiyai (1996), Panchathantiram (2002) and Mumbai Xpress (2005).
Subsequently, he returned to the Bangalore-based film industry to work in Kannada films. He appeared in several consecutive commercially successful Kannada films including Anuraga Sangama (1995), Karpoorada Gombe (1996), Nammoora Mandara Hoove (1996), Amruthavarshini (1997), America! America!! (1997), O Mallige (1997), Ulta Palta (1997), Mungarina Minchu (1997), Thutta Mutta (1998), Hoomale (1998), Sambhrama (1999) and Chandramukhi Pranasakhi (1999), becoming one of the industry's highest-paid actors.
Ramesh Aravind scripted the film Hoomale in 1998, leading to his career in film directing. Hoomale won Aravind the Best Actor Filmfare Award and the Karnataka State Award. His script for Amrithadhare (2005) won him the Raghvendra Chitravani Award for Best Story.
When Kamal Haasan asked Aravind to direct the Tamil-language film Uttama Villain (2015), Aravind accepted the offer. Uttama Villain is the first Aravind-directed film in which he did not portray a leading role; he said he accepted the film due to the "challenging nature of the script" and the opportunity to direct his mentor K. Balachander.
In 2016, Ramesh Aravind has stamped his own signature for his seventh directorial, Sundaranga Jaana, remake the original 2015 Telugu film, Bhale Bhale Magadivoy. In 2021, Ramesh as the protagonist and excels in his performance in the crime thriller film 100.
Ramesh was also a celebrity Radio jockey on Big FM. His more recent notable appearance was in Shivaji Surathkal 2 which was released all over cinema theatres on 14 April 2023.
In 2024, his popular book & the Best Seller of 2022 - 23 "Preethyinda Ramesh" was translated to Tamil language as "Anbudan Ramesh".
| America America | |||
| Amrutha Varshini | |||
| O Mallige | |||
| America America and Amrutha Varshini | |||
| Hoomale | |||
| Hoomale | |||
| Hoomale | |||
| Sambhrama | |||
| Chandramukhi Pranasakhi | |||
| Amrithadhare | |||
| Rama Shama Bhama | |||
| Rama Shama Bhama | |||
| Weekend with Ramesh | |||
| Weekend with Ramesh | |||
| 2022 | Honorary Doctorate | In Contribution to Cinema Industry | By Raani Channamma University, Belagavi |
| 2022 | Dr. Shivarama Karanth Award | In contribution to Cinema & Society | By Dr Shivarama Karanth foundation |
| 2023 | Kannada Kala Bhushana Award | In Contribution to Cinema & Society | By Karunada Sambrama, Bengaluru |
| 2024 | 5th Chandanavana Film Critics Academy Awards | Best Actor | Shivaji Suratkal 2 |
| 2024 | Mantralaya Parimala Prashasti 2024 | In Contribution to Cinema Industry | By Mantralaya Mutt & Space Media |
| 2024 | Raghavendra Parimala Prashasti 2024 | In Contribution to Cinema Industry | By Parimala Geleyara Balaga |
| 2025 | Dr Ramesh Aravind Day on 23 August | In Contribution to Cinema & Socitey | By Official Mayoral proclamation, Austin Mayor pro team Vanessa Fuentes |
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