P. Ravi Shankar

P. Ravi Shankar
Born	Ravi Shankar Pudipeddi Andhra Pradesh
Residence	Bengaluru,[1] Karnataka,India
Other names	Bommali Ravi Shankar Sai Ravi
Occupation	Actor, dubbing artist, writer, director
Years active	1986–present
Relatives	P. J. Sarma (father) Sai Kumar (brother) Aadi (nephew)

P. Ravi Shankar (born Pudipeddi Ravi Shankar Sarma) also known as Bommali Ravi Shankar or Sai Ravi^[2] is an Indian film actor, dubbing artist, director and writer. He primarily works in Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films. He dubbed for over 2600 films with more than 1000 films each in Telugu and Tamil languages.^[3] He dubbed for over 150 films each in Kannada and Malayalam films. He is the brother of popular Indian actor Sai Kumar.^[3] He won nine Andhra Pradesh state Nandi Awards for Best Male Dubbing Artist and one Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Male Dubbing Artist. He made his directorial debut with the Kannada film Durgi in 2002. He also worked as a dialogue writer and penned dialogues for over 75 Telugu films and 150 Tamil films. He also worked as a playback singer for films such as Rakta Charitra and Bejawada.^[4] He won his first Filmfare Award for his performance in the film Kempe Gowda.^[5]

Personal life

Ravi grew up as a child in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Ravi's father P.J. Sharma was also an actor and dubbing artist who worked in many Telugu, Kannada and Tamil films. His elder brother Sai Kumar entered in film industry as dubbing artist and became a very successful actor later.^[3] He is married to a Punjabi woman, Suchil Ravi Shankar and the couple has one son named Adhvey Shankar.^[3]

Career

Ravi Shankar made his film debut as a lead actor in 1986 with R. Narayana Murthy's film Aalochinchandi.^[3] He later was seen in vital roles in films such as Madhura Nagarilo and Keechurallu. With no more offers, Ravi took hiatus from acting and re-entered as a villain in 2001 with Gopi Chand's debut film Tholi Valapu. His acting and dubbing were immensely praised by the critics but the film failed at the box office.^[6] Lack of success in his acting career forced him to pursue dubbing as a profession similar to his father and brother. He started dubbing professionally with the Telugu film Rowdyism Zindabad, where he dubbed for Tamil actor Mohan Raj.^[3] He continued to dub for many character artists from other languages such as Raghuvaran, Mohan Raj, Devaraj, Charan Raj, Captain Raju, Nassar, Ashish Vidyarthi, Prakash Raj, Ashutosh Rana, Sonu Sood, Mukesh Rishi and Pradeep Rawat etc.^[7] He dubbed for over 4000 films with more than 1000 films each in Telugu and Tamil and over 150 films each in Kannada and Malayalam.^[7] In 2002, he directed a Kannada film titled Durgi, starring Malashri. The film was later remade in Telugu as Narasimhudu starring N. T. Rama Rao Jr., Ameesha Patel and Sameera Reddy. Ravi provided the story for the film which was directed by B. Gopal.^[8] The film was heavily criticised and bombed at the box office.^[9]

His dubbing work in the 2009 film Arundhati, where he voiced for Sonu Sood was praised by the critics and became very popular with the audience.^[10] He won a Nandi award for his performance and was referred to as 'Bommali Ravi Shankar' by the media there after. His success with the film also boosted his acting career.^[11] Post Arundhati, he was seen in Telugu films such as Kurradu and Happy Happy Gaa and in Tamil films such as Vettaikaaran and Kollaikaran.^[12] He was also seen in Kannada films such as Dandam Dashagunam, Kote, Kempe Gowda and Shakti.^[13]

His portrayal of a criminal named "Armugam" in the 2011 Kannada film Kempe Gowda was widely praised by the critics^[14] and he received the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Kannada at the 59th Filmfare Awards South.^[5]

Awards

He won his first Nandi Award for Best Male Dubbing Artist in 1999 for Ram Gopal Varma's Prema Katha. He dubbed for Manoj Bajpai in the film. He won his second Nandi Award in 2002 for Chiranjeevi's Indra, in which he dubbed for Mukesh Rishi. His next Nandi Award was in 2004 for his dubbing in S. S. Rajamouli's Sye. He dubbed for Pradeep Rawat in the film. He won four consecutive Nandi Awards from 2006 to 2009 for films Pokiri, Athidhi, Arundhati and Anjaneyulu respectively. He also won Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Male Dubbing Artist for his dubbing for Ashish Vidyarthi in 2001 film Dhill.

• Nandi Awards
  • 1999 – Nandi Award for Best Male Dubbing Artist – Prema Katha
  • 2002 – Nandi Award for Best Male Dubbing Artist – Indra
  • 2004 – Nandi Award for Best Male Dubbing Artist – Sye
  • 2006 – Nandi Award for Best Male Dubbing Artist – Pokiri
  • 2007 – Nandi Award for Best Male Dubbing Artist – Athidhi
  • 2008 – Nandi Award for Best Male Dubbing Artist – Arundhati
  • 2009 – Nandi Award for Best Male Dubbing Artist – Anjaneyulu
  • 2012 – Nandi Award for Best Male Dubbing Artist – Julayi
  • 2013 – Nandi Award for Best Male Dubbing Artist – Mirchi

• Tamil Nadu State Film Awards
  • 2002 – Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Male Dubbing Artist – Dhill

• Filmfare Awards South^[5]
  • 2011 – Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Kannada – Kempe Gowda

• The Bangalore Times Film Awards^[15]
  • 2011 – Best Actor in a Negative Role (Male) – Kempe Gowda

2015-SIIMA AWARD for best actor in a Negative Role -Maanikya

Partial filmography

As actor

|| 2016 || "Jigarthanda" || || Kannada || "Filming" |- |}

As dubbing artist

As director

As singer

References

External links

• P. Ravi Shankar at the Internet Movie Database