Sai Kumar

Sai Kumar (born Saikumara Sarma Pudipeddi) is an Indian film actor, dubbing artist turned actor and television presenter. He rose to stardom inKannada cinema and he also acted in Telugu cinema andTamil cinema.

He has received two state Nandi Awards and three Filmfare Awards South for his work in Telugu and Kannada cinema. In addition to his films, he also hosted Deal or No Deal on Gemini TV and Etv Kannada in Telugu and Kannada respectively. He also hosted WOW-Sakkhath Kick Kodo game show on ETV Kannada and WOW-Manchi Kick Ichche game show on ETV Telugu. He is presently the host another reality show, Manam on ETV Telugu.

Sai Kumar was born to P. J. Sharma and Pudipeddi Krishna Jyothi. Krishna Jyothi is a Kannada actress who acted with Kannada actor Dr. Rajkumar and others in films like Sri Krishna Garudi, Makkala Rajya and others. P.J. Sharma was also an actor and dubbing artist who worked in many Telugu, Kannada and Tamil films. His brothers P. Ravi Shankar and P.Ayyappa is a supporting actor of the Telugu and Kannada cinema and also a dubbing artist.

Apart from the film industry, he has done masters in arts. He was also an active participant for NCC, which he was very good at. But he wanted to pursue acting from early childhood.

He started his career at an early age as a dubbing child artist. His father, P. J. Sarma was a leading dubbing artist. Sai Kumar followed in his father's footsteps, having dubbed for Suman and Rajasekhar for many of their films. Sai Kumar has exceptional dialogue delivery and Telugu diction clarity in his voice.

He rose to fame as a very successful star in the year 1996 from the Kannada film Police Story, which was also voice dubbed in Telugu and Tamil. The film became the biggest blockbuster of the year and Sai as a lead hero acted in series of hit Kannada films back to back. His Kannada films Agni IPS, Kumkuma Bhagya, Police Story 2, Lockup Death, Circle Inspector, Central Jail, Police Bete and Mane Mane Ramayana were all major hits at the box office and Sai Kumar became a household name in Karnataka. Saikumar in all his interviews says, 'I am indebted to Karnataka for making me a star and giving me Police Story during my struggling days. His recent Kannada blockbuster hit film Rangitaranga, that created records is another milestone in Sai's career. It was one of the top 300 films eligible to be nominated for the Oscars in 2016 and his performance in the film was not only well praised by the critics, but also fetched him an IIFA Award at IIFA Utsavam 2015.

He also acted in Bapu's Sneham (1977) as the brother of Madhavi, and has given a very good performance. He also started a political career by contesting in the Karnataka assembly polls in 2018 with Bharatiya Janata Party.

Nandi Awards

• Nandi Award for Best Villain  – Samanyudu (2006)
• Nandi Award for Best Supporting Actor – Prasthanam (2010)

Filmfare Awards

• Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Telugu - Samanyudu (2006)
• Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Telugu - Prasthanam (2010)
• Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Kannada - RangiTaranga (2015)

IIFA Awards

• IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor (Kannada)  – RangiTaranga (2015)

CineMAA Awards

• CineMAA Award for Best Supporting Actor – Prasthanam (2010)

Other Awards

• TSR – TV9 Award for Best Villain (2010) - Prasthanam

Television Awards (As anchor)

• TV Award 2009 for Best Male Anchor presented by Delhi Telugu Academy in Hyderabad on 8 August 2010.
• Tata Docomo Media Award – Most Popular Male Anchor was given on 15 August 2010 for anchoring the TV show Wow on ETV Telugu.
• 'Best Male Anchor Award' was presented at the AP Cinegoers' 6th Annual TV Awards – 2009 on 28 December 2010 for his anchoring of Wow on ETV Telugu.