17th place. Acting career Cameo appearances Upendra first appeared on screen making an appearance in Kashinath's 1989 comedy film, Anantana Avantara. He appeared as Lord Kamadeva in the song "Come On Come On Kaamanna". In Ajagajantara, also directed by Kashinath, he made a cameo appearance. In his directorial debut, Shhh! (1993), Upendra made another cameo appearance, like a mad man in the attire of a police officer barging into a film set. In his 1995 directorial Operation Antha, he appears as a man urinating on a roadside wall and explains of India's ways to a complaining Mandakini (played by Sangeetha). 1998–2005 From 1998 to 2005, Upendra starred in eight 100 days hits in eight years, such as A, Upendra, Preethse, Kutumba, Raktha Kanneeru, Gokarna, Gowramma and Auto Shankar. In 1998, Upendra directed and starred in A, which was his fifth film as a director but his first lead role as a hero. The film had a 175-day run and became a trend-setting blockbuster in Karnataka, with its Telugu dubbed version running for 100 days in Andhra Pradesh. Around this time, he received an offer from Amitabh Bachchan Corporation to make a film for them, which did not materialize. Due to Upendra's newly found popularity in Telugu, Telugu director E. V. V. Satyanarayana cast him in the 1998 Telugu film Kanyadanam alongside Srikanth and Rachana, which also became a commercial success. In 1999 Upendra again directed and starred in his self-titled film Upendra which starred Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon. The film went on to become a bigger hit than A, both in Karnataka as well as in Andhra Pradesh. The film had a 200 days run in Karnataka and 100 days run in Andhra Pradesh. In 2000, Upendra starred opposite Bollywood actress Sonali Bendre in the psychological thriller Preethse which was a remake of Bollywood film Darr. Preethse became Upendra's third consecutive blockbuster that ran for 175 days. With three back-to-back highly received films, Upendra became well known in the Kannada and Telugu film industries. In 2001 Upendra wrote and starred in a Telugu film titled Raa, which became a box office hit in Andhra Pradesh. Raa was a typical Upendra style film in which he plays a womanizing playboy. Upendra starred opposite his future wife Priyanka Trivedi for the first time in this film. In 2002, Upendra acted in less-received films such as H2O, Super Star, Hollywood, Nagarahavu and Naanu