Chetan Kumar

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Chetan Kumar is an Indian-American film actor, public intellectual, and social and political activist. The sandalwood actor is best known for appearing in the Kannada-language films Aa Dinagalu (2007), Myna (2013), and Noorondu Nenapu (2017).At the age of 24, Chetans father, who hails from Karnataka, moved to Chicago to pursue his surgical residency at Cook County Hospital. Meanwhile, his mother did her residency at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County and Mount Sinai Hospital, Chicago, and became a board-certified anesthesiologist.Social and political activism is in Chetans blood. During the colonialism period in India, his grandfather, Siddalingappa Kumar, actively participated in the countrys freedom struggle and was also jailed for it. Childhood picture of Chetan Kumar and Ashok Kumar with their grandparents.His parents assured Chetan stayed connected to his roots and speaks Kannada fluently despite living in Chicago. Therefore, while growing up in Chicago, Chetan visited Karnataka, India, every year during his summer vacations. In an interview, while recalling his childhood memories of Karnataka, he said, While in Karnataka, I travelled to historic locales, engaged with local denizens, spent time in villages, attended plays and performances, ate mangoes and kulfis, interacted with impoverished children.Apart from performing arts, he also did swimming and played tennis during his high school days. Additionally, he joined his high school marching band as a saxophonist.After graduating from Yale University with a distinction in 2005, he relocated to India to pursue grassroots Kannada theatre. He received a Fulbright scholarship (2005-2006) to study gender and Kannada theatre for which he worked in conjunction with the National School of Drama, Bengaluru.Thereafter, he extensively travelled throughout Karnataka working with numerous theatre groups and acting in a few Kannada plays.He came into the limelight with the 2007 crime drama film Aa Dinagalu in which Chetan played the role of a business magnate who struggles to protect his girlfriend, Mallika, from an underworld don hired by his conspiring father to get rid of Mallika. For his performance in the film, Chetan won the title of Best Debut Actor at the Udaya Film Awards (2008).After his commercially flop film Birugaali (2009), Chetan gained popularity after playing the lead role of Satya in the 2013 Indian Kannada language romance drama film Myna. Based on a real-life incident, the film follows Satya, who, after being caught and charged with 34 serial murder cases, narrates his life story. The film earned numerous accolades including the title of Best Film at Tamil Nadu State Awards and South Indian International Movie Awards in 2014. Myna (2013).In 2013, Chetan lent his support for the rehabilitation of Endosulfan victims by joining Endosulfan Virodhi Horatha Samiti. The organisation has been vigorously fighting against the sale of toxic agrichemical Endosulfan pesticide. Chetan, alongside other protestors, demanded 24-hour medical care and a monthly compensation increase for Endosulfan victims from the government. The protestors were successfully able to claim financial and medical relief worth Rs. 50 crore. Chetan Kumar holding an Endosulfan victim during Fight against Endosulfan Save Next Generation- an awareness campaign, in Bengaluru, on Nov 18, 2015.