How India’s Yash went from bus driver’s son to mega movie star: the KGF franchise actor is one of Kannada’s biggest names, appearing in Googly and Masterpiece, and raking in millions

Aug 22 , 2022

From determined wannabe actor to Kannada’s biggest star – this is how Yash made it big. Photos: Namma KFI/YouTube, @thenameisyash/Instagram

Since its release in April, KGF: Chapter 2 has become one of the biggest Indian film hits of all time, banking US$157 million globally and cementing Yash’s place as Sandalwood’s biggest star

Married to actress Radhika Pandit, Yash now lives in one of Bengaluru’s fanciest neighbourhoods and cruises around in Mercedes-Benzes and Range Rovers

In a flop-filled year for Indian cinema, when Bollywood’s Khans, Kapoors, and Kumars have all failed to deliver, one actor from the southern Indian state of Karnataka named Yash has done the unthinkable.

KGF: Chapter 2 came out in April but is still finding success and winning fans for its star Yash. Photo: @thenameisyash/Instagram

The biggest star in Karnataka’s film industry, better known as Kannada or Sandalwood, Yash’s pan-Indian action-drama KGF: Chapter 2 has become India’s highest-grossing movie this year. Yash plays Rocky, the criminal overlord of a gold mine, in the film, which earned around 1,250 crore (US$157 million) worldwide within weeks of its release, according to news website India Today.

Yash’s latest film, KGF: Chapter 2, banked US$157 million worldwide in its first few weeks of release. Photo: @thenameisyash/Instagram

Even this year’s much loved 1920s action drama RRR – that other rare Indian film breaking US$100 million globally – misses matching KGF: Chapter 2’s box office haul by US$13 million.

For a man from such a humble background, this feat appears even more incredible.

How did he get his start?

He got his first acting part aged three – in a sense – but now 36-year-old Yash can say he truly is a huge star. Photo: @thenameisyash/Instagram

Born on January 8, 1986 in Hassan, Karnataka as Naveen Kumar Gowda, Yash always wanted to be a movie star. According to Forbes India, one of his earliest memories was of energetically pretending to be a policeman at his school’s fancy-dress competition at the age of three. The crowd loved it and branded him a hero.

A young Naveen Kumar Gowda – now better known as Yash. Photo: Namma KFI/YouTube

His ambition grew with age, but his family didn’t share his vision. His father, Arun Kumar, worked as a bus driver for the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation and later the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation. Like many Indian fathers, he wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and get a secure public sector job.

But young Naveen Kumar Gowda had other plans, and when he turned 16, he insisted on being allowed to move to the big city to take his chance, and took a bus to Bengaluru, the hub of the Kannada film industry.