A very popular artist from the Kannada film industry, B. R. Panthulu was an Indian film director, producer, and actor. He is best known for directing films in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi. Panthulu was born on 26 July 1910 in the village of Budaguru of Kolar district in the erstwhile Kingdom of Mysore.

Panthulu began his career as a teacher and later followed his calling which was cinema. Panthulu made his first appearance as an actor in the 1936 Kannada film Samsara Nauka. Later, he went on to contribute much more to the Indian cinema with his work as an actor, director, and producer.