Mandeep Roy

Mandeep Roy (13 April 1949 – 29 January 2023) was an Indian actor known for his work in Kannada cinema. After beginning his career on stage in Marathi theatre, he transitioned into film acting with the Kannada film, Minchina Ota (1980). He is noted for his frequent collaboration with actor and filmmaker Shankar Nag. Born as Maanu Ulpe, he renamed himself as Mandeep Roy owing to "his fascination for trendy names".

Known for playing comedic roles, Roy was noted for his performances in Aakasmika (1993), Kurigalu Saar Kurigalu (2001), Amrithadhare (2005), Aaptha Rakshaka (2010) and ...Re (2016). He appeared in more than 500 Kannada films. Additionally, he also appeared in a handful Tamil and Malayalam films, and one television serial in Marathi.

Roy was born on 13 April 1949 in Bombay (now Mumbai) into a Konkani-speaking family. However, his parents hailed from South Canara (today Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka). They moved to Mumbai and settled in Talmakiwadi where Roy was born and grew up in. He completed his schooling at a boarding school near Thane. Roy obtained two undergraduate degrees in engineering: in automotive from M. H. Saboo Siddik College of Engineering, and in computer science from VJTI, Matunga in Mumbai. His first job was in a garage, which he would do alongside pursuing the computer science degree. After a minor mishap at the garage, he changed his job, and upon obtaining the latter degree, began working for Tata Consultancy Services as a computer science engineer. He later worked as a cab driver, and during this time, also learned film editing.

In the 1970s, Roy was drawn to amateur theatre, influenced by actor and friend Amol Palekar. As a youngster, Roy had also been friends with brothers Anant Nag and Shankar Nag, and followed them later into stage acting in Marathi. Roy became popular for his role in Palekar's play Pandhari, in which he played a waiter "who becomes a victim of exploitation" after having been subjected to child abuse. He also acted in a Kannada play during this time titled Poorva Janmada Preethi directed by Venkata Rao Talegiri. Based on S. L. Bhyrappa's novel Naayi Neralu, the play explored themes such as reincarnation, and had Roy playing an elderly character. The play was later adapted into the film, Janma Janmada Anubandha (1980) by Shankar Nag, who reasoned that Roy not play the role considering it was too early in the latter's film career. The role was played by K. S. Ashwath. Subsequently, to pursue a career in Kannada films, he followed the Nag brothers to Bengaluru.

Roy made his film debut as a corrupt cop in Shankar Nag's Minchina Ota (1980). Nag's wife and actress Arundathi helped him with the dialogues, since he could not speak in Kannada during the time. Nag cast Roy again in his television series, Malgudi Days (1986). The two would collaborate multiple times until Nag's death in 1990, in films such as Geetha (1981) and Accident (1984). His final appearance came in Made in Bengaluru (2022). He would go on to appear in comedic roles in films starring Dr. Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan and Ambareesh. Roy was hired to play a comedic sequence in Singeetam Srinivasa Rao's Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma (1986) starring Rajkumar. However, his bit did not make the final cut. Rao then signed Roy again for his next, Pushpaka Vimana (1987).

Roy first suffered a cardiac arrest in December 2022 and was admitted to a hospital in Bengaluru. He was receiving treatment, when he suffered another attack on the early hours of 29 January 2023. He died from it, aged 73.