Ravi Belagere (15 March 1958 – 13 November 2020) was an Indian writer and journalist based in Bangalore, Karnataka.[1][2][3] He was the editor of the Kannada-language tabloid Hai Bangalore and fortnightly magazine O Manase.[4] He founded Bhavana Prakashana, Prarthana School and Bhavana Audio Reach.[5]
Personal life
Early life
Belagere was born on 15 March 1958 at Sathyanarayanapete, in Bellary.[6] He studied his high school education from Siddhaganga High School, Tumkur for couple of years and he failed in SSLC.[6] Later, he completed his master's degree in history and archaeology from Veerashaiva College, Bellary.[citation needed]
Married life
Belagere has been married twice. His first wife is Lalitha and the second wife is Yashomati, who was his colleague at Hai Bangalore office. His first wife has three children namely Chethana Belagere (daughter), Bhavana Belagere (daughter) and Karna (son). His second wife Yashomati has a son named Himavanth.[7] He was an ardent fan of Khushwant Singh and he said he was attracted to leftist ideology and he had no political leanings.[8]
Career
Belagere started his career as a lecturer of history, working as a lecturer of history in Bellary, Hassan and Hubli before heading to Bengaluru in 1984.[9] After coming to Bengaluru, he started his own newspaper Hai Bangalore on September 25, 1995[10] along with R. T. Vittalamurthy, Ra. Somanath, Jogi and I. H. Sangam Dev[11] which he published from his Padmanabhanagar office in Bengaluru. The columns like Love Lavike, Bottom Item and Khaas Baat apart from Papigala Lokadalli which was about the underworld, created many admirers and his paper was the largest circulated newspaper over the five years.[8] After this success, he started a magazine O Manase which focused on difficulties and troubles of young people. Later, he produced several TV programs and acted in some movies.[8][12]
In December 2017, Ravi Belagere was accused of contracting the killing of his former colleague and journalist Sunil Heggaravalli. It was alleged that he had paid Rs 15,000 as advance to the contract killers and also provided them with a country-made gun to kill his fellow journalist. He was arrested by the Bangalore Central Crime Branch under IPC Section 307 (attempt to murder), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and sections under the Arms Act.[15] The officials seized a revolver and 53 bullets, a double barrel gun and 41 bullets from his Bengaluru residence. He spent many days at the Parappana Agrahara central jail in connection with the case.[16][17][18]
He wrote a controversial article on the actor Rupini which invited strong criticism.[6]
Belagere directed the movie Mukhyamantri I Love You, which was based on the love story of H D Kumaraswamy and actor Radhika Kumaraswamy. The movie never hit the screen as H. D. Deve Gowda brought a stay on its release.[8]
In December 2010, he made a derogatory comment on Pratap Simha, then a writer at Vijaya Karnataka. It led to the resignation of Simha, the editor-in-chief Vishweshwar Bhat, P. Thayagaraj and several others. After that, Pratap Simha hit back at Ravi Belagere on his website and the spat between the two continued for a while.[11]
