Naveen Kumar Gowda (born 8 January 1986), known by his stage name Yash,[1] is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Kannada films.

The 2008 romantic drama Moggina Manasu, for which he received the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor, proved to be a breakthrough role for Yash.

[8] In keeping with a Hindu tradition of giving children a deity's epithet, Yash was described as Nanjundeshwara ("poison-drinker god", referring to Shiva).

[11] Yash debuted in 2007 with a supporting role in Priya Hassan's Jambada Hudugi, which saw him play a man whose infertile wife seeks uterus transplantation.

[16] He next played the romantic interest of his Nanda Gokula co-actor Radhika Pandit's character in the teen drama Moggina Manasu (2008), directed by Shashank, which follows the love lives of four girls who become friends in college.

[12] Yash then starred in the title role in the romance Rocky (2008) opposite Bianca Desai, playing a college student who has a troubled relationship with his parents.

[7] Rocky emerged to be a critical and commercial failure; Vijayasarathy, who found him promising in Jambada Hudugi and Moggina Manasu, wrote that "he looks uncomfortable here, as the role lacks clarity".

[7][20] In the first of his two releases in 2009, the Sumana Kittur-directed action drama Kallara Santhe, he played Somu, a post-graduate student and later auto rickshaw driver who is driven to consider suicide.

[21][22] To promote the film, he drove the winners of a local contest around Bangalore in an auto rickshaw, an event that attracted media attention.

[22] Writing for The New Indian Express, a critic was not impressed with the screenplay: "Though this film showcases contemporary issues such as extra-marital affairs, corruption and nepotism among politicians, the director has not succeeded in presenting them very well.

A critic for The Times of India found the film to appeal only to "those who love sentimental stories celebrating the bond between mothers and sons", but appreciated the starring performances, including Yash's.

The Daily News and Analysis felt the film had "its funny moments and occasionally, an overdose of sentimental scenes" and highlighted Yash's prowess as a dancer, calling him "easily one of the best we have in Sandalwood".

[26] His next release was the crime action Rajadhani (2011), about a group of friends who commit a murder for money and go on the run from a cop played by Prakash Raj.

[31] Srikanth Srinivasa of Rediff.com commended the "relaxing, feel-good movie," writing, "Yash looks dashing in the second half as the well-behaved Vicky but he is also equally at ease in his earlier avatar as Lucky.

"[32] In contrast, a critic for the Indo-Asian News Service felt it was dragged down by being "predictable, inconsistent and illogical" and stated Yash "scores well as a dancer," but disliked his chemistry with Ramya.

[33] A critic for the Indo-Asian News Service stated the film was "good for a one-time watch" and appreciated the fight sequences involving Yash.

of Daily News and Analysis found the pair to be "a cute on-screen couple" and felt they "liven[ed] up the screen with their effortless performances.

[38] Intent on moving away from village-centric roles as in Kirataka and Drama, Yash saw Googly as a means to reinvent himself and adopted a different hairstyle for a "young and charming look".

[39] The Times of India noted that the success of Googly contributed to Yash's increasing stardom and put him on the path to becoming one of the leading stars of the industry.

[40] A critic writing for the newspaper found that Wadeyar "infused life into the story with excellent making" and granted "full marks" to Yash, highlighting his performance in the "sentimental sequences".

[38] Googly was followed by a series of hero-centric films whose primary selling point was Yash's screen presence, establishing him as a "mass hero".

[41] His final release of the year was Guru Deshpande's comedy-drama Raja Huli, a remake of the Tamil-language Sundarapandian (2012), which emerged to be a commercial success.

[citation needed] A critic for Sify found it to carry "a neatly sketched story and a well-executed script with good visuals" and appreciated his performance, suggesting that "nobody could have done this better than him.

"[44] His next film Mr. and Mrs. Ramachari opposite Radhika Pandit had its theatrical release on 25 December 2014, and opened to positive reviews and collected an estimated ₹50[45] crore, and went on to become one of the highest grossing Kannada cinema.

[49] Archana Nathan of The Hindu disliked the film for its contrived parallel of the main character with Bhagat Singh and wrote of Yash, "His dialogue delivery is high-pitched and monotonous as is his acting.

[51] In 2018, Yash starred in the first instalment of the two-part Prashanth Neel-directed K.G.F series, K.G.F: Chapter 1, which was released in Kannada along with dubbed versions in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam.

[55] The sequel, K.G.F: Chapter 2 (2022), which also starred Sanjay Dutt and Raveena Tandon, became the fourth highest-grossing Indian film ever with earnings over ₹10 billion.