2012–present

Sharan appeared in noticeable lead roles in Rambo (2012) and Victory (2013); both films received critical and commercial successes, with his performance winning acclaim alongside.^[5][6]

In his first film of 2014, Maanikya, Sharan appeared in a supporting role. In the comedy Jai Lalitha, he was cast as Jayaraj and appeared in female character as well. G. S. Kumar of The Times of India wrote, "It's all Sharan who shines in lady character with excellent mannerism, dialogue delivery and body language."^[7] The film however performed average at the box-office. In his final release of the year, Adyaksha, a romance-comedy, and a remake of the Tamil film Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam (2013), he was cast as Chandrashekhara Gowda, and along with his sidekick Narayana (played by Chikkanna), played the role of a villager who creates havoc in the village as the president of an association "Chi Thu Sangha" ("Chinthe Illada Thund Haikla Sangha"), who then falls in love with a landlord's daughter. The film emerged as a major commercial and critical success, with critics acclaiming Sharan's performance.^[8] It turned out to be one of Kannada cinema's biggest commercial successes of 2014.^[6] His performance earned him a Filmfare Award for Best Actor nomination.

In 2015, Sharan starred in Raja Rajendra as Bottle Mani, who takes a contract to kill an elder member of the royal family. The film received mixed reviews from critics, though his performance was praised.^[9] He was cast in a double role in the comedy Bullet Basya as Basavaraj "Basya", a Royal Enfield Bullet-riding villager, who has a proclivity for women, and Muthu, his exact opposite. He also sang the song "Kaal Kg Kallekaai" for the film. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics. On Sharan's performance, Bangalore Mirror wrote, "Sharan has almost gone overboard in search of comedy, but does justice to the two roles."^[10]

As actor

As playback singer