Movie Review: Ombathane Dikku

It has been a long time since I watched a Kannada movie completely. Ombathane Dikku, a crime thriller starts off with Yogesh acting as Channa, a struggling to start a business in Bangalore while his parents and sister live in Shimoga. While going home for the weekend Channa bumps into Saroja Devi played by Ambuja and there is love at first sight. He goes home and proceeds to Saroja's home with a marriage proposal. When Saroja's father comes to know that Channa's father works for Varadappa a local sawmill owner and rowdy sheeter he rejects the alliance and disrespects the family. Channa gets enraged and slaps the former and tells Saroja that he likes her and is still willing to marry her.

The rest of the movie is focused on Channa's father going missing while on a mission for Varadappa and how Yogi's search for him across Bangalore. There are numerous comedy scenes interspersed which provide no relief to the otherwise fast-paced plot.

Unfortunately the ending is pathetic and makes the whole movie a waste of time to watch. 

Kannada Movie Review: Mylari

Complete family entertainer from Shivanna!

I have said in this blog and elsewhere time and again that since the early 2000s the quality of Sandalwood movies has significantly improved. There is some real meat in the story, there are great and truly hummable songs without any double meaning. Then of course the acting and direction seems to have matured. Then of course there are a brood of imported heroines from other states who are vying for top spot in Sandalwood. All this means good entertainment for the average cine-goer in Karnataka. Hopefully now Kannadigas will start watching Kannada movies instead of patronizing other language movies.

Anyway coming to this movie, the central character Mylari (Shivrajkumar) is the older son of a rural farmer. He is not interested in studies and his father has to continuously coax, threaten, beat, plead with him to go to school. On the contrary his younger brother is a brilliant student who is doing great in school. This of course leads to discrimination from father and illtreatment of the older son. Then there is Anitha the heroine who is the village headman's daughter. She goes to the same school as Mylari and both of them are in love from childhood but neither has the courage to express it. So Mylari does the best he can, he writes his feelings in the form of poetry, and prose literature and becomes a great poet. His father of course doesn't appreciate it.

Finally one day Mylari comes to know that Anitha is getting engaged to someone else and takes the step to express his love. This leads to lot of complications and results in getting him thrown out of the house. He ends up in Bangalore and there starts the real saga. He hooks up with his old friend who has become a famous journalist in Bangalore. The latter gets him a job as a journalist/ writer and then the trouble starts. As a press reporter Mylari breaks some important stories against prominent political figures. The political leader threatens Mylari's friend and since nothing comes out of it he eliminates the entire family.

An enraged Mylari goes on a killing spree and eliminates the politician and his henchmen. Then he is arrested and sentenced to death by hanging. The entire story is said as a flash back. It is definitely worth watching and can be watched with the whole family. There are some real touching scenes in the movies, that have been excellently executed by the main actors.

Kannada Movie Review: Buddhivanta

Laughter Riot
 
Upendra starrer Buddhivanta (2008) is a movie in which Upendra has lucidly executed his role. The movie starts off with several people coming to lodge complaints with the police against one individual who has cheated their sisters off the money by entering into a fake marriage with them. When they compare the pictures of the complainant all of them have the same picture. The police are convinced that they are dealing with the same person who is masquareding as different individuals and taking the people for a ride. They are hot on pursuit for this individual. There is a bus accident and all the passengers are admitted into the hospital, when police come to investigate they find the culprit among the injured. The police arrest the accused and present him to court.
 
The rest of the movie is a courtroom drama with Upendra the hero effectively arguing his case against all the women. The judge played by Lakshmi has pretty much no role except to sit there and watch. The heroine Pooja Gandhi also doesn't have much role except for running behind Upendra like a mad woman. Towards the end of the movie it is revealed who Upendra really is and why he went into disguise and what he hoped to achieve by doing what he did.
 
I would say this is a complete family entertainer with a generous dose of comedy included. It is totally watchable once.

Sankranti Greetings

Last week was Makara Sankranti or Pongal festival in India and across the world. I would like to recall a song in Kannada Movie Halli Meshtru in which the hero and heroine sing a duet on the occasion of this festival. This song only shows the enjoyment and fun aspect of the festival in rural Karnataka. The spiritual and learning aspect has been completely ignored.

Saradara Kannada Movie Review

Kannada film industry seems to be getting more and more mature. The films are getting better and there is a distinctively different storyline in many of the movies I have watched. I don't know whether the movies are being remade from other languages or they are originally conceptualized for Sandalwood. Saradara, starring Darshan is a movie with a difference. The storyline is well narrated and it upholds the traditional Indian values of family, marriage and how things work in rural India.

Darshan plays the hero with Srinivasa Murthy, Lokesh and Tara rendering excellent support for the storyline. Maada (Darshan) is an orphan whose mother would have given him to the temple priest and breathed her last. He is raised by the village and he works for the village headman. The village headman's daughter falls in love with Maada and then the twist happens. The twist that leads to several things, more and more sadness, sorrow and grief for Maada.

Throughout the movie the importance of respecting elders, and parents is emphasized. This is much like Darshan's previous movies he seems to be taking up movies in which respect to elders is the subtle message. I guess it comes right in time when young people are abandoning their parents in favor of career and other pressing priorities. I do hope the film industry continues to get better and the social message affects today's youngsters.

Kannada Movie Review: Chandu

Kannada film industry went through a transformation with the advent of younger (now older) stars such as Ramesh, Sudeep, Darshan, Puneeth Rajkumar, and others. One of the initial movies of Sudeep is Chandu, a romantic love story with several twists, a little bit of action. This movie helped establish Sudeep as a hero in Sandalwood - Kannada film industry.

Anyway the story of this movie is pretty straight forward. Sudeep is a n angry young man living in Hyderabad, he beats up the local don and his brother and during the street fight is when he encounters the heroine for the first time. His parents fearing for his life send him to Bangalore to live with his sister, whose house is incidentally next to a ladies hostel, where the heroine lives.

Invariably both of them end up in the same college, become friends and later lovers. A small altercation leads to the lovers fighting and getting separated. The rest of the movie shows how each of them behave and finally marry each other. The movie highlights Sudeep's performance as a carefree young man with a romantic heart and a short-tempered, and stubborn heroine who finally caves in and marries him.

In short it is a highly entertaining movie totally family friendly. It is more than ten years old so you will have to find the movie in a DVD format or online on Youtube.

Kannada Movie Review: Indra

I have started watching Kannada movies only after moving to the US. I could say that I started watching movies itself after moving here, because when I was in India every minute of my free time was spent reading about adventure travel or participating in outdoor activities. So my movie reviews may not come across as professional but just the opinion of viewers.

Indra features Darshan and Namitha in lead roles and it is the story of an educated individual who would have given up his white collar career to become a rowdy following the brutal killing of his entire family. The movie starts off with the killing of an industrialist in Mumbai close to the Gateway of India and immediately scene shifts to the Agrahara (Brahmin's colony) in SriRangapatna town in Karnataka. Indra (Darshan) is the focus in both settings. In Mumbai he is the killer and in SriRangapatna he comes to Rama Shastri's home seeking employment as a clerk in the temple.

Indra's good nature and silent demeanor captures the hearts of Rama Shastri's family members and the neighbors. Time passes on and one day Indra hears about the release of rowdy sheeter Cat Rama from the jail. This becomes the turning point of the movie when Indra murders Cat Rama in cold blood in full view of Rama Shastri. Then there is a dramatic scene in front of the Shastri residence when Indra's background is explained and shown as flash back.

The rest of the movie is how Indra eliminates all the bad elements of the state and emerges victorious. The movie deserves one time viewing and nothing more. There is no role for the heroine, her role could have as well been eliminated. Songs are totally unnecessary in this movie. The movie can be watched with family except small children who would be better off without watching all that blood and gore.

Happy Karnataka Rajyotsava

Image via Wikipedia
Wishing all my readers a very happy Kannada Rajyotsava 2011. November 1st is the day when the great state of Karnataka was formed as a part of the Union of India. I have been reviewing several Kannada movies that I have mostly watched after coming to the US. Kannada film industry has really transformed into a creative hub and recently there have been a slew of different and original stories, accompanied by excellent screenplay and photography too.

Keep visiting this blog to see reviews of more Kannada movies soon. I bid farewell for now with the familiar saying "Siri Kannadam Gelge"

Movie Review: Vaare Vah

Komal's comedy masterpiece is definitely worth watching and when it is available for free on youtube don't miss the laughter brigade.

Mr. Theertha - Kannada Movie Review

Sudeep's Mr. Theertha is another good family entertainer that follows a somewhat familiar plot. I watched this movie on Youtube thanks to the newly active Kannada movie fans who are uploading full movies. This movie is about how a stubborn father can destroy his child's life. Meet Theertha (Sudeep), son of Shastri Sir (Ananth Nag), the match teacher and principal in a high school. Shastri is totally aghast that his son is not interested in studies but in mechanical stuff, instead of working with compass and dividers, he is keen on playing with cutting pliers, screw drivers and spanners.

Shastri wants his son to become a great mathematician like him. In order to make Theertha conform to his aspirations he inflicts corporal punishment on the innocent boy and destroys the things he creates. This leads to animosity between father and son and the final straw comes when the father asks son's class teacher to fail him. Theertha goes and stabs his classmate in the hand with a compass and runs away. His father takes him and hands him over to the cops saying that he deserves to be in a remand home and not in the society.

Theertha transforms into a rowdy and has his own two wheeler service station. Now enters the heroine and the vamp together. The heroine is his childhood sweetheart and the vamp is the wife of the director of the school he went to. The story hots up with the usual fights, songs and conspiracies and ends the usual way. Lovers get united and father and son make peace. Theertha becomes the inventor of a revolutionary carburetor which will make motorcycles return over 100 km per liter.

Overall the movie is a good one, Ananth Nag excels in this role as a disciplinarian and rigid father. Sudeep delivers a stellar performance as hero. The movie is definitely worth watching and you can watch it with the entire family.

Ashoka - Kannada Movie Review

Image via WikipediaAction Packed Story of modern day Robin Hood

I try and watch Kannada movies on Youtube and other online sources as and when I have some spare time on hand. I have noticed that while the overall quality of the movies are getting better there are still many many formula-based movies in Sandalwood. I wish the directors stopped making these movies, this will give a fillip to the industry and enhance the reputation of our state.

Anyway this movie also follows the typical storyline. A poor lowly police constable dreams of making his only son an IPS officer. The son Ashok (Shivrajkumar) is also a very straightforward, law abiding, diligent student and active in NCC and other extra curricular activities. The hero Ashok gets into trouble with the underworld just before becoming an IPS officer and his father throws him out of the house.

Enraged Ashoka becomes an underworld Don and starts getting into all kinds of businesses: Real estate, transport, extortion, kidnapping, etc. You name it and Ashoka is the king in that industry, but he is slowly and surely eliminating all the existing rowdy elements. At the end of the movie like in almost all Indian movies there is a huge confrontation between Ashoka and the real underworld Dons and it is anybody's guess who wins.

There is some emotional drama when Ashoka's father comes to know his son's true identity from the police officers who are pleased with Ashoka's work without a uniform or authority. There is a family reunion and of course the reason for the confrontation is Ashoka's girlfriend who discovers a scandal and reports on it. Will anybody make a movie in India without a heroine and few duets??? No way... similarly Ashoka also has two heroines and there are some suet songs and an orgy song :)... Ashoka dances and sings with two heroines instead of one.

My final verdict on this movie is - pass it unless you have a lot of time on hand. Shivrajkumar has delivered much better performances and has acted in movies with great storylines - go watch them.

Movie Review: Raakshasa

Story of an Honest Cop

When I was in India I rarely watched movies, and when I did I preferred to go to English, Hindi, and Kannada movies in that order. After coming to the US I have watched more Kannada movies than ever before. Probably because I don't want to lose touch with the language that I was raised talking. Here I rarely speak my mother tongue - Kannada.

Anyway coming back to the movie under review, I stumbled upon this movie quite by accident while searching for something to watch on Youtube. This movie according to the producer/ director is based on real incidents. The film centers around the exploits of ACP Harish Chandra (Shivrajkumar) who constantly puts his life in line to perform his duty. He kills the younger brother of underworld don Shabbir Khan while trying to arrest the latter. Khan swears revenge and tries to eliminate Harish Chandra and family, but succeeds in killing only his wife and son.

ACP Harish Chandra returns to police force with a vengeance and is made the head of the Anti-Rowdy squad in which he successfully eliminates notorious miscreants in the state. Meanwhile Shabbir Khan returns to India from Dubai to settle scores with ACP Harish Chanddra and regain control over his underworld empire. The story ends with a different type of ending, once again displaying the broadminded nature of Kannadigas.

I must say that this movie is one of the few fast paced movies that doesn't bore the viewer. I only fast forwarded the songs. Ruthika the heroine looks good but has no role in the movie, if the songs and unnecessary drama were cut out the movie would probably be comparable to any fast-paced Hollywood movie. I guess Sadhu Kokila the director should think about making a fast paced narrative story like this without songs and unnecessary drama.

Bottom line is that Kannada film industry is moving forward and making better movies. Cinema that is watchable and entertaining.

Movie Review: Mata

Sandalwood regaining glory

During my teenage years I avoided Kannada movies like plague. There were several reasons for that including the fact that I bought into the popular notion that not watching Kannada movies was cool. Moreover the quality of Kannada flics were quite pathetic and had more or less the same storyline, same old faces, too much drama, unrealistic and badly executed action sequences. All this seems to have changed during the past few years. I have noticed that a new genre of Kannada movies starring actors like Ganesh, Puneet Rajkumar, Sudeep, Ramesh Arvind, Jaggesh, and an entire army of new actors and actresses are comparable with the best in any other regional film industry.

Recently I watched the movie Mata starring Jaggesh and effectively supported by a team of supporting actors such as Mandya Ramesh, Tabla Nani, Shashidhar Bhat, and others. The movie tells the story of a religious institution that cares for handicapped children. The chief swamiji of the institution is also responsible for these children. One fine day the swamiji falls in love and leaves his position to become a householder. This puts the institution in a quandary, the trustee decides to place an advertisement in the local newspaper and recruit the right candidate for the position. Something unheard of in the country.

The candidates who get selected to undergo the rigorous training to qualify to become a Swami are the heroes of this movie. I mentin Heroes because everyone has an equal role in the plot and Jaggesh is the only popular face so one tends to think that he is the hero. The rest of the movie is about the training that the applicants receive and which one becomes the swamiji.

The best part of the movie is its message and of course the liberal dose of comedy that is thrown in. Definitely worth watching and I would give it a 4 star rating.

Movie Review: Venkata In Sankata

Laughter all the way
Cast: Ramesh Arvind, Mukhyamantri Chandru, Umashree and others;
Director: Ramesh Arvind

All through my college days I would hear about the loss of quality in the Kannada cinema. I was never a big time movie watcher and hence it didn't do much to change my opinion. Now after coming to the US I actually started watching movies of all types, primarily out of boredom. Being a poor student I can't afford to do many of the cool things such as bowling, going to the movies, eating out, etc. So what is the best form of entertainment. Yes watching movies on youtube. As I watched English, and Hindi movies I decided to look for recent Kannada movies and watch them.

Yesterday I watched this notoriously hilarious Kannada movie Venkata in Sankata. Out of the 2 hr 21 minutes, if I said I laughed for 2 hrs it would not be false. The movie is completely funny and every scene has a bit of humor. Ramesh is a great actor and he has proved that he is a great director too.

The movie traces the professional life and adventures of police sub inspector Venkata whose fate always seems to be against him. His colleague somehow always seems to take credit for his actions and a frustrated Venkata is yearning to do something about it.

There is a terrorist attack in the city and Venkata is assigned the case. The way he goes about doing it and win forms the gist of the story. In between there is the heroine and few songs which add the necessary "oomph" factor to the movie. Even without these added gimmicks the movie is a good entertainer.

If you have lost hope about Kannada Cinema, watch this and I am sure you will change your opinion.