Dandupalya III (or III)
Cast: Pooja Gandhi, Makarand Deshpande
Director: Srinivas Raju
Rating: 3/5 stars
For almost seven years, director Srinivas Raju delved in the world of evil and the very place where many lives hopelessly fell in love with evil, desiring to continue living with it without any thought ever approaching to escape. Chronicling evil is indeed strenuous, but Raju did not let go of the story with just one, going tirelessly and courageously, wading through numerous opposition, to make three parts.
The latest in the three-part sequel tells the tale of the Dandupalya gang from the point of view of the police.
The earlier two were the director’s version and that of the gang members. Connecting the previous two parts, police officer Chalapathi (Ravi Shankar) gives a stark explanation to journalist (Shruthi), who sympathises with the criminals. Going by Chalapathi’s version, crime is in their DNA as the history of Dandupalya gang goes back 80 years, looting gold from Kolar Gold Fields. The present lot belongs to the generation and has blood on their hands.
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Shifting base from the village to city, their notorious crimes, especially spine chilling murders and sexual abuse of women, long haunted the police. The film captures the struggle undergone by the law enforcement personnel and their strategy to capture the gang.
Srinivas Raju’s storytelling has disturbing elements, after all evil is never good looking, but he tells it in a limitless manner, rather than focusing much on the efforts made by the police. And knowing Raju, a filmmaker who shuns manipulation, one should appreciate his nerve to handle such a complex script that takes us away from a structured, liveable society.
As for the actors, it is difficult for any artiste to get attention for playing negative shade, and Pooja Gandhi surely wins over the audience with her powerful performance. Makarand Deshpande gets skin deep into the character. So is the performance by rest of the actors including Jayadev Mohan, Muni, Petrol Prasanna, adi Lokesh among others. Ravi Shankar is an all-rounder and makes no mistakes in getting into the police avatar. Shruthi, Kari Subbu, Ravi Kale, Danny have been well placed.
Arjun Janya’s background score is haunting complementing the script while cinematography by Venkat Prasad is crisp.
They say truth has rough flavours if we bite it through, and if you like it that way, go for Danduplaya.