Film: Dana Kayonu
Cast: Duniya Vijay and Priyamani, Suchendra Prasad, Rangayana Raghu
Director: Yogaraj Bhat
A must see, if once. More so, Dana Kayonu is built around the relation between humans and environment. The film is slack but powerful, sentimental and yet an experimental treatment by director Yogaraj Bhat.
It is a village tale exploring the life of cattle rearers and their struggle for survival. The family’s destiny takes a turn when the bull reared by Kempu aka Docomo (Duniya Vijay) is suddenly in demand and is offered a whopping ` 9 crore by a foreign company. Thus the bull becomes a target and is hunted by the villagers.
Will Docomo fall for the fortune and sell the bull or does he believe in the primitive survival forms the story, interestingly told in this silver-screen rendition. One should appreciate the choice of subject by the director, which culminates in a crescendo of emotions. Today when animals are becoming a prey for human utility, the film’s story brings out the affection between humans and animals.
This comic caper has an unusual plot, but it has its flipside too. A story that mostly runs on conversations falls into a chaos of voices and noises. This works for a while, but done repeatedly, it becomes a distraction to the viewers. Again, too many charactes built around the hero in most of the frames makes the narration a little messy.
The actor Vijay is a perfect choice and he delivers a good performance. The makeup and costumes too suit him to perfection. This is also the best acting done by Priyamani, who equals the hero’s. She carries the right attitude for the role. The film shows her in grey shades and that is the highlight of her role. The rest of the star cast includes Rangayana Raghu, Suchendra Prasad, Vijanath Biradar, Mahesh, Yogi, Veena Sunder and Jahangir, and they’ve played their roles well. Natasha Stankovic brings in the glam quotient in the film.
It is indeed a quality work done by the technical team, who has handled the CG work. V Harikrishna has come up with good peppy music. A couple of songs draws on the village tradition. The rustic scenes of rural life has been captured well by cameraman Sugnaan. While the film’s first half mostly captures love between the hero and the heroine and also between the bull and cow, the second half strikes an emotional chord. Yogaraj Bhat has brought the man-animal camaraderie that only endears Dana Kayonu to us.