Sixty-two Kannada films hit the silver screen in the first half of the year. Only three of them touched the 100-day mark, while four made it to 50 days. It is evident then that filmmakers are losing the plot with the audiences.
Freshness from the youth
Big ticket releases including Sudeep’s Vardanayaka and Bachchan, Shivarajkumar’s Lakshmi and Andar Bahar and Darshan’s latest Bulbul faced tough competition from smaller projects with good storylines.
It was left to young filmmakers to bring in some freshness with different scripts, songs and fantastic picturisation. The first film to please was the Prem and Meghana Gaonkar-starrer Charminar, directed by R Chandru. This was Chandru’s third film, in a row, to complete 100 days at the marquee and all because of its strong story content.
Following Charminar was Nagashekar’s intense love story Mynaa starring Chetan and Nithya Menen. The movie, which opened to mixed responses, was a sleeper hit even in the absence of any established actor except for Sharath Kumar, who played a cop in it. The film was based on a true love story.
But it was Simple Aagi Ondhu Love Story (SAOLS) by debutant director Suni which set the cash registers ringing. The film made huge profits and proved that for a hit, there is no need for big stars. It had Rakshith Shetty and Swetha Srivatsav in the lead with Srinagar Kitty showing up in a cameo. Its strong points were a fresh storyline, brilliant camera work and catchy dialogues.
The recently released Auto Raja and Chandra have got some good reviews, which is a good sign.
The Duds
Films like Lakshmi, Topiwala, Andar Bahar, Bangari, and Director’s Special created a lot of hype before release but fizzled out.
A few directors tried to be creative by going for different storylines. Among them were Shashank’s Bachchan, Suri’s Kaddipudi, AMR Ramesh’s Attahasa and Chaitanya’s Parari. But none could register with the cinegoer.
Only Darshan
The huge openings for films of industry giants have a different story to tell. No doubt, a few films made profits or broke even, but they were pushed out of theatres soon. Among these only Darshan’s Bulbul could hit gold. The film has successfully completed 50 days and is still doing well in theatres across Karnataka.
Getting arty
The first half also made way for some good art films. We had National Award-winning film, Bharath Stores, releasing in multiplexes. Hejjegalu, directed by P R Ramdas Naidu, Kuramavatara directed by Girish Kasaravalli, Manasa by Kodlu Ramakrishna, and Belakinadege by Ramesh Kumar Jain; all gained critical acclaim.
Controversies
Apart from filmmaking, the industry also made news with controversies. To start with, we saw an ugly fight between director Rishi and heroine Nayana Krishna. The actress went to an extent of hitting the director with her slippers.
Then, director and producer Basheed of Benki Birugali tried to gain publicity by downloading nude photos of Rishika Singh. The actress went ahead and filed a case against Basheed but the matter died down.
The other controversy was with AMR Ramesh’s Attahasa, which got entangled in many legal issues. The director had to travel almost hundred times to Chennai to get the matter sorted.
Expectations
The second half of 2013 does not seem to hold much interest as there are no big star release. Puneeth and Sudeep had kept themselves busy with reality shows.
While Puneeth has just started shooting for Mythri, he is taking time to start his next commercial outing. Sudeep, who is just off the Bigg Boss hungama is taking time to direct his next film. Currently we have Darshan shooting for Brindavana that might release this year end.
Other films which continue to create hype are Upendra’s next film, Brahma directed by R Chandru and Shivarajkumar’s Bharangi directed by Harsha. Kodi Ramakrishna’s untitled project with Ramya and Diganth, Vijay Prasad’s Neer Dose and Veena Malik’s much awaited film, Dirty Picture - Silk Sakkath Maga directed by Trishul are also films to watch out for.
