It’s time for another annual round-up. While it has been a fairly good year for the Kannada industry, it has had its share of washouts
It’s that time of the year again. Time to rewind and take stock of the hits, misses and the turkeys. See if the industry has taken a step forward technically, content wise and financially. The year that has whizzed past has been a landmark one thanks to “Mungaru Maley” a simple film with a refreshing narrative and music that did not puncture your eardrums. Technically the film was released at the fag end of 2006 but it was word of mouth publicity at the beginning of this year that started drawing crowds to the theatres. It turned Ganesh into ‘Golden Star’ overnight. Yograj Bhatt was the most sought after director and Mano Murthy had to find ways of saying no to producers. “MM” will complete a one-year run at PVR cinemas, a record.
Around 92 films were released this year including the long delayed but much awaited “Preethi Yeke Bhoomi Melidhe” that’s hitting the theatres today. The expectations are thanks to the super success of Prem’s “Jogi”. By Kannada standards Prem has taken too much time finishing the film and has gone over budget. The music has not really caught on but the ace up his sleeve is the presence of Mallika Sherawat.
The super hits but nowhere in the league of “MM” are “Duniya”, “Cheluvina Chitthara”, “Milana”, “Arasu” and “Chanda”. “Yuga” was an average grosser. “Cheluvina Chitthara” released without much fanfare was a huge hit in the interiors. “Duniya” introduced the talented director Suri and Vijay who’s considered next only to Ganesh. “Milana” was an effort by Puneet to veer away from his action image and he succeeded.
Around 200 films went on the floor during the year. Producing films is considered a safe passage to converting ‘black’ money and thanks to the spiralling cost of land,
developer’s ploughed money into the industry. The course of the year will show how many of these projects will get completed.
Ganesh definitely deserved the tag, ‘Golden Star’. His films “MM”, “Cheluvina Chitthara”, “Hudugaata” and “Krishna” which is marching towards the 100-day mark have collected around Rs. 100 crore which has never happened with any other hero. At the premiere of “Hudugaata” the humble star remarked that just a couple of years back he could not afford a Reliance phone but was now their brand ambassador. His remuneration today is a little more than one crore rupees. “Duniya” Vijay is right behind him. Pooja Gandhi was the numero uno among heroines. Ramya had only one average hit “Arasu”. Her much touted “Meera Madhava Raghava” was a disaster. The usually bankable marquee names like Vishnuvardhan, Shivaraj Kumar, Upendra, Darshan and Sudeep had a terrible year. Vishnu’s “Ekadantha”, a comedy directed by Sachin sunk without a trace. The much peddled “Kshana Kshana”, a so-called comeback vehicle for the highly over-rated Sunil Kumar Desai failed and the pretentious “Mathad Mathad Mallige” directed by Nagathihalli Chnadrashekar vanished in a jiffy from the theatres. Shivanna’s “Thayiya Madilu”, “Gandana Mane”, “Santha” and “Lava Kusha” at the fag end of the year flopped. Uppi’s list of flops include “Parodi”, “Masthi” and “Lava Kusha” again. Two so-called superstars couldn’t save “Lava Kusha” reiterating the fact that content is king and stars are just pawns. Sudeep is still wondering why his second directorial venture “73 Shanti Nivas” failed to bring in the crowds. Well audiences don’t want to be lectured on how to lead their lives especially by stars!
Puneet again stood tall among the ruins with two hits, “Arasu” and “Milana”. Ramesh’s “Satyavan Savitri” was amusing but did not have you rolling in the aisles like “Rama Shama Bhama” did. Aditya is good looking and fairly talented but has failed to make an impact after “Deadly Soma”. Prajwal the baby faced son of Devraj made a confident debut with “Sixer” and followed it up with an average grosser, “Gelaya”.
S. Narayan was as usual embroiled in controversies but was the most successful director with two hits, “Cheluvina Chitthara” and “Chanda” and one flop, “Thayiya Madilu”. Chaitanya, an associate of Girish Karnad, gave us his bloodless take on the underworld, “Aa Dinagalu” making the discernible look up and take notice. The stars favourite, Sai Prakash continued to churn out tripe in the name of entertainment.
The amount that was an average Kannada film’s budget has become remuneration now. Yograj Bhat was reportedly paid one and a half crore rupees to direct “Gaali Pata”. Puneet Raj Kumar has been signed by a corporate for 1.3 crores with Ganesh and Vijay snapping at his heels.
What is the film industry without controversies? Narayan and Vijay took their fight to the streets with the actor accusing the director of not keeping his word. Narayan won and the film, “Chanda” is doing well too. Daisy Bopanna accused Indrajith Lankesh of giving too much importance to Deepika Padukone in “Aishwarya” who incidentally is the first Kannada star to conquer Bollywood. Starlet Radhika was raided by income tax and her liaison with a politician was much talked about and is even the subject of a film.
Rakshita hung up her make-up kit and married the harried Prem. Vijay Raghavendra tied the knot too.
On a somber note the industry lost Prema Karanth, camera man Mapakshi and Maruthi Shivaram who directed “Parasangadha Gende Thimma”. If Prem’s “Preethi Yeke…” succeeds it’ll be the icing on the cake for Kannada cinema. We don’t want audiences asking “Prem yake Boomimeliddhare”?
