Happy Days are here again - Kannada movie review

JOLLY DAYS

DIRECTOR: M D Shridar
ACTORS: Aishwarya Nag, Deepu, Praveen,Niranjan, Rutva, Spoorthi, Keerthi, Sriraghav

Kannada Director MD Sridhar has managed to recreate the Telugu film Happy Days in Kannada. With this, his track record with remakes seems to be secure. The story of eight youngsters, trailing the four years they spend at engineering college, is entertaining and should be lapped up by collegians. Shridhar has remained so truthful to the original, in as much as casting newcomers who resemble the original cast line-up, that there is little chance of things going wrong. And Happy Days is not a very old film to swindle scenes from.

The storyline resembles kannada hit film Moggina Manasu which was about four girls and their college life. But this film is about four pairs and how they live through the experience of first love. There is nothing specially dramatic about the situations and it all feels like everyday happenings. This is the biggest plus point of the film. There are some not-so-believable parts like a genius student who invents ‘super power’ cricket bats and people’s images in the sky, but those are blended into situations to create good laughs.

The camera work by Krishna is a cut above the rest. The original tunes have been retained but none of them seems to be good enough to be a hit. The newcomers look and act their part to near perfection. Even if you are not a college student you can relive your student days watching Jolly Days. Free download kannada film songs here.

Kannada Movie Review - NANDA

DIRECTOR: Anantharaju
ACTORS: Shiva Rajkumar, Sandhya, Avinash, Rangayana Raghu, Sharath Lohitashwa, Sharan, Srinath

Even though this is yet another addition to Kannada actor Shiva Rajkumar’s long list of films themed on the underworld, Nanda deviates from the much recycled storyline quite a bit. Take out the overpowering backdrop of the underworld and this film is actually a family drama. The much publicised ‘real life-story’ of producer Maheen turns out to be quite entertaining.

Our hero (Shiva Rajkumar as Nanda) takes on a formidable family and helps his friend unite with his lover. As luck would have it, he falls in love with the sister of his friend’s girlfriend. Nanda saves an underworld element and is soon caught in the crossfire. The mysterious death of the leading lady’s father is attributed to Nanda and he is set to lose both lover and life. Since the story is from the hero’s viewpoint many of the dramatic elements get subdued between fights and songs. But there are enough twists in the tale that keep the momentum going.

The songs are not good enough and are thrust into the narrative like a rowdy would jab his sword into his victims. Free download kannada film songs here. Though there is an array of veteran actors, their characterisation is not much to write about. Despite these drawbacks this film would entertain Shiva’s fans no end.

Kannada Hottie Ramya Turns Model

Kannada Actress Ramya walked the ramp for the first time at the launch of Kimaya in UB City on Monday. Hot Ramya wore a pink tube like top with a straight fit ghaghra which flared at the bottom. The ghaghra had a lot of sequined work with flower patterns. She looked marvellous in the outfit. Ask her if she has ever walked the ramp. “No, not really. I have never walked the ramp of this magnitude. I am very excited,” Ramya said.

The kanada actress, who walked the ramp during her childhood days, shared her vague memories. “The first time I ever stepped on the stage was in my 7th grade at the Church Park School in Chennai. We just randomly wore our own clothes and walked. The second time was in my 11th grade at Saint Hilda’s School in Ooty, where I wore a saree,” she said.

So what’s keeping the actress busy these days? “I am working on two films. One is a Tamil film Kadhal 2 Kalyanam by Mani Ratnam’s assistant Milind Rau. And the other, a Kannada film Jothegaara,” she said.

Haughty Kannada Newcomers

Not a single actor of Kannada movie Jollydays arrived before the press conference ended. One of them, Keerthi, was haughty enough to say she wanted to come a little late.

On the eve of his kanada film’s release this week, director MD Sridhar called the media to announce it. The Kannada remake of Telugu Happy Days has eight youngsters in the lead. This is the first film for six of them. MD Sridhar, lyricist Kaviraj, dialogue writer BA Madhu and producer Madi Reddy were the only ones on the dais. None of the eight lead actors; Aishwarya Nag, Pradeep, Praveen, Vishwas, Spoorthi, Ruthuva, Raghavendra and Rahul, arrived even as the press conference ended.

Most of the 18 minutes that the four on dais spoke was about the spat between Sridhar and Kaviraj in a previous press conference where the latter was not invited on stage.

Aishwarya Nag was the first of the latecomers, and she took a seat without realising the press conference was over.

The rest of the kannada actors trooped in even as most of the mediapersons had already left the venue.
Sridhar seemed to be happy that he would be the highlight of the event.

It was left to the actress of Nannusire and Citizen, Keerti, to show off her nonexistent stardom. “I was asked to come at 4.30 pm. I thought it would be okay if I was a bit late.” The press conference slated for 4 pm started at 4.11 pm and ended at 4.29 pm.

Kannada Rowdy And Romeo

Yet another former underworld figure seems to be hankering for respectability. And what better way to do so than to make a kannada movie on his own life, conveniently portrayed as a redemption tale.

Taking a cue from his one-time godfather, ace kannada director Agni Sreedhar (a reformed don who made a Kannada movie, Aa Dinagalu based on his true life), Mahin alias Mahim, an underworld element from South Bangalore has made a Kannada movie. He is the story writer and producer for the movie Nanda which will hit theatres across the state on Jan 23. Sandalwood star Shiva Rajkumar, known to be fond of violent themes, has been more than willing to oblige and plays the lead role. For good measure, Mahin plays a significant character role in the film.

Mahin shot to fame in the underworld as a budding rowdy in Jayanagar, Siddapura and Tilak Nagar areas of South Bangalore. A tempestuous love affair got him further entangled in crime and added grist to his growing myth. He eloped with his girlfriend and the girl’s parents lodged a kidnapping case against him in Jayanagar. After this, the police started booking case after case against him. The charges varied from murder to extortion. “I have now become a real estate agent. I buy and sell land and buildings. This has got me money. With this I have produced a Kannada movie on my true life. Shivanna (Shiva Rajkumar) is starring in it,’’ Mahin said on his foray into Sandalwood.

Becoming part of polite society seems to be one of his main motives. At the audio launch of ‘Nanda’ he was very keen to be seen as a family man and made sure that photos of his family members and those of Shiva Rajkumar made it in the same frame. Quite a few Janata Dal (S) politicians also made it to the function and Mahin showed off his political support. Those present included former minister N Cheluvarayaswamy, MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan, MLC Puttanna and MLA HC Balakrishna. The audio launch itself was held at a five-star hotel with hundreds in attendance.

TWO FACED
Mahin had invited the media twice during the shooting of his film. On both occasions he was humility personified. But the film crew say that it was only when Shiva Rajkumar was around that he behaved in that way. At other times he would be a terror. Though he would not harm anyone on the sets, his presence alone would mean everyone around were jittery.

COBRA TO NANDA
Mahin wanted to name his film ‘Cobra.’ He was fascinated with this title but the Film Chamber, in accordance with its new decision, refused to grant the English title and Mahin settled for ‘Nanda.’ “I was betrayed by everyone including my family members after my decision to marry the girl I loved. We are all together now, but what happened to me during those days is the basis for this story,” Mahin said.

Shiva Rajkumar too gave his own gloss on the movie, seemingly at pains to ensure that it wasn’t perceived as yet another baddie film. “Nanda is about a man who becomes trapped because of circumstances beyond him,” he said. Director Anantaraju made suitable changes to the real story to adapt it to the screen.

Mahin enjoys equal space with Shiva Rajkumar in the hoardings of the film. He flaunts his muscles and, for the uninitiated, it would seem that he too is a very popular actor. Hundreds of these hoardings have been put up across Bangalore with most of them concentrated in Mahin’s ‘area of influence.’

POLITICAL PALS

Mahin has his share of friends in politics too. He started with Ramalinga Reddy in Jayanagar when the latter was an MLA. Then, he shifted his loyalty to R V Devaraj, MLA of Chamrajpet. They soon fell out and Mahin contested elections against Devaraj in the 2004 assembly elections. Later, Mahin became a friend of B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan who defeated Devaraj. This friendship took Mahin close to former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and his political friends, N Cheluvarayaswamy, Puttanna H C Balakrishna and others. He celebrated Kumaraswamy and Zameer’s birthday on a large scale in Chamarajpet. A prelude to his own political ambitions?

MAHIN’S STORY
“My association with crime started when I was studying PUC at Jayanagar’s Vijaya College,” Mahin said. “I and my friend fell in love with two sisters. My friend eloped with my girlfriend’s sister. This made the girl’s parents lodge a complaint of kidnapping against my friend and I became a co-accused,” he added.

Soon his girlfriend’s parents learnt about their love story and separated them by sending her to an unknown place. “For an year and a half, I searched for her. Finally, she sent me a letter giving her address in Kolar and this was enough for me to trace her. Then I eloped with her and another kidnapping case was booked against me by my inlaws,” he said. “To separate me from my girlfriend, her relatives poisoned the mind of the police. Some of my rivals who were jealous of my growth in the real estate market joined hands with the police. I was framed in a murder case. I and my girlfriend were famous as the Mahin-Tabassum jodie in the entire Jayanagar IV Block. Some people even called us Laila-Majnu,” he recalled.

“Today, we are happily married and have three children.This was in my mind while penning the story. I have narrated my eight year pre-marriage love story in the movie.Apart from this, I have also told the audience about how some people unnecessarily dragged me into underworld and how eventually I came out of it,” he said.

CIRCUS - Kannada Movie Review

DIRECTOR: Dayal Padmanabhan

ACTORS: Golden star Ganesh, Archana Gupta, Avinash, Pawan, Yethiraj

The two most popular themes of commercial films in Kannada are love and the underworld. Kannada golden star Ganesh has never done anything beyond love and director Dayal Padmanabhan almost always has done films dealing with the seamy side of life. But together in Circus, they present a film quite unlike the usual. Ganesh has managed to break his ‘love mould’ and Dayal upgrades himself to an ‘A-grade’ director.

Dhanush (Ganesh) and his gang of friends are pranksters. Their mode of cleaning up the society is by writing anonymous letters to housewives about their cheating husbands and railway station masters about a fictious visits by the minister. But their luck gives way when unwittingly Dhanush’s name and address are mentioned in a threat they mail to a station master. They have little time to stop the letter from reaching its destination as they chase it while on a train journey. To their horror, they also find out that their prank is being imitated in real life by some terrorists. A love story is blended into this train journey. To Dayal’s credit the story never deviates and has a smooth flow.

To break the romance and underworld monopoly in Kannada films, it is not enough to make a decent film on any other subject. The film has to be more than good which Circus strives hard to be but just falls short. The excessive focus on Ganesh continues while other seasoned actors hardly get to mouth a sentence. The sketchy characters of the terrorists and the lack of momentum pulls down the film. Despite the drawbacks, Circus is worth a watch. Free download kannada film songs here.

Kannada comedian Umesh's Sex Change

Kannada movie Venkata In Sankata has the veteran actor playing a woman.

After 50 years as a kanada film actor, Umesh is donning the clothes of a woman. He will appear as grandmother to kannada actor Ramesh Aravind in Venkata In Sankata. The idea was the brainchild of Ramesh who apart from being the lead actor is also the director of the film. “In these five decades, I was never offered such a role. But I did not find it too difficult. I am 64 and I was playing my age, albeit that of a woman. The difficult part was the dubbing. I had to practise a bit to speak like an old woman. I am happy with what I have done,” said Umesh.

Umesh took to professional theatre when he was just four years old. A decade later he started acting in films as a child artiste. Over the decades he has acted in hundreds of films. He has worked with three generations of filmmakers but considers the role in Venkata In Sankata as a one-off.