Dandupalya | |
---|---|
![]() Theatrical film poster | |
Directed by | Srinivas Raju |
Written by | Srinivas Raju |
Screenplay by | Srinivas Raju |
Produced by | Prashanth G. R. Girish T. |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Venkat Prasad |
Edited by | S. Manohar |
Music by | Arjun Janya |
Production company | Apple Blossom Creations |
Release date |
|
Running time | 152 minutes |
Country | India |
Language | Kannada |
Budget | ₹3 crore [1] |
Box office | est. ₹40 crore [2] |
Dandupalya is a 2012 Indian Kannada-language crime film directed by Srinivas Raju and starring Pooja Gandhi, Ravi Kale, Makarand Deshpande, P. Ravishankar and Raghu Mukherjee. The plot is based on the real-life exploits of a notorious gang named 'Dandupalya'. The film was It was a major commercial success as it became one of the highest-grossing films of all time of the year 2012, being shown for more than 100-days in multiple centres. [3] With Pooja in the lead, it turned out to be an all time highest grossing female lead film of Kannada cinema industry.
A sequel to the film Dandupalya 2 , was announced in July 2014, and began production on 24 March 2016. Srinivas Raju directed the film. It was released on July 14, 2017, to decent reviews by critics. Again Pooja Gandhi played the main character in this film. Arjun Janya was the music director and the cinematography was handled by Venkat Prasad. [4] [5] Dandupalya 3 (2018) was shot simultaneously, with part 2 having the almost same cast. [6] [7] [8] Dandupalya 4 directed by K. T. Nayak was released in 2019. [9]
Note: The names used for the gang members in the movie have not been used in the plot to not hurt the sentiments.
The scene opens with the gang killing a pig for food. One SI comes for them to kill a man in chittoor, A.P. They agree to a mere 3000 rupees. They kill the man, who turns out to be another policeman, by slitting his throat. They join as construction workers with the recommendations of a woman (Pooja Gandhi), where she works. The gang then begin the crime. They spot a home with a lone woman and follow a peculiar pattern: The woman asks for a glass of water to the lone woman in the house and the rest of the gang force enter the home, rape and murder her by slitting her throat, and finally loot the home. On a parallel note, a man living with his sister agrees to marry a girl. They get married and the girl gets pregnant but the girl and the man's sister are raped and murdered in a similar style. The man commits suicide. The gang often get jobs from a corrupt lawyer to commit crimes for him for a small amount.
Inspector Chalapathi is a hard and intelligent cop who does not tolerate crime, especially towards women. The rape-murder-theft continues and it brings considerable pressure on him by seniors and frustrates him as the gang often does not leave a single trace of evidence. He then comes across the case of the man's pregnant wife and sister and from the pattern of killing by throat slitting, he deducts that it is a psycho killing unlike conventional murders. He alerts all the informers of suspicious jewellery selling in local shops. One day, he comes across a case of a looted Durga shrine. From a tip-off by an informant, he catches the squint-eyed gang member selling the stolen items. The temple's priest recognizes Lord Kartikeya's vel and informs the police that it is not from the Durga shrine. The Initial suspect of him being a petty criminal makes Chalapathi believe that he is a part of the Dandupalya gang. The squint-eyed person takes the police to a sleeping gang member (Ravi Kale). The squint man, Chander and the inspector go to Lord Kartikeya's temple, which was looted earlier and its two priests murdered. The squinted man explains how they stole the ornaments without the other gang members noticing, who were busy raping and killing the priests. Chalapathi deduces that they are the gang he is looking for.
The woman gang member spots them in the police station where they are kept and the gang go to the corrupt lawyer for help. The lawyer sends habeas corpus writ to Chalapathi. Chalapathi now conforms that they are indeed a part of the Dandupalya gang as no arrest of common migrant construction workers attracts the writ. He locates the other gang members and with his senior's permission, he takes them to a secluded place for 40 days to get information but they do not speak even after unbearable torture, which included beating Lakshmi naked and clipping off the squint man's whole nails. When the inspector lures them with food, they finally speak up and agree to their crimes.
Chalapathi takes them to court, the corrupt lawyer being their only defence. The judge is provided with the stolen items from the looted temples and a rape survivor as evidence, The rape survivor speaks as a witness. The judge sentences the gang with Chalapathi concluding what follows will be shown in Dandupalya 2.
Pooja Gandhi was asked to do the female lead in this film as Lakshmi, is a leader of an infamous notorious gang. Reluctantly she agreed to do the role, because of potential negative talk in Kannada film industry resulting in loss of her image portraying such characters. [10] [11]
The film was criticised by social group Bahujan Samaj Horata Samiti, who claimed that its content was offensive. They objected specifically to the film's portrayal of women. Further controversy followed when it was revealed that actress Pooja Gandhi would appear topless in the film.
After the release of the movie, Ambedkar Kranthi Sena activists demonstrated in Bengaluru against the film's "glorification of anti-social activities". [12]
"According to the dictionary, nudity means that you are not covered with a single item of clothing from head to toe. But in this scene, I have worn a sari and I am trying to cover my body, except for my back". says Gandhi about her controversial scene in the film [13]
Dandupalya | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Soundtrack album by Arjun Janya | |
Released | 2012 |
Genre | Feature film soundtrack |
Length | 56:30 |
Language | Kannada |
Label | Sai Audio |
No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Aleyo Alegale" | V. Nagendra Prasad | Karthik, Anuradha Bhat | 5:30 |
2. | "Kalli Nanu" | V. Nagendra Prasad | Vasundhara Das, Harsha Sadanandam | 5:00 |
3. | "Police Theme" | V. Nagendra Prasad | Ravi Basur | 5:30 |
4. | "Yaare Neenu" | V. Nagendra Prasad | Nakul, Priya Himesh | 5:00 |
5. | "Dandupalya Theme" | V. Nagendra Prasad | Instrumental | 7:00 |
Total length: | 28:00 |
The film was certified an "A" by the Central Board of Film Certification. It was released across Karnataka on 29 June 2012 with the title name as Dandupalya. [14] However, the Telugu and Tamil versions were released one year later, on 25 Jan 2013 and 24 May 2014 respectively. [15]
Gandhi received several awards for her performance as Lakshmi.
A critic from The Times of India scored the film at 3 out of 5 stars and says "Pooja Gandhi walks away with full honours for her excellentperformance as Lakshmi. Makarand Deshapande is amazing. Ravi Kale is brilliant. Ravishankar gives life to his role of police inspector. Music by Arjun Janya and cinematography by Venkat Prasad are added attractions". [16] Srikanth Srinivasa from Rediff.com scored the film at 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Dandupalya is a spine chilling film that allows you to rewind your memories of the gang that terrorized society some time back. It is horrifying and gory. Go for it to know how the gang operated". [17] Shruti I. L from DNA wrote "miss out on Pooja’s performance or to find out how this notorious gang was caught by the daring police inspector, Chalapathi. And if you already have watched it, well you now have the sequel to look forward to... Verdict: Watch it for Pooja Gandhi’s performance". [18] A critic from News18 India wrote "but it is Markand Deshpande and Jai Dev who have come out with flying colours. Raghu Mukherjee, Nisha Kothari and Sudharani have filled in their roles adequately. The dialogues are crisp and to the point". [19] B S Srivani from Deccan Herald wrote "Repeats of the gang’s forays, still portraying the police as mean weaklings and the incoherent courtroom dialogue culminating in an ominous climax — take your pick, but Dandupalya doesn’t rise above ribald jokes on wary neighbours and scheming strangers. With a sequel in the offing, more misery is promised". [20] Y. Sunita Chowdhary from The Hindu wrote "Over all it is a well-made film technically but one would still wonder if the subject though universal still has a title and content pertaining to Karnataka, would interest the people in Andhra Pradesh. Good effort by Srinivas Raju who succeeds in drawing attention through his first film which is dubbed from Kannada". [21] A critic from Bangalore Mirror wrote "Dandupalya could have been a gripping crime saga, but it just turns out to be an average tale. If you are game for gore of the voyeuristic kind, go for it. Raju has promised a sequel. Hopefully, it will have more art than fake blood". [22]
Business Standard, Sify.com, News18 India and India TV wrote ""Karimedu" is powered by some stellar performances. Pooja Gandhi as the leader of the gang is brilliant and extremely confident in her role. While some may typecast her performance as cheap and unwelcoming, I believe it takes guts for a regular heroine to shed her image and agree to play such a gritty part. She definitely deserves special mention for proving cliches wrong". [23] [24] [25] [26]
The film, along with its dubbed versions collected over ₹25 crore domestically against a production budget of ₹3 crore, and went on to cross over 100-days in multiple centres. [27]
The film was dubbed in Telugu and released as Dandupalyam. It was well received in Andhra Pradesh. [28] [29] The film Danduplya dubbed version titled under Dandupalyam was released with 110 prints and completed a successful 100-days run at "Guntur" and "Ongole" in AP/Telangana. [30] [31]
A Tamil dub titled Karimedu was produced by Rama Narayanan's Sri Thenandal Films and released on 24 May 2013. The film received critical acclaim from the critics and audience upon the release.The movie had a re-release on 3 September 2021.
A sequel to the film was announced in July 2014. Part Dandupalya 2 began production on 24 March 2016, and it was released on July 14, 2017. Srinivas Raju directed the film, which again stars Pooja Gandhi. Arjun Janya was the music director and the cinematography was performed by Venkat Prasad. [32] [33] [4]
The film Dandupalya 3 was shot simultaneously during the Part 2 filming, [34] while the second schedule of shooting was held from April 2017. Initially planned to release within a week after the Part 2 release, the film however, was pushed to release on 2 March 2018.
The film brought instant fame to Makarand Deshpande in Kannada film industry, and also he was nominated for 2nd South Indian International Movie Award and Bangalore Times Film Award for best actor in a negative role for his performance in the film as Krishna. [35]
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Totals | ||||||||||||||||||||
Awards won | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||
Nominations | 6 |
Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
---|---|---|---|
2nd South Indian International Movie Awards | Best Actress in a Negative Role | Pooja Gandhi | Won [36] [37] |
Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Raghu Mukherjee | Nominated | |
Best Actor in a Negative Role | Makarand Deshpande | Nominated | |
Suvarna Film Awards | Best Actress | Pooja Gandhi | Won |
Bangalore Times Film Awards | Best Actor in a Negative Role | Makarand Deshpande | Nominated [35] |
Filmfare Awards South | Best Actress | Pooja Gandhi | Nominated |
Narasimhudu is a 2005 Indian Telugu-language action film directed by B. Gopal. The film stars Jr. NTR, Amisha Patel, and Sameera Reddy, while Puneet Issar, Kalabhavan Mani, Pradeep Rawat, Rahul Dev, and Ashish Vidyarthi play supporting roles. The film is a remake of 2004 Kannada film Durgi directed by P. Ravi Shankar. The film was a disaster at the box office. In 2007, the film was dubbed in Hindi as The Power of Narsimha and in 2021, the film was dubbed in Marathi as Narsinha.
Hello Brother is a 1994 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film, produced by K. L. Narayana and directed by E. V. V. Satyanarayana. It stars Nagarjuna, Ramya Krishna and Soundarya, with music composed by Raj–Koti. The film is entirely based on the Hong Kong action comedy Twin Dragons (1992). In turn, Hello Brother spawned several of its own remakes, twice in Hindi as Judwaa (1997) and its reboot Judwaa 2 (2017) and in Kannada as Cheluva (1997). The film was the highest grossing Telugu movie of 1994.
Pooja Gandhi is an Indian actress and model, who mainly works in Kannada and Tamil language films. After starring in the commercially successful 2006 film Mungaru Male, she became one of the most popular and highest paid actresses in Kannada language films and also the recipient of several awards, including an honorary doctorate. Gandhi is popularly referred to as Male Hudugi in the media and Kannada film industry. Gandhi has acted in over five languages and 50 films in a decade. The Banglore Times placed her in the list of "25 Most Desirable Women of 2012".
Bujjigadu: Made in Chennai is a 2008 Indian Telugu-language action film directed by Puri Jagannadh and produced by K. S. Rama Rao. The film stars Prabhas, Mohan Babu and Trisha while Sanjjanaa and Kota Srinivasa Rao play supporting roles. The film released to mixed reviews and was moderately successful at the box office. It was later remade in Bangladesh as Pagla Deewana (2015) with Shahriaz and Pori Moni.
Buddhivantha is a 2008 Indian Kannada-language film directed by Ramnath Rigvedhi. starring Upendra in the lead role, while Pooja Gandhi, Brinda Parekh, Saloni Aswani, Natanya Singh, and Suman Ranganathan play the female leads. The film is a remake of the 2007 Tamil film Naan Avanillai, which was itself was a remake of 1974 Tamil movie Naan Avanillai which in turn was based on the 1962 Marathi play To Mee Navhech written by Pralhad K. Atre. The music was composed by Vijay Antony.
Naai Sekar is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language science fantasy comedy film directed by debutant Kishore Rajkumar and produced by AGS Entertainment. The film stars Sathish in the titular role, alongside Pavithra Lakshmi, George Maryan, Ganesh, Livingston, Ilavarasu, Sriman, G. Gnanasambandam, Nithya Ravindran and Manobala. It revolves around a man who has his soul swapped with a Labrador Retriever.
Bachchan is a 2013 Indian Kannada-language psychological action film directed by Shashank and starring Sudeepa, Parul Yadav, Jagapathi Babu, Bhavana, and Tulip Joshi in the lead roles The musical score and soundtrack were composed by V. Harikrishna and cinematography was handled by Shekar Chandru.
Danger is a 2005 Indian Telugu-language thriller film written and directed by Krishna Vamsi. The film features an ensemble cast starring Allari Naresh, Sairam Shankar, Abhishek, Colours Swathi, and Shireen. The film soundtrack and background score were composed by Joshua Sridhar. Dialogues for the film were written by popular actor Uttej. Danger marked the film debut of popular television anchor Colours Swathi.
Mylari Ramiah Chandru is an Indian film writer, director and producer who works primarily in Kannada cinema. He is most Known for the 2008 film Taj Mahal.
Abhinetri – The Tragedy of a Legend is a 2015 Indian Kannada language film directed by Satish Pradhan. It stars Pooja Gandhi in the lead role. The film is based on the life of actress Kalpana. The supporting cast features Makarand Deshpande, Srinagar Kitty, Atul Kulkarni, P. Ravi Shankar and Neethu. After much delay in the post production, the film opened on screens on 30 January 2015.
Ravi Kale is an Indian actor known for his work in Kannada, Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Marathi films. He played Chander in the Sarkar series and the Dandupalya series.
Jilebi is a 2017 Indian Kannada language comedy thriller film written, directed and produced by Shankar. It stars Pooja Gandhi in the main role along with Yashas, Vijay Chandur and Nagendra. The soundtrack and score for the film is composed by James Architect. The cinematography is by M. R. Seenu.
Dandupalya 2 is a 2017 Indian Kannada-language crime thriller directed by Srinivas Raju and produced by Venkat. Based on the infamous dacoit gang from Dandupalya, the film is a sequel to the 2012 film Dandupalya. The film stars Pooja Gandhi, continuing her role from the predecessor. The principal cast includes P. Ravi Shankar, Makarand Deshpande, Ravi Kale, Shruti, and Sanjjanaa Galrani,. The film features music composed by Arjun Janya and cinematography by Venkat Prasad. The film opened to mixed reviews from audience and critics upon the release and went on to become a box-office hit at both Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
Dandupalya 3 is a 2018 Indian Kannada-language crime thriller film directed by Srinivas Raju and produced by Ram Talluri. Based on the infamous dacoit gang from Dandupalya, the film is a sequel to the 2017 critically acclaimed film Dandupalya 2 and is third film in the series. The film stars Pooja Gandhi, continuing her role from the prequels and most of the principal cast including P. Ravishankar, Makarand Deshpande, Ravi Kale, Shruti, Petrol Prasanna and Sanjjanaa reprise their roles from the previous films. The film's score and soundtrack is composed by Arjun Janya and cinematography by Venkat Prasad. The film is dubbed into Telugu language and is entitled Dandupalyam 3. Much of the crew members have been retained for the film from the prequels apart from roping in Naveen Krishna, Tabla Nani, Ramesh and Gururaj Desai to pen the dialogues. The film would mark the end of the franchise.
Ram Talluri is an Indian film producer in Tollywood. He produces films under his production banner SRT Entertainments. Ram produced his first film Chuttalabbai in 2016. Dandupalya 3, a Kannada-language crime thriller was produced by Ram Talluri which was released in March 2018.
Lisaa is a 2019 Indian Tamil stereoscopic horror film written and directed by Raju Viswanath on his directorial debut. The film stars Anjali, Sam Jones and Makarand Deshpande.. This film is India's first ever stereoscopic 3D horror film. This film is a uncredited remake from The Visit. The film opened to mixed reviews.
Pogaru (transl. Haughtiness) is a 2021 Indian Kannada-language masala film directed by Nanda Kishore and produced by B. K. Gangadhar. The film stars Dhruva Sarja and Rashmika Mandanna with Chikkanna, P. Ravi Shankar, Pavitra Lokesh, and Raghavendra Rajkumar in supporting roles, and Sampath Raj, Dhananjay, Kai Greene, Morgan Aste, and Dharma as antagonists.
Srinivas Raju is an Indian film director who works in Kannada and Telugu-language cinema. He made his directorial debut with the 2010 Kannada film, Nannavanu. He then followed it up with the Dandupalya franchise, consisting of: Dandupalya (2012), Dandupalya 2 (2017), and Dandupalya 3 (2018). The franchise was written and directed by him. He also directed Kannada actor, Upendra, in Shivam (2015).
Thaggedele is a 2022 Indian Telugu-language suspense thriller film directed by Srinivas Raju and starring Naveen Chandra, Divya Pillai, Ananya Raj and P. Ravi Shankar.
Dandupalya 4 is a 2019 Indian Kannada-language crime thriller film directed by KT Nayak and starring Suman Ranganathan and P. Ravi Shankar. The film is the fourth installment of the Dandupalya film series. The film was dubbed in Telugu as Dandupalayam 4.