The plot revolves around Nikki, an usher in theatre who has insomnia. After consuming a special pill, he gets entangled in a different kind of a dream.
Lucia was the first Kannada film to be crowdfunded by the people. The soundtrack was composed by Poornachandra Tejaswi and cinematography was handled by Siddhartha Nuni. It was premiered at the London Indian Film Festival on 20 July 2013.[5][6] It won the Best Film Audience Choice award at the festival.[7] It was also among the films shortlisted by the FFI to become India's submission for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for the year 2013.
The film was remade in Tamil as Enakkul Oruvan in 2015. The movie was credited for inspiring a new wave in the Kannada film industry.[8]
There are two main roles, one that is played out in the dream, and the other one, in reality, called respectively Nikhil and Nikki.[9] The plot starts with the protagonist being in a state of coma and continuing only on life support. The film, from the beginning, tells two stories of the same person, one in colour and the other in black and white.[10]
Sanjay, a detective from the Mumbai police Crime Branch starts investigating the incident that caused the protagonist's (Sathish Ninasam) current state. While Sanjay is going through the protagonist's belongings he stumbles upon some scribbled notes and a mysterious pill. Meanwhile, the police capture two suspects and interrogate them.
The story starts with Nikki in a village near Mandya, working as an usher/"torch-shiner" in a Bengaluru movie theatre owned by Shankranna (Achyuth Kumar). Nikki has insomnia and yearns for a companion. On one of his sleepless nights, Nikki is contacted by a drug dealer who gives him Lucia pills as a solution to his sleeping problems. This drug is said to have the capacity to help one dream the life they want but has the side-effect that upon discontinuation the same dreams turn into nightmares.
With the help of the Lucia pills, Nikki starts seeing himself as being a successful actor called Nikhil surrounded by people he knows in the real world. Film actor Nikhil's life is depicted in black-and-white. Shankranna, the owner of the theater where Nikki works, had starred in a film in his youth funded by the leader of some goons who now want Shankranna to sign off his theatre for his debt. More events from the dream are followed by similar events in reality as Nikki falls in love with Shwetha (Sruthi Hariharan) who is a model in the dream and a waitress in reality.
In the dream, Nikhil and Shwetha hit it off easily at the beginning but later friction arises when Nikhil expresses his discontent about Shwetha working in the film industry. Meanwhile, in reality, Nikki struggles to win Shwetha's heart, who rejects him first due to his low salary but later falls for his humble character. Shwetha's attempts to get Nikki educated and lead him to find a better paying job turns out to be futile and also result in the death of Shankranna in the hands of goons. Frustrated, Nikki chooses to leave Shwetha and continue to work in the theatre, despite the threats. Nikki redecorates the theatre and releases Shankranna's film to the audience. He later reconciles with Shwetha, who agrees to marry him.
In the dream, Shankranna is kidnapped, and Nikhil rescues him with the help of the police. In the process, all of the goons are either arrested or killed except for the contract killer. Nikhil feels Shankranna is not safe with him and decides to fire him. Nikhil breaks up with Shwetha and sends off all his servants so as to be alone. Later, a visibly disturbed Nikhil finds himself in a trashed room. Nikhil gets hold of a torch and through its light sees his life as a "torch-shiner" projected on the walls of the room.
Shwetha is now distraught with being in the limelight and understands what Nikhil had tried to tell her. Nikhil, the actor, meets Shwetha and tells her that he cannot decide if the present moment is a dream or reality but he is ultimately happy. Asking Shwetha to close her eyes, Nikhil jumps off the roof to the confusion of everyone present, including the contract killer waiting to kill him.
At present, Sanjay with the help of the suspects performs a sting operation on the drug dealer and learns more about the Lucia pills. Meanwhile, Shwetha is caught in an attempt to kill Nikhil by pulling him off life support. During her interrogation, the whole investigating team along with Shwetha watches a re-run of an interview of the film star Nikhil. In the interview, Nikhil expresses his dissatisfaction of the stardom and reveals that he is actually color blind from an accident in his childhood. He tells the interviewer that he dreams of being a normal person and in fact, in one of his dreams he is a "torch-shiner" who gets no attention from people and is happily in love with the dream of his life. It also revealed that Nikhil and Nikki both had insomnia and both consumed the Lucia pill.
Sanjay is now convinced that Nikhil is living in his own version of reality and chose to live in that dream rather than in the real world by attempting suicide. Sanjay gets Shwetha to act and behave like she was in Nikhil's dream, and acts himself as if he was a contract killer and shoots the comatose Nikhil in the head with an empty gun. Simultaneously, Nikhil, aware and alive in his dream world finds everything disappearing around him and is killed by a shot to the head. Nikhi wakes up from his coma to see the astonished doctors and Shwetha's relieved face. Thus, revealing that the character Nikki was an illusion whereas Nikhil was reality.
At the end, we can see Nikhil, Swetha and Shankaranna (who was dead in Nikhil's dream) enjoying pizza (Swetha worked as pizza waitress in Nikhil's dream) while they operate the projector of an old theater. Thus revealing that it was film star Nikhil's dream to be a commoner like Nikki, and he achieved it through Lucid dreams.
In December 2011 Pawan Kumar announced on the Web that his next project, after the success of his directorial debut film Lifeu Ishtene, was going to be Lucia. For the next two months, he met quite a few producers and top actors and found it difficult to fund his film. That led Pawan Kumar to write a post titled Making Enemies on his blog. Three days after it was published, the response was so overwhelming that he decided to pitch the idea of inviting people to produce the film and Pawan Kumar initiated Project Lucia. Aditya Vikram Thoomati was crucial in making the bandwagon work. Fellow writer to Pawan , a newbie to Kannada cinema , Sai Prasad did his writing expertise through it.[11][12] Lucia is notable for its use of crowdfunding. It was funded by 110 investors who contributed to the project through a Facebook page and a blog run by director-actor Pawan Kumar. It was the first Kannada movie to bypass the traditional film financing model.[13] The director initially offered the lead role to model turned actor Diganth but he was later replaced by Sathish Ninasam, who has played supporting roles in many Kannada films.[14]Lucia was made at a budget of ₹50 lakh (US$60,000).[1] Kannada language television channel Udaya TV bought the satellite rights of the film for ₹0.95 crore (US$110,000).[15] Actor Sathish Ninasam along with the music director Poornachandra Tejaswi visited colleges in Davangere to promote Lucia.[16]
The music for the film and soundtracks were composed by debutant Poornachandra Tejaswi, and background score composed by Poornachandra Tejaswi, Monish Kumar M.K. and Santhosh Narayanan. The lyrics were penned by Poornachandra Tejaswi, Yogaraj Bhat and Raghu Shastri.[17] The album has seven tracks.[18]
The trailer of Lucia was released in February 2013, with the film releasing on 6 September 2013.[19] PVR released the film on 6 September 2013 under their "Director’s Rare" category all over India. It was released across Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Surat, and Delhi with English subtitles.[20]Lucia was also set to be released in Pakistan.[21][22]
The critics praised the film.[26] Anurag Kashyap tweeted "My birthday gift to myself would be lucia...".[27] Actor Siddharth was "blown away" after watching the movie. He immediately called the director Pawan Kumar and praised him. Lucia was also in the race for India's official entry to the Oscars.[28]
The movie received positive reviews from critics. Well-known critic Baradwaj Rangan remarked, "An entertaining new Kannada film pushes the envelope even as it pays homage to the old way of doing things".[29] Bookmyshow website said it is a landmark film for Indian cinema.[30] Tribune praised the film story.[31] The Hindu stated that Lucia is a new type of Kannada film.[32][33]
Box office
Lucia earned ₹0.95 crore (US$110,000) in satellite rights and ₹3.06 crore (US$370,000) in ticket sales through its entire run in cinemas, far surpassing its production budget of around ₹0.50 crore (US$60,000). Lucia was also released by PVR Pictures in some cinemas outside Karnataka, fetching around ₹8 lakh (US$9,600) from 13 screens in the first three days.
Director Pawan Kumar admitted to have taken influence from Christopher Nolan and David Lynch.[38] The dream and real sequences being shot in monochrome and in color to differentiate between the two stories, like the Memento and Open Your Eyes to alternate between two plot-lines. The movie's relation with dream and reality and the interrelation between the two. There is also a scene where Nolan's movie Following is seen playing on a TV screen. Requiem for a Dream is also seen playing on a TV in the same scene which is also an influence as the movie deals with addiction.[39] Apart from the cinematic influences, the theme of dream and illusion is also shown as an influence of the poem Nee Mayeyolago by Kanaka Dasa which is quoted at the beginning of the movie. The poem is also partially contained in the lyrics of the song Nee Toreda Galigeyali in the soundtrack.
Home media
The film was released in Blu-ray, HD DVD, DVD 5.1, VCD Version From Anand Video Studio. It is the first Kannada film to be released in Blu-ray. The director, an advocate of alternative distribution strategies for indie filmmakers, said, "It’s time to set up your own virtual movie theaters on the World Wide Web which will be open 24×7 across the globe."[40]
Lifeu Ishtene is a 2011 Indian Kannada-language black comedy film written and directed by Pawan Kumar. It stars Diganth, Sindhu Lokanath and Samyukta Hornad in the lead roles. Sathish Ninasam, Achyuth Kumar and Veena Sundar feature in supporting roles. The plot revolves around the adult life of a carefree youngster, who falls in love easily with multiple women, and observes the consequences, "realizing the meaning of life" and that it comes a "full circle". The title of the film was taken from a track of the 2010 Kannada film Pancharangi.
Pawan Kumar is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor who primarily works in Kannada cinema.
Sindhu, known by her stage name Sindhu Loknath, is an Indian actress and model who predominantly appears in Kannada cinema. She made her debut in films, with a cameo role in Parichaya (2009). She is recognized for her performances in Lifeu Ishtene (2011), Drama (2012), Case No. 18/9 (2013) and Love in Mandya (2014).
Enakkul Oruvan is a 2015 Tamil-language psychological drama film directed by debutant Prasad Ramar and produced by C. V. Kumar. A remake of the 2013 Kannada film Lucia directed by Pawan Kumar, the film stars Siddharth and Deepa Sannidhi, with Santhosh Narayanan composing the film's music. It is the 25th film of Siddharth. The film was released on 6 March 2015. Telugu version of the film is titled as Naalo Okkadu.
Rachita Ram is an Indian actress who primarily works in Kannada films. being one of popular actress, Rachita is a recipient of various accolades including one Filmfare Award South and three South Indian International Movie Awards.
Achyuth Kumar is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Kannada cinema, alongside few Tamil and Telugu films. He is well known for his performances in the KGF, Kantara, Sidlingu, and Lucia. He is the recipient of three Filmfare Awards and two Karnataka State Film Awards, one each in Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor categories.
Shiva, known by his screen name Sathish Ninasam, is an Indian actor who appears in Kannada films. Having made his film debut with Madesha (2008), Sathish appeared in small but significant roles in films like Manasaare (2009), Pancharangi (2010), Lifeu Ishtene (2011) and Anna Bond (2012). He shot to fame after his performance in Drama (2012). Sathish marked his debut as a hero in his 2013 film Lucia, which received critical acclaim nationally and internationally. His performance received rave reviews all over India.
Sruthi Hariharan is an Indian actress and producer who primarily appears in Kannada language films. Sruthi is a recipient of a National Film Award, three Filmfare Awards South and one Karnataka State Film Awards.
Anjada Gandu is a 2014 Indian Kannada romantic comedy film directed by Pradeep Raj, and starring Sathish Ninasam and debutant actress Subiksha in lead roles. A remake of the 2012 Tamil film, Manam Kothi Paravai, Anjada Gandu is Sathish Neenasam's first commercial film as a solo hero, and was released 31 January 2014.
Kiragoorina Gayyaligalutransl. Rowdy women of Kiragooru) is a 2016 Indian Kannada-language drama film directed by Sumana Kittur, based on a novel of the same name written by Poornachandra Tejaswi. It stars Shwetha Srivatsav, Sukrutha Wagle, Karunya Ram, Sonu, and Manasa Joshi in the lead roles. The supporting cast features Achyuth Kumar, Kishore, Sharath Lohitashwa
Rocket is a 2015 Kannada romantic comedy film written and directed by Shiva Shashi, produced by and co-starring Sathish Ninasam, alongside Aishani Shetty in the lead roles. Achyuth Kumar, Sundar Raj, Padmaja Rao, Ninasam Ashwath and Rajshri Ponnappa feature in supporting roles.
Poornachandra Tejaswi is an Indian film composer, lyricist and playback singer who primarily works in Kannada Film Industry. His film debut was made in Pawan Kumar's directed Lucia, where he wrote the film's background score, lyrics and songs. They received acclaims and honors both from audience and critics.
Ayogya is a 2018 Indian Kannada romantic comedy film directed by debutante S. Mahesh Kumar and produced by T. R. Chandrashekar. It stars Sathish Ninasam and Rachita Ram in the lead along with P. Ravishankar, Chikkanna, Saritha, and Sadhu Kokila among others in key supporting roles. The music is scored by Arjun Janya and cinematography is by Preetham Thegginamane.
Chambal is a 2019 Indian Kannada thriller film written and directed by Jacob Verghese and produced by N. Dinesh Rajkumar and Mathew Verghese jointly under the banners Jacob Films and Jadyan Motion Pictures. It features Satish Ninasam and Sonu Gowda along with Roger Narayan. The supporting cast includes Pawan Kumar, Achyuth Kumar, Kishore Kumar and Elvis Joseph. The score and soundtrack for the film is by Poornachandra Tejaswi and Judah Sandhy and the cinematography is by D. Sasi Kumar and editing is done by Bavan Sreekumar
Arvind Sastry is an Indian film director, screenwriter and an editor in Kannada cinema.
Dyavre is a 2013 Indian Kannada-language drama film written and directed by Gadda Viji and produced by Jayanna Bhogendra, co-produced by Rajesh Bhat. The film stars Yogaraj Bhat, Sathish Ninasam, Sonu Gowda, and Sruthi Hariharan. The dialogues are written by Yogaraj Bhat and Gadda Viji. The songs are composed by Veer Samarth.
Petromax is a 2022 Indian Kannada-language comedy drama film written and directed by Vijaya Prasad. The film is produced by Sathish Ninasam and Vijaya Prasad under the banner Sathish Picture House. It stars Sathish Ninasam and Hariprriya alongside Karunya Ram. The story of the film revolves around the lives of four orphans and how they find love in an older woman.
Dear Vikram is a 2022 Indian Kannada-language action drama film directed by K. S. Nandheesh starring Sathish Ninasam and Shraddha Srinath. The film released after a five-year delay.
Dhoomam (transl. Smoke) is an Indian Malayalam-language thriller film written and directed by Pawan Kumar. The film was produced by Vijay Kiragandur under Hombale Films in their debut production in Malayalam cinema. It stars Fahadh Faasil and Aparna Balamurali, alongside Roshan Mathew, Vineeth, Anu Mohan, Achyuth Kumar, Joy Mathew and Nandhu. It was released on 23 June 2023 and opened to mixed reviews.
Matinee is a 2024 Indian Kannada-language comedy horror film written and directed by Manohar Kaampalli in his debut. The film is produced by Parvathi S. Gowda under F3 Productions banner. The film features Sathish Ninasam, Rachita Ram and Aditi Prabhudeva in the lead roles besides Nagabhushana, Shivaraj K. R. Pete, Poornachandra Mysore and Diganth Diwakar in supporting roles. The film's score and soundtrack are composed by Poornachandra Tejaswi, while the cinematography is by Sudhakar S. Raj, with editing by KM Prakash.
References
1 2 Khajane, Muralidhara (19 April 2015). "Lucia goes to Pakistan". The Hindu. thehindu.com. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
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