Monalisa (film)

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Monalisa
2004 Kannada film Mona Lisa poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Indrajit Lankesh
Written byIndrajit Lankesh
B. A. Madhu (dialogues)
Produced byK. S. Dushyanth
K. Santhosh Kumar
Starring Dhyan
Sadha
CinematographyKrishna Kumar
Edited byB. S. Kemparaj
Music byValisha-Sandeep
Production
company
Lankesh Chitralaya
Release date
  • 7 May 2004 (2004-05-07)
Running time
144 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageKannada

Monalisa is a 2004 Indian Kannada-language romance film written and directed by Indrajit Lankesh. The film stars Dhyan and Sadha in lead roles and prominent actors such as Darshan and Rekha Vedavyas have done cameo appearances. [1] The film's storyline is inspired by Parthiban Kanavu (2003). [2]

Contents

The film was a blockbuster upon release and also received critical appreciation. [3] It went on to win numerous awards at the Filmfare Awards South and Karnataka State Film Awards for the year 2004. [4] It was also dubbed into Telugu with the same title later that year with a reshot comedy track involving Brahmanandam and Kovai Sarala. [5]

Cast

Guest appearances

Production

The film is produced by Dushyanth, leader of the Karnataka Youth Congress. Sadha made her Kannada debut with this film. Babji of the Babji-Sandeep music duo changed his name to Valisha. [6]

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by Valisha-Sandeep duo. [7] The song "Chori Chori" is inspired from Habibi Dah (Nari Narain) which was sung by Hisham Abbas and Bombay Jayashri. [8]

Monalisa
Soundtrack album by
Valisha-Sandeep
Released2004 (2004)
Genre Feature film soundtrack
Label Ashwini Audio
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Chori Chori" K. Kalyan Shankar Mahadevan, Kalpana 
2."Car Car Huduga" V. Nagendra Prasad Vasundhara Das, Karthik  
3."Oh Priyathame"K. Kalyan Rajesh Krishnan  
4."Nannusiru Neene"Doddarangegowda K. S. Chithra  
5."Ee Manasella Neene"K. KalyanRajesh Krishnan, Shreya Ghoshal  
6."Monalisa Monalisa"Nagendra Prasad Sonu Nigam, K. S. Chithra 

Reception

A critic from Deccan Herald wrote that "The director has put in a good effort to make the film a mass entertainer through comedy, romance, sentiment and action sequences. The first part is full of comedy and romantic scenes.The narration has a touch of freshness". [9] A critic from indiainfo wrote that "Overall a good film". [10] A critic from Viggy wrote that "Technically, Monalisa is a good movie. Indrajith has cooked the food with right ingredients that is apt for commercial film - is a magnet for young crowd". [8]

Regarding the Telugu dubbed version, Jeevi of Idlebrain.com rated the film 2 14 out of 5 and wrote that "Songs, comedy and stunt sequences act more like speed-breakers to the narration of the story than catalysts of entertainment". [5] A critic from Indiaglitz wrote that "The saving grace is the glitzy production values and the camera work". [11]

Awards

EventCategoryRecipientRef.
2004–05 Karnataka State Film Awards First Best Film Monalisa [12]
Best Director Indrajit Lankesh [13]

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References

  1. Shruti Indira Lakshminarayana (8 June 2010). "Why Sadaa is returning to Kannada films". Rediff.com . Archived from the original on 2 September 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  2. "Shruti, Murali bag Karnataka film awards". The Times of India. 22 September 2005. Archived from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  3. Vijayasarathy, R. G. (17 July 2004). "'Excuse Me' exceeds all expectations - Kannada Top Films". IANS . Archived from the original on 9 March 2023. Retrieved 9 March 2023 via Nowrunning.
  4. RG Vijayasarathy (19 April 2006). "Indrajit Lankesh wants to quit direction". Rediff.com . Archived from the original on 12 September 2022. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  5. 1 2 Jeevi (7 October 2004). "Movie review - Monalisa". Idlebrain.com . Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  6. "Mona Lisa - new film by Indrajith Lankesh". Viggy. Archived from the original on 2 March 2004. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  7. "Monalisa (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". Apple Music . 2004.
  8. 1 2 "Monalisa - film review". Viggy. Archived from the original on 14 June 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  9. Deepak, S N (9 May 2004). "Monalisa". Deccan Herald . Archived from the original on 14 April 2014.
  10. "MONALISA". indiainfo. Archived from the original on 15 June 2004.
  11. "Monalisa Review". Indiaglitz. 9 October 2004. Archived from the original on 2 September 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  12. "2004-05 State Awards List". Chitraloka.com . Archived from the original on 13 April 2014.
  13. "Karnataka State Film Awards 2004-05". Viggy. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2014.