Mr. Airavata

Mr. Airavata
Promotional Poster
Directed by	A. P. Arjun
Screenplay by	A. P. Arjun
Story by	A. P. Arjun
Produced by	Sandesh Nagaraj
Starring	Darshan Urvashi Rautela Prakash Raj
Cinematography	Shekhar Chandra
Edited by	Deepu S. Kumar
Music by	V. Harikrishna
Production company	Sandesh Combines
Distributed by	Sandesh Combines
Release date	1 October 2015 (2015-10-01)
Running time	156 minutes
Country	India
Language	Kannada
Budget	₹25 crore [1]
Box office	₹32 crore [2]

Mr. Airavata is a 2015 Indian Kannada-language action film directed by A. P. Arjun and produced by Sandesh Nagaraj under Sandesh Combines. ^[3] The film stars Darshan, alongside Urvashi Rautela, Prakash Raj, Anant Nag, Sithara, Bullet Prakash, Sindhu Lokanath, Avinash and Sadhu Kokila, with Darshan's son Vineesh Darshan making his acting debut. ^[4] The music was composed by V. Harikrishna, while cinematography and editing were handled by Shekhar Chandra and Deepu. S. Kumar.

Mr. Airavata was released on 1 October 2015 to mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

Airavata (Darshan) serves as a good police officer who works for the well-being of society. The film starts with the chief minister and IG of Karnataka coming to the house of Vitta Gowda (Ananth Nag) to request that he send his grandson Airavata to duty as soon as possible.

He agrees but with favorable conditions. Outside, a reporter asks her senior the reason for such a fuss. Then the senior explains the story.

Six months earlier, Airavata had joined Bangalore police as the ACP. He brought over a big change to the crime-filled city and slowly eradicated all signs of criminal activity. He brings up new rules that serve the public without consulting higher officials and does these through his own money. These rules cause huge losses to several criminals, mostly to Prathap Kale (Prakash Raj), who immediately calls upon an enmity with Airavata. During this, a reporter Priya (Urvashi Rautela), falls in love with Airavata and is later shown to be the girl whom he had saved previously from an accident, hence the reason for her love. Despite this, Airavata does not reciprocate her feelings. During the preparations for a government event, Airavata is arrested by the force and is revealed to be a fake IPS officer in Karnataka. He reveals his story during an open court session.

Airavata was a farmer who had gone to Bangalore to solve the problems of a few farmers. His sister Charu (Sindhu Lokanath) gets raped by their workers when she goes to plough the fields. A corrupt cop refused to take the family's complaint, which results in Charu's suicide. Their friend Prakasa (Bullet Prakash) kills the inspector and is shot dead in the process. Airavata vows revenge, and when Karnataka police gives a job opening in Bangalore, Airavata gets himself posted there by the wrong means. The court declares Airavata innocent and sends him back to his village. On the request of the people, Airavata writes the civil service exam and is reposted as ACP.

Now the story comes back to the present. The reporter is curious about what will be Airavata's next move. Airavata slowly begins to take down Prathaps empire once more. He also accepts Priya's love. Towards the end, Prathap kills Vitta Gowda and his wife Sitadevi (Sithara) and kidnaps each and every police officer's daughters along with Priya, intending to sell them abroad. Airavata arrives in the nick of time and saves them and kills Prathap. At a felicitation ceremony, he submits his resignation form, saying that should crime rise again, then he will join the force once more. The film ends with Airavata and a child (Vineesh Darshan) saluting towards the screen.

Cast

• Darshan as ACP Airavata
• Urvashi Rautela as Priya
• Prakash Raj as Prathap Kale
• Ananth Nag as Vitta Gowda
• Sithara as Sitadevi
• Vineesh Darshan
• Bullet Prakash as Prakasa
• Sindhu Lokanath as Charu
• Avinash as Commissioner
• Chikkanna as Priya's assistant
• Sadhu Kokila as Police Constable Bahubali
• Raghav Uday as Pratap Kale's henchman
• Petrol Prasanna as Pratap Kale's henchman
• Ashok
• Sanketh Kashi
• Mahek Chahal as an item number in Ka Thalakatu Song

Production

Development

In mid February 2013, producer Sandesh Nagaraj of Sandesh Combines banner, who is also a politician, announced that he would produce a film starring Darshan and selected director A. P. Arjun upon his recommendation. It was reported that Darshan liked Arjun's work in both Ambari and Addhuri besides penning down lyrics for his own film Thangigagi . ^[5] It was revealed that Darshan would be playing the role of a cop and further scripting was still in the beginning stages.

The film began production on 16 February 2013 at the Kanteerava Studios in Bangalore with actor V. Ravichandran and former Chief Minister H. D. Kumaraswamy. ^[6] Titled as Airavata, the film was reported to have been lavishly invested by the producer and added that the shooting would not take place in Mysore as is the usual case with Darshan's films. However, the film's proceedings went on a very slow pace owing to the busy schedules of director Arjun, and actor Darshan. ^[7]

Casting

Actress Erica Fernandes was initially roped in to play the lead role opposite Darshan. She bagged this role even before the release of her maiden Kannada film Ninnindale's release. ^[8] She was reportedly shuffling between the sets of this film and also Buguri simultaneously. ^[9] However, due to under weight issue differences, Erica was out of the film. Reports indicated Rachita Ram would replace her for the role, which found to be untrue. Finally, Arjun finalized Urvashi Rautela through Google, where he and the producer searched India's most beautiful girl and found her name and Urvashi Rautela's pictures. Also, she was an apt choice to feature opposite Darshan because of her striking looks and great height. ^[10]

Multilingual actor Prakash Raj was signed in to play the main antagonist opposite Darshan. ^[11] It was also reported that Girish Karnad and Arundhati Nag would play the role of parents to Darshan's character while Bullet Prakash was also reportedly cast in an important supporting role. In early 2015, Darshan's seven-year-old son Vineesh was reportedly roped in to play a small character role alongside his father. ^[12]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is composed and written by V. Harikrishna and on 16 August 2015, the film's audio was launched. ^[13]

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Mr. Airavatha"	A.P.Arjun	K. G. Ranjith, Santhosh Venky, Chintan Vikas	04:31
2.	"There was a Ajji"	Yograj Bhat	Hemanth Kumar	04:22
3.	"Ka Thalakatu"	Yogaraj Bhat	Indu Nagaraj, V. Harikrishna	04:24
4.	"Gudi Mele"	A.P.Arjun	Shashank Sheshagiri, Sunitha S. Murali	04:01

References

1. "Darshan's Airavata Sets a Benchmark". TIMES ENTERTAINMENT. 3 September 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
2. "Content triumphed over star power in southern filmdom (2015 in Retrospect)". Business Standard . 19 December 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
3. "Grand launch for 'Airavata'". Sify . Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
4. "Airavata Cast & crew". Filmibeat. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
5. "A.P.Arjun to direct Darshan". Sify . 15 February 2013. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.
6. "CHALLENGING 'GAJA' IS AIRAVATHA! ARJUNA SANDESHA". Chitratara. 16 February 2015.
7. "Actor Darshan busy for a couple of year". Deccan Chronicle. 26 May 2014.
8. "After Ninnindale, Erica Fernandes Bags Darshan's Airavata". Filmibeat. 16 September 2014.
9. "Erica Fernandes shuffles between Ganesh and Darshan". The Times of India. 1 August 2014.
10. "Urvashi Rautela replaces Erica Fernandes in Darshan film". The Times of India. 8 September 2014.
11. "Prakash Raj To Lock Horns With Darshan In Airavata". Filmibeat. 16 June 2014.
12. "Darshan and son Vineesh shoot for Airavata". The Times of India. 30 March 2015.
13. "Mr. Airavata Kannada movie songs". Moviebeats. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2015.