T ime seems to just pass us by. It is as if we are stuck at a busy intersection, transfixed on the seemingly endless stream of automobiles, unable to cross the road. In fact, this is my recurring nightmare about the future of Bengaluru. Well, life in Gandhinagar may pause briefly, but never stops, irrespective of the outcome. Film production has jumped by around thirty percent compared to the previous year, though surprisingly, the number of remakes dwindled to only around a dozen. The year was ushered in by the much expected (don’t ask me by whom) ‘Killing Veerappan’. You watch a Ramgopal Verma film and wonder what happened to the guy who made ‘Sathya’ and ‘Company’ just to name a couple. ‘Ricky’ disappointed only because it starred the talented and passionate Rakshit Shetty. The first from the troika of superstars to have a release was Darshan with ‘Viraat’. Delayed by at least a couple of years, because of various squabbles, it failed to enthuse the stars fans. Of course, every week there are the films that seem to be there only for the numbers. Some do not even recover the cost of the wall posters. What can be alluring about films with titles like ‘Whatsapp Love’, ‘Selfie’, Thale Bachkoli Powder Hakkoli’ and ‘Half Mentlu’? The latter explains our state after watching most films. It took Shivanna’s ‘Shivalinga’ for us to hear a light jingle at the box-office counters. With horror and murder as its core, it is also one of the few Kannada films being remade. Sunil Kumar Desai made another lacklustre attempt to make a thriller. The talented cast could not save ‘Re’. Pawan Wadeyar’s ‘Jessie’ failed to impress even though it had a promising premise. He made another mess at the fag end of the year called, ‘Nataraja Service’.
Dr. Raj Kumar had a couple of re-releases in ‘Raja Nanna Raja’ and ‘Babruvahana’. There was Vishnuvardhan’s ‘Sahasa Simha’. They did not whip up too much of enthusiasm. Another effort by Puneet to remake a flop in Tamil, ‘Chakravyuha’ bit the dust. The first ray of cinematic sunshine hit us with the much acclaimed ‘Thithi’ by Raam Reddy. It was entertaining. The simplicity of the characters, the poignancy of the situations and the remarkable performances just floored everyone. Then came ‘U-Turn’, technically more polished than ‘Lucia, with a riveting first half and introduced us to the sparkling Shraddha Srinath. Then came the extremely self-indulgent and soporific ‘Apoorva’ by Ravichandran. ‘Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykkatu’ was a balm for bruised minds. With a deftly written screenplay by Hemant and a heart-warming performance from the ever reliable Anant Nag, it reinforced the faith that there was still hope for Kannada cinema. Good times pass swiftly and so we had to endure ‘Jaggu Dada’.
The latter half of the year started with the scion of the Raj Kumar family, Vinay trying in vain to resuscitate his career with ‘Run Antony’. Shivanna’s ‘Santheyalli Nintha Kabeera’ vanished into thin air. Everyone, but the producer of ‘Kotigobba-2’, feels the film has made money just like everyone but the producer of ‘Jaguar’ think it is a flop. The grave mistake with both was making it multi-lingual. ‘Neer Dose’ was like a series of vulgar jokes circulated on Whatsapp narrated by Jaggesh. It did well though. Guru and shishya Yogaraj Bhat and Suri made two insufferable films, ‘Dana Kayonu’ and ‘Doddmane Huduga’. They managed to emerge unscathed at the box-office. Young Sathya Prakash’s ‘Rama Rama Re’ was an interesting effort. ‘Tharle Village’ starring a few guys from ‘Thithi’ I hear has made a small pile of money. It was the year when content was king and young passionate directors like Hemant and Satya Prakash emerged. It was cloudy for the stars, though Puneet and Yash had one moderate hit each. There were a couple of memorable films but the scene that nobody can erase from anybody’s memory is the one with two strapping youngsters plunging into the water and being engulfed even as a boat, a trained swimmer and a star adorning a life jacket move away from them, rather than towards them. That’ll baffle me all my life.
