Tag Archives: Kannada

Rana Vikrama

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Time for another adventure without subtitles; this time the Puneeth Rajkumar starrer Rana Vikrama that released earlier this year in India and showed this weekend in Melbourne. Written and directed by Pavan Wadeyar, it’s an action movie that follows a fairly predictable path but is kept moving along by the Power Star’s charismatic presence and some good action sequences. Throw in some better than average songs, a dash of comedy, and Rana Vikrama is a more entertaining watch than the opening scenes would suggest.

The story starts with a rather over the top British Officer in the last days of the British Raj. As expected, the Viceroy (Vikram Singh) is obnoxious, controlling, vindictive and just plain evil, although since Vikram Singh overacts and has been inexplicably dubbed by someone with an East European accent he ends up more comical than villainous. Unfortunately he’s not the only victim of the poor dubbing as a number of later scenes supposedly set in London feature reporters and lackeys also badly dubbed into grammatically incorrect and oddly accented English. Skipping over these technical issues, Vikram Singh chews the scenery for a while and eventually attempts to kill upstart villager Vikrama (Puneeth Rajkumar). Naturally he is no match for the tough local who wins the day despite being beaten, weighed down by chains and shot. Twice. Take note Hollywood – that’s how hard it is to kill a real hero!

The film then flashes forward to the present day where Vikram (Puneeth Singh again) is an aspiring police officer. Despite his obvious physical fitness, he is rejected by the enrolment officer time and time again however Vikram is determined to succeed, somewhat against the wishes of his fiancée Paaru (Adah Sharma) who would prefer him to stay with her. Vikram is thrown a lifeline by the Home Minister (Girish Karnad) who appoints him as a police trainee and sends him off to investigate a missing reporter somewhere in the border between Karnataka and Maharashtra. After a few hiccups Vikram finds the spot where workers in chains are toiling away in what appears to be an open cast mine, and makes short shrift of the numerous thugs and villains overseeing the project in classic filmi hero ishstyle.

The village has been keep secret for many years due to the nefarious dealings of none other than the British Viceroy’s descendant and the richest man in Britain, Jonathan (Vikram Singh again). He’s just as prone to overacting as his grandfather but with less reason, since he’s supposed to be a successful if rather unscrupulous businessman. However once Jonathan discovers that his secret has been discovered he jets in to India and prepares to get rid of Vikram once and for all.

Before we can get to the ultimate showdown however, there is a flashback sequence which explains the opening scene and also exactly why Jonathan’s family wants the land. Vikrama is married to Gowri (Anjali) for this sequence and the couple share good chemistry making this a better pairing than Puneeth Rajkumar and Adah Sharma in the present day. Anjali also gets to swing a sword and her feisty nature fits well into the storyline making her a more memorable and likeable character. I love this song featuring Gowri and Vikrama, which has the added benefit of a gigantic drum as a stage for Vikram’s dance moves. There is always something very special about oversized musical instruments in a dance number!

Generally the songs from V. Harikrishna are catchy and the choreography and picturisations are effective with some excellent costumes and imaginative settings. The songs also fit well into the narrative, something which is often more hit and miss in an action film, but they do work well here. If only such attention to detail had carried over into the dubbing and present day Anjali’s make-up to turn her into Vikram’s grandmother. This basically doesn’t work, and casting an older actress instead would have been a better option given that Gowri has little to do in these sequences other than look old and frail (which she doesn’t) and point dramatically at significant moments in the story. There is also a heavy reliance on clips of TV news reports which dulls the impact of some of the more dramatic scenes, although overall S. Vaidhy’s cinematography is impressive.

Although the film doesn’t cover any new ground and the heroic antics are far-fetched and fairly improbable, Rana Vikrama is still fun to watch. The action sequences from Ravi Verma are well thought out and the Power Star perfectly fits the role of a rough and tough police officer. It’s Puneeth Rajkumar’s film all the way and he does an excellent job of holding the story together despite the caricature of a villain and the rather OTT final sequence. I would have liked a little more care with some of the more technical aspects, but it’s still an entertaining film and one definitely worth catching on the big screen if you can.

Nagadevathe (2000)

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Sai Prakash’s 2000 film Nagadevathe is snakecentric, packed with special effects, and Soundarya and Prema are more than capable of shouldering the lead roles. The film is available on Youtube in Kannada, Tamil and Telugu so you can choose your own adventure without subtitles, and it has also been dubbed into Hindi under the title Naag Shakti.

The story as I believe it to be goes something like this. Gauri is regarded as a bad luck omen in her village, possibly just because she is barren. She and her husband offer hospitality to Shiva and Parvati who are pretending to be travellers. The gods tell Gauri why she is infertile – she accidentally killed a clutch of snake eggs and has been cursed. But they tell her how to stop them from continuing to punish her. Soon after, Gauri discovers she is pregnant. A difficult labour nearly ends badly but a glowing mystical snake appears and turns into Nagamma (Soundarya), who ensures a safe birth. There is a backstory involving a man who foolishly kills a snake and is cursed, his household goods transforming to snake mounds. He and his family do penance and after giving the deceased snake a proper funeral, his home is restored. Nagamma moves in to the termite hill to keep an eye on them or something. A shrine is built around the main snake mound and over time, more and more people come to pay their respects to the snake goddess. Nagalakshmi is born to be a devotee of Nagamma, and they have quite a warm and personal bond right from Nagalakshmi’s birth. Grown up Nagalakshmi (Prema) meets Shivaji (Sai Kumar) and love blossoms. There is some kind of conflict between their families and I couldn’t work out if it was an old feud, the rich boy poor girl thing, or just garden variety mother (deliberately turning her son into an evil possessed snake) issues. Nagamma tries to protect her favourite humans, and they could all benefit from some better decision making. Things get worse before they can get better, and the effects team are kept busy with magical healings, snake assists, helpful talking parrots, attack vultures, heaven, hell and the kitchen sink.

I enjoy the snake film genre for a few reasons. Often the female characters are more prominent and powerful or more nuanced, or both, and that makes me happy. There is usually a pervading sense of right in the film’s world as the snakes are able to enact justice that is missing for the masses. Snakes may act out of common sense or compassion, unlike many non-magical humans. Snakes are alert to every opportunity to get their groove on, with varying degrees of success along the scale from Jeetendra to Sri Devi. And the outfits are frequently a bit special. On many levels, from the very shallow to only slightly less shallow, Nagadevathe delivers.

I think Soundarya is lovely and in this film she maintains an air of benevolent authority in even the most trying times. Given that she often only has her face to act with (the rest of her having been replaced by a giant CGI snake), she does very well.

In one scene reminiscent of Ammoru, Nagalakshmi has summoned guests to eat at a special pooja. They are turned back by the Evil In-Laws but Nagamma calls on her sister deities to come along. She gets the undivided attention of the effects and saree teams as she personifies water, wind, earth, fire and more.

I admit to some disappointment that despite a most excellent spangly body suit, the obligatory “nagin assailed by been-wielding baddies” scene resulted in a disappointing dance. More like she was rolling around on the floor looking for a lost (blue) contact lense at times.

I liked Prema a lot in Devi, and her performance is solid. She has a flirty but down to earth tone with Sai Kumar, and a nice rapport with Soundarya. Prema is tall and elegant looking but has an energy that lends equally well to comedy and romantic shenanigans. Nagalakshmi has the strength and faith to stay on task and Prema really showed the power and intensity of her determination as well as her softer side. I could see why the snakes would want to chip in at her wedding. She was a good friend and fundamentally nice without being a pushover. Nagalakshmi knows what’s what and once she finds out the truth of her situation she takes steps to protect her loved ones and engage some divine assistance to sort out the problem. I recalled musing on the toxicity of Chiru’s bodly fluids in Punnami Nagu, and Shivaji also appears to have a lethal, um, bite. I have never been so glad to see so many silly interruptions of a wedding night.

Sai Kumar is Shivaji. He seems so nice and yet… When his snake nature dominates he is predatory and poisonous. Now I was confused as to how a snake goddess could be unaware her favourite disciple was marrying a serial killer faux snake, but maybe there are cosmic rules about that kind of snake-by-venomous-inoculation. Shivaji was unaware of his snakey activities and oblivious to the black magic worshipping going on around him. Nagalakshmi was often in peril and I was quite worn out from yelling at the screen for her husband to either wake up to himself or to get away from her. I’m more used to seeing Sai Kumar as a villain or an elder statesman so seeing him as a romantic lead was novel. Even if the effects team did seem to take too much pleasure in distorting his face into a snakelike mask.

The support cast includes stalwarts Babu Mohan, Tanikella Bharani, and other familiar faces doing familiar shtick. I couldn’t put names to all the faces but I was largely able to place which characters were Good and which were Not Good.

I did get a little confused at times since without the benefit of subtitles, I rely on the visual cues. Thankfully the signs are generally clear and umabiguous. Nagamma’s arch enemy is an evil mystic who favours an eagle motif and prances about in a shiny red outfit with a fluttering black cape. I liked that his cape was attached to the sleeves of his onesie as that helped ensure some vigorous and character appropriate flapping. The effects team worked themselves into a lather of laser eyes, snake shaped shadows, nasty afflictions, sparkly things, space monsters and of course giant multi-headed cosmic snakes.

Some key scenes are very similar to ones from Devi (1999) or even Ammoru (1995). Although this time around Prema was not the cosmic snake, and Soundarya was the powerful goddess. The story is laden with a bit of everything and the commitment to the theme is unquestionable. I can’t say the commitment to logic is equal.

See this if you like to see competent actresses take centre stage and if you enjoy a bit of a spectacle en route to a good comeuppance. 3 ½ stars!

Operation Diamond Racket

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Operation Diamond Racket

Operation Diamond Racket was re-released in Karnataka theatres last year, and that may be the reason why this 1978 film is actually available on DVD with English subtitles. The duo of Dorairaj and Bhagawan produced and directed a number of Bond-style films starring Dr Rajkumar as Agent CID 999, with Operation Diamond Racket being the last, and possibly also the most successful one they made. The story seems to be very loosely based on Diamonds are Forever but is more choppy action and less actual plot than either the Ian Fleming story or the Sean Connery film. Still, Agent CID 999 lives up to the suave spy image and manages to romance several ladies as he fights his way through numerous villains in a diamond smuggling operation to reach the secretive man at the top. The styling and fashions are definitely part of the reason to watch this film, but the best motive is Dr Rajkumar – he is totally awesome! Whether he’s fighting hoodlums, lounging by the pool or fixing up his hair mid-biffo, he does it all with fabulous style and panache! I am totally hooked and have been looking out for more of his films, which seem to be sadly unavailable subtitled. Still, this is a great place to start and even if the film itself isn’t brilliant it does have plenty of spy gadgets and a couple of great songs to help matters along.

The film starts with CID 999 aka Prakash breaking into a safe (after defeating the obligatory bad guy) and taking pictures of the contents using an advanced technology device – a camera with a flash cube attachment. I clearly remember these since I was around in the seventies, and it’s a nice nostalgic moment to see something practical as an essential part of Agent CID 999’s inventory.

Presumably this was the conclusion to Agent CID 999’s previous case as his subsequent meeting with his boss warns of a new danger. Someone is smuggling diamonds, and there are reports of numerous scientists disappearing. Obviously these are connected and Prakash picks up some clues from Sardar, a delivery guy for the smugglers who tries to extort more money from the criminals and is dealt with appropriately. However, before he dies he manages to impart a few words, which are dutifully noted down by marine branch officer Madhu and passed on to Prakash. Luckily for Prakash, Madhu has a very pretty sister Meena (Padmapriya) who turns out to be useful as a sidekick as well as the main romantic interest for the rest of the film. Although she does have plenty of competition as it turns out!

Once Prakash is on the case events move quickly and after tracking down David to a hotel, Prakash cunningly places a listening device on his table under the guise of singing a song. This is awesome for so many reasons. The outfit! The lyrics!! The surreptitious placing of the listening device!!! It just gets better and better and of course during the course of the song, David gets his next set of instruction, just as Prakash and his trusty assistant are listening in.

There are plenty of fights, interludes with various women and Prakash moonlights as a pop singer at a hotel to infiltrate the next part of the gang. I have no reason why this smuggler has a small stuffed bird on his desk, or why he rejoices in the name of Golden Crocodile although it does fit in with the general rather opulent décor of the hotel. He also has an ‘electric chamber’ to dispose of unwelcome guests, but despite all this he’s just one of the many minions involved in the smuggling ring. The various clues lead Prakash to a discovery of diamonds concealed in a shipment of masks and after fighting off yet another bad guy, Prakash heads off to Nepal with Meena on the track of the mysterious head of the diamond smuggling organisation.

Once in Nepal there are car chases and yet more fights, all with the beautiful backdrop of the Himalayas and stunning Kathmandu. Cinematographer P.S. Prakash does a fantastic job of capturing the mountains and the storyline allows for numerous reasons for Prakash to go running off into the hills and into all that gorgeous scenery. Including more songs of course.

I love this part of the film and there are so many places I recognise in and around the Kathmandu valley from my visits to Nepal. Hence the larger number than usual of screencaps, but really this is a beautifully shot film with some wonderful views of the Himalaya.

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After numerous excursions into the hills around Kathmandu, Prakash finally manages to track down the mastermind behind the smugglers and foil his fiendish plot to rule the world using a remote control beam thingy that can turn everything to ashes. Apparently. The test runs shown didn’t particularly convince me and Prakash managed a better explosion with his handy pocket-sized bomb, but megalomania is apparently blind to these little issues. Prakash does seem rather indifferent to the fate of all the scientists who were after all working with the smugglers involuntarily, but he saves Meena and the world from being ruled by an evil mastermind in a violently red suit, so I guess that was enough for one day.

Overall Operation Diamond Racket is a fair attempt at re-creating a James Bond film and does add in plenty of gadgets, an adequate villains lair and a number of 007 references to add to the fun. Considering the era, most of the special effects work well, and there are only a couple of times where the directors resort to the use of small model cars for the crash scenes – a major improvement over the likes of Surakksha for instance. Dr Rajkumar makes a very charismatic spy, while Padmapriya is more than just a pretty face to be rescued at the end, and holds up her own end of the investigation pretty well. The support cast is also good, although being an assistant to Agent CID 999 does seem to be a risky proposition considering most don’t make it to the end of the film. There are also some wonderful sets which add to the lavish feel and fit into the James Bond styling of the film.

The only problem I have with Operation Diamond Racket is that there are possibly too many fight scenes and diversions in the path to the evil mastermind. The film could easily have been half an hour shorter without losing anything major from the story and cutting a few of the fights would have helped move the plot along. However there is still plenty to enjoy and Rajkumar is the absolute star of the show. Definitely an excellent introduction to his films and one I recommend. 4 stars.