Dandupalya (film)
Dandupalya is a 2012 Indian Kannada-language crime film, starring Pooja Gandhi and Raghu Mukherjee. The plot is based on the real-life exploits of a notorious gang named 'Dandupalya'. The film was directed by Srinivas Raju and produced by Girish under the Apple Blossom Creations banner. It was a major commercial success as it became one of the highest-grossing films in Kannada film industry, being shown for more than 100-days in multiple centres.[3]
| Dandupalya | |
|---|---|
Theatrical film poster | |
| Directed by | Srinivas Raju |
| Written by | Srinivas Raju |
| Screenplay by | Srinivas Raju |
| Produced by | Prashanth G. R. Girish T. |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Venkat Prasad |
| Edited by | S. Manohar |
| Music by | Arjun Janya |
Production company | Apple Blossom Creations |
Release date |
|
Running time | 152 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Kannada |
| Budget | ₹3 crore[1] |
| Box office | est. ₹40 crore[2] |
A sequel to the film Dandupalya 2, was announced in July 2014, and began production on 24 March 2016. Srinivas Raju directed the film. It was released on July 14, 2017, to decent reviews by critics. Again Pooja Gandhi played the main character in this film. Arjun Janya was the music director and the cinematography was handled by Venkat Prasad.[4][5]
Dandupalya 3 was shot simultaneously, with part 2 having the almost same cast. Part 3 was to be released within a month of part 2.[6][7][8]
Special Note
The names used for the gang members in the movie have not been used in the plot to not hurt the sentiments.
Plot
The scene opens with the gang killing a pig for food. One SI comes for them to kill a man in chittoor, A.P. They agree for a mere 3000 rupees. They kill the man, who turns out to be another police man, by slitting his throat. They join as construction workers with the recommendations of a woman (Pooja Gandhi), where she works. The gang then begin the crime. They spot a home with a lone woman and follow a peculiar pattern: The woman asks for a glass of water to the lone woman in the house and the rest of the gang force enter the home, rape and murder her by slitting the throat, finally stealing the home. In a parallel note, a man living with his sister agrees to marry a girl. They get married and girl gets pregnant but the girl and the man's sister are rape-murdered in a similar style. The man commits suicide by slitting his hand. The gang often get jobs from a corrupt lawyer to commit crimes for him for a small amount.
Inspector Chalapathi is a hard and intelligent cop who does not tolerate crime, especially towards women. The rape-murder-theft continues and it brings considerable pressure on him by seniors and frustrates him as the gang often do not leave a single trace of evidence. He then comes across the case of the man's pregnant wife and sister and from the pattern of killing by throat slitting, he deducts that it is a psycho killing unlike conventional murders. He alerts all the informers of suspicious jewellery selling in local shops. One day, he comes across a case of stealing ornaments of Goddess Durga. From a tip off by informant, he catches the squint-eyed gang member selling the stolen jewellery. The temple's priest recognizes Lord Kartikeya's vel and informs the police that it is not Goddess Durga Devi's. The Initial suspect of him being a petty criminal makes Chalapathi believe that he is a part of Dandupalyam gang.The squint-eyed takes the police to a sleeping gang member (Ravi Kale/Chander in Sarkar movie). The squinted, chander and the inspector go to Lord Kartikeya's temple where previously His ornaments were also stolen and the two male priests were raped and murdered by slitting their throats. The squint eye explains how they stole ornaments without his awareness of the other gang members raping and killing the priests. Chalapathi deduces that they are the gang he is looking for.
The woman gang member spots them in the police station they are kept and the gang go to the corrupt lawyer for help. The lawyer sends habeas corpus writ to Chalapathi. Chalapathi now conforms that they are indeed a part of Dandupalyam gang as no arrest of common migrant construction worker attracts the writ. He locates the other gang members and with his senior's permission, he takes them to a secluded place for 40 days to get information but they do not speak even after unbearable torture. When the inspector starves them, they finally speak up and agree to their crimes.
Chalapathi takes them to court, the corrupt lawyer being their defense. The judge is provided with missing ornaments and a rape victim woman, who miraculously survives the rape, speaks as witness. The judge sentences the gang with Chalapathi concluding what follows will be shown in Dandupalya 2.
Cast
- Pooja Gandhi as Lakshmi, woman gang member
- Raghu Mukherjee as Hari
- Priyanka Kothari as Susheela, Raghu's wife
- P. Ravi Shankar as Inspector Chalapathi
- Makarand Deshpande as Krishna, gang leader
- Ravi Kale as Chander
- Jayadev Mohan as Koti Thimma
- Karisubbu as Chikkmuniya
- Muniraju
- Yathiraj as gang member
- Danny Kuttappa as gang member
- Petrol Prasanna as gang member
- Sudharani as Bharathi, wife of Inspector Chalapathi
- Bhavya as Bhavya, Hari's sister
- Doddanna as an Advocate Bhat / the corrupt lawyer
- Ramesh Bhat as Susheela's father
- Chitra Shenoy as Susheela's mother
- Srinivasa Murthy as Lawyer
- Harish Rai as Inspector Prathap
- Prathik
- Bullet Prakash as Muniyappa, a general contractor
- Pradeep Gadhadhar
- Edakallu Gudda Chandrashekhar as Judge
- Sanketh Kashi as constable
Production
Pooja Gandhi was asked to do the female lead in this film as Lakshmi, is a leader of an infamous notorious gang. Reluctantly she agreed to do the role, because of potential negative talk in Kannada film industry resulting in loss of her image portraying such characters.[9][10]
Controversy
The film was criticised by social group Bahujan Samaj Horata Samiti, who claimed that its content was offensive. They objected specifically to the film's portrayal of women. Further controversy followed when it was revealed that actress Pooja Gandhi would appear topless in the film.
After the release of the movie, Ambedkar Kranthi Sena activists demonstrated in Bengaluru against the film's "glorification of anti-social activities".[11]
"According to the dictionary, nudity means that you are not covered with a single item of clothing from head to toe. But in this scene, I have worn a sari and I am trying to cover my body, except for my back". says Gandhi about her controversial scene in the film[12]
Soundtrack
| Dandupalya | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Arjun Janya | |
| Released | 2012 |
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack |
| Length | 56:30 |
| Language | Kannada |
| Label | Sai Audio |
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Aleyo Alegale" | V. Nagendra Prasad | Karthik, Anuradha Bhat | 5:30 |
| 2. | "Kalli Nanu" | V. Nagendra Prasad | Vasundhara Das, Harsha Sadanandam | 5:00 |
| 3. | "Police Theme" | V. Nagendra Prasad | Ravi Basur | 5:30 |
| 4. | "Yaare Neenu" | V. Nagendra Prasad | Nakul, Priya Himesh | 5:00 |
| 5. | "Dandupalya Theme" | V. Nagendra Prasad | Instrumental | 7:00 |
| Total length: | 28:00 | |||
Release
The film was certified an "A" by the Central Board of Film Certification. It was released across Karnataka on 29 June 2012 with the title name as Dandupalya.[13] However, the Telugu and Tamil versions were released one year later, on 25 Jan 2013 and 24 May 2014 respectively.[14]
Gandhi received several awards for her performance as Lakshmi.
Critical reception
Kannada version
A critic from The Times of India scored the film at 3 out of 5 stars and says "Pooja Gandhi walks away with full honours for her excellentperformance as Lakshmi. Makarand Deshapande is amazing. Ravi Kale is brilliant. Ravishankar gives life to his role of police inspector. Music by Arjun Janya and cinematography by Venkat Prasad are added attractions".[15] Srikanth Srinivasa from Rediff.com scored the film at 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Dandupalya is a spine chilling film that allows you to rewind your memories of the gang that terrorized society some time back. It is horrifying and gory. Go for it to know how the gang operated".[16] Shruti I. L from DNA wrote "miss out on Pooja’s performance or to find out how this notorious gang was caught by the daring police inspector, Chalapathi. And if you already have watched it, well you now have the sequel to look forward to... Verdict: Watch it for Pooja Gandhi’s performance".[17] A critic from News18 India wrote "but it is Markand Deshpande and Jai Dev who have come out with flying colours. Raghu Mukherjee, Nisha Kothari and Sudharani have filled in their roles adequately. The dialogues are crisp and to the point".[18] B S Srivani from Deccan Herald wrote "Repeats of the gang’s forays, still portraying the police as mean weaklings and the incoherent courtroom dialogue culminating in an ominous climax — take your pick, but Dandupalya doesn’t rise above ribald jokes on wary neighbours and scheming strangers. With a sequel in the offing, more misery is promised".[19] Y. Sunita Chowdhary from The Hindu wrote "Over all it is a well-made film technically but one would still wonder if the subject though universal still has a title and content pertaining to Karnataka, would interest the people in Andhra Pradesh. Good effort by Srinivas Raju who succeeds in drawing attention through his first film which is dubbed from Kannada".[20] A critic from Bangalore Mirror wrote "Dandupalya could have been a gripping crime saga, but it just turns out to be an average tale. If you are game for gore of the voyeuristic kind, go for it. Raju has promised a sequel. Hopefully, it will have more art than fake blood".[21]
Tamil version
Business Standard, Sify.com, News18 India and India TV wrote ""Karimedu" is powered by some stellar performances. Pooja Gandhi as the leader of the gang is brilliant and extremely confident in her role. While some may typecast her performance as cheap and unwelcoming, I believe it takes guts for a regular heroine to shed her image and agree to play such a gritty part. She definitely deserves special mention for proving cliches wrong".[22][23][24][25]
Box office and performance
The film, along with its dubbed versions collected over ₹25 crore domestically against a production budget of ₹3 crore, and went on to cross over 100-days in multiple centres.[26]
Andhra Pradesh
The film was dubbed in Telugu and released as Dandupalyam. It was well received in Andhra Pradesh.[27][28] The film Danduplya dubbed version titled under Dandupalyam was released with 110 prints and completed a successful 100-days run at "Guntur" and "Ongole" in AP/Telangana.[29][30]
Tamil Nadu
A Tamil dub titled Karimedu was produced by Rama Narayanan's Sri Thenandal Films and released on 24 May 2013. The film received critical acclaim from the critics and audience upon the release.The movie had a re-release on 3 September 2021.
Sequels
A sequel to the film was announced in July 2014. Part Dandupalya 2 began production on 24 March 2016, and it was released on July 14, 2017. Srinivas Raju directed the film, which again stars Pooja Gandhi. Arjun Janya was the music director and the cinematography was performed by Venkat Prasad.[31][32][4]
The film Dandupalya 3 was shot simultaneously during the Part 2 filming,[33] while the second schedule of shooting was held from April 2017. Initially planned to release within a week after the Part 2 release, the film however, was pushed to release on 2 March 2018.
Trivia
The film brought instant fame to Makarand Deshpande in Kannada film industry, and also he was nominated for 2nd South Indian International Movie Award and Bangalore Times Film Award for best actor in a negative role for his performance in the film as Krishna.[34]
Awards and nominations
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| Totals | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Awards won | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Nominations | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||
Awards
| Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd South Indian International Movie Awards | Best Actress in a Negative Role | Pooja Gandhi | Won[35][36] |
| Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Raghu Mukherjee | Nominated | |
| Best Actor in a Negative Role | Makarand Deshpande | Nominated | |
| Suvarna Film Awards | Best Actress | Pooja Gandhi | Won |
| Bangalore Times Film Awards | Best Actor in a Negative Role | Makarand Deshpande | Nominated[34] |
| Filmfare Awards South | Best Actress | Pooja Gandhi | Nominated |
See also
- Dandupalya 2
- Dandupalya 3
- Dandupalya 4
References
- ^ "Sandalwood: Hits and misses of 2012". The New Indian Express. 22 December 2012.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Dandupalya dubbed version a hit". The Times of India. 10 January 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Dandupalya is Karimedu in Tamil". The Times of India. 29 May 2013.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "Going Back to Crime". newindianexpress.com. 19 March 2016.
- ^ "Dandupalya 2 Movie Review". timesofindia.
- ^ "Dandupalya 3 Shot simultaneously with Part 2". newindianexpress.
- ^ "After going topless in Dandupalya, Pooja Gandhi to shock fans with a lip-lock in its sequel". ibtimes. 26 April 2017.
- ^ "Dandupalya sequel to be more provocative". newindianexpress.
- ^ "critically-acclaimed Kannada film Dandupalya is now dubbed as Karimedu in Tamil". m.timesofindia.com.
- ^ "Pooja Gandhi still committed to 'Hoovi'". www.newindianexpress.com.
- ^ "Protest held against Dandupalya". The Hindu. 30 June 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
- ^ "I wasn't nude for the film: Pooja Gandhi". m.timesofindia.com.
- ^ "Dandupalya 2 caught in an endless wait". newindianexpress.
- ^ "Dandupalyam releases in AP today". timesofindia.
- ^ "DANDUPALYA MOVIE REVIEW". The Times of India. 16 May 2016.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Review: Dandupalya tells a spine chilling story". Rediff.com. 29 June 2012.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Review: 'DANDUPALYA (Kannada)'". DNA. 30 June 2012.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Kannada Review: 'Dandupalya' is not for weak hearts". News18 India. 30 June 2012.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "These criminals cut a sorry figure". Deccan Herald. 30 June 2012.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Dandupaleyam — A relevant story". The Hindu. 26 January 2013.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Dandupalya : Selling crime". Bangalore Mirror. 29 June 2012.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "'Karimedu' - spine chilling, realistic (Tamil Movie Review)". Business Standard. 24 May 2013.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "'Karimedu' review: This Tamil film is spine chilling and realistic". News18 India. 25 May 2013.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ . sify. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017.
- ^ "Movie review: 'Karimedu' - spine chilling, realistic". India TV. 24 May 2013.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Rs 1-crore jail set for Dandupalyam-2". Deccan Chronicle.
- ^ "Dandupalya in Telugu now!". The Times of India. 24 July 2012.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "దండుపాళ్యం – రియాలిటీకి చాలా దగ్గరగా". 123telugu.com. 25 January 2013.
- ^ Dandupalyam 100 Days Function. ragalahari.com
- ^ . The Times of India. 31 January 2013. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013.
- ^ "My film was always registered as '2'". timesofindia.
- ^ "'2' review: 'Dandupalya' sequel is a disappointing, over-the-top crime film". thenewsminute. 14 July 2017.
- ^ "Dandupalya 3 Shot simultaneously with Part 2". The New Indian Express. 23 March 2017.
- ^ a b "Bangalore Times Film Awards 2012 nominations: Best Actor in a Negative Role". timesofindia.
- ^ Kamath, Sudhish (15 September 2013) Stars in Sharjah. The Hindu. Retrieved on 2017-01-14.
- ^ . sify. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017.
External links
- Dandupalya at IMDb