The Top Five Kannada Films Of 2012

The year 2012 saw a few good Kannada films. Mostly, film-makers continued to rely on remakes and borrowed themes as a safe and easy route to success. But a few films caught the attention of audiences and the media.

Here they are:

Edegaarike

Cast: Aditya, Atul Kulkarni, Akanksha, Dharma, Srujan Lokesh,
Director: Sumana Kittur

Based on a short story by Sridhar, Edegaarike had a gripping screenplay and dialogues.

The film dealt with the story of a shooter who is on an assignment to kill someone but is aware that he is himself the target of an operation.

The film got rave reviews for being kept on a tight leash, and its short length sans unnecessary songs. Aditya came up with a sterling performance ably supported by Atul Kulkarni and Dharma.

Music director Sadhu Kokila's background score set the tempo and the lone song he sang was a sufi number with a distinctly different feel.

Cast: Shikaripura Krishnamurthy, Jayanthi, Harish Raj, Rashmi, Nanjunda, H G Somashekara Rao, Apurva Kasaravalli, Praveen Rabakavi

Director: Girish Kasaravalli

This film won the national award for the best Kannada film. Ace film-maker Girish Kasaravalli won his national award for the third time in a row taking his tally of awards to 12.  

Kurmavatara is about a naive, honest government employee Anand Rao who is about to retire. He has a striking resemblance to Mahatma Gandhi that helps him get a role in a television serial based on the 'father of the nation'.

The acting assignment brings him fame and riches but at the cost of his morality and mental peace.

The film draws upon the mythology of Lord Vishnu's tortoise avatar as a metaphor for the immense backbreaking stress that great responsibility brings to even the strongest among us.

Cast: Dhruva Sarja, Radhika Pandit, Tarun Chandra, Tabala Nani, Raju Talikote

Director: A P Arjun

The film made with just two characters, the male lead and the female protagonist, was not only a winner at the box-office but also captured the attention and imagination of audiences.

The film won simply because of its narrative although the story was not so unusual.

The film is about how a young couple calls off their relationship only to rediscover that they love each other. The hero pleads with his lady love to give them another chance when the two begin to travel back to their love story.

Radhika Pandit came up with a splendid performance as did debutant Dhruva Sarja as an innocent guy.  

Cast: Darshan, Jayapradha, Nikitha Thukral, Shashi Kumar, Srinivasa Murthy, Umashri, Avinash

Director: Naganna

The historical biopic based on Sangolli Rayanna's life was easily one of the best films made this year, with rich production values.

The war scenes were captured in all their splendour. Darshan's performance in the action scenes and in the climax stood out. His display of histrionics in the climax brought tears to the eyes.

Rayanna wins the audience's sympathy as he is hanged in public.

Although Jayaprada is quite effective as Kittur Rani Chennamma, her performance falls a notch below that of veteran B Saroja Devi, whose performance a few decades ago immortalised the character.    

Cast: Suchendra Prasad, Srinagar Kitty, Skanda, Shyamalraj, Samarth

Director: Shashikanth

This children's movie is a heartrending tale and is a kind of eye-opener for grown-ups.

It portrays the innocence and adventurous spirit of children while also focusing on socially relevant issues like child abuse.

It revolves around three orphans. Keshava is fond of reading newspapers and becomes a newspaper delivery boy. His buddies on the round are Kempa and Bala.

The boys have to deliver newspapers to government offices and on their visit to the home minister's office they find many grievance letters unattended.

Keshava reads one such shocking letter from an ordinary citizen from North Karnataka, which impels the three friends to visit the place.