Shivarajkumar and Prabhu Deva in ‘Karataka Damanaka’
| Photo Credit: Rockline Entertainment/YouTube
Yogaraj Bhat, the pioneer of youthful romance in Kannada cinema post-2000s, ditched his pet style for a social drama in Dana Kayonu (2016). Starring Duniya Vijay and Priyamani, the criminally underrated movie explored the man-animal bond and globalisation towards a village backdrop. With Karataka Damanaka, Bhat has made his second full-fledged movie on a social theme.
The movie revolves across the individuals of Nandikolu, a village affected by drought and poor schooling amenities. It’s been ten years because the village competition, and the locals examine their place with a graveyard. Elsewhere, a jailer in Bengaluru sends two conmen (Shivarajkumar and Prabhu Deva) to the village to deliver his adamant father to the town.
Somehow, the lives of the despondent villagers change for the higher thanks to these fraudsters. The two strive to win the belief of the individuals by going out of their method to assist them get justice towards a corrupt MLA (Rangayana Raghu) and his henchman (Ravi Shankar). Karataka and Damanaka are the names of the foxes from The Panchatantra assortment of animal fables, and Shivarajkumar and Prabhu Deva play the crafty human variations of the foxes. The duo engages in misleading actions which might be laborious to consider however unusually humorous, which is typical of Bhat’s comedian sense.
Karataka Damanaka (Kannada)
Director: Yogaraj Bhat
Cast: Shivarajkumar, Prabhu Deva, Nishvika Naidu, Priya Anand, Ravi Shankar
Runtime: 156 minutes
Storyline: A jailer sends two conmen to his village to persuade and produce his adamant father to the town. But the fraudsters produce other plans!
The first half stays targeted on its central battle, and even the three songs don’t interrupt the movie’s rhythm. Rangayana Raghu and Ravi Shanker, typically seen in loud characters, ship managed performances regardless of the shortage of depth of their roles. Thankfully, the feminine leads (Priya Anand and Nishvika Naidu) aren’t within the plot with out goal, as Bhat units up the plot properly with much less chaos and extra partaking drama.
Prabhu Deva and Shivarajkumar strike a powerful chemistry, however the former really steals the present. It took many unexpectedly when Bhat solid Prabhu Deva for the mission, however making his comeback to Kannada cinema after a number of years, the actor is hilarious as a goofy man with a penchant for producing humour at inappropriate moments. Meanwhile, the 61-year-old Shivarajkumar goes toe-to-toe with Prabhu Deva’s dance strikes, and expectedly excels within the emotional scenes.
ALSO READ: ‘Kaatera’ and the future of family dramas in Kannada cinema
Bhat has written the screenplay and dialogues based mostly on the story from Vikas, the director’s long-time collaborator. It’s an odd coincidence {that a} movie on water conservation is out in theatres when Bengaluru is dealing with a water disaster!
However, the noble theme however, Karataka Damanaka doesn’t transfer you an excessive amount of. The completely generic final act is the movie’s largest shortcoming. In the final 30 minutes, the jokes dry up, and the story strikes forward in a painfully easy method. The predictable climax and the previous lengthy battle sequences rub salt into the injuries, and the movie exhibits that even probably the most artistic of administrators can wrestle to give correct closure to their concepts.
That stated, it’s encouraging to see Bhat striving to be completely different, even after 20 years within the trade, and Karataka Damanaka is a pleasant little comeback from the director after the forgettable Garadi in 2023. In this day and age, a fairly good movie is akin to strolling on skinny ice. Will the viewers be type to the filmmaker? Only time will inform.
Karataka Damanaka is presently working in theatres.