Around 162 Kannada films have already released this year. There are eight more films lined for release on Friday— that’s a whopping 175 films in 2016. Looking back into Sandalwood's journey for the year, it has been ghosts, devils, sequels and starry affairs along with handful of great films which made the mark. Some excelled beyond expectation while some failed to offer any magic.
Considering the large number of releases, the film industry continues to struggle with barely 10 to 15 per cent emerging winner. However. the spirit to create good movies has inspired several filmmakers to experiment with various genres, be it star projects or new age concepts in 2016. Bengaluru Chronicle rewinds...
It all started with the film, Killing Veerappan, which marked Ram Gopal Varma’s Kannada debut. Soon, it was the turn of dozens of horror movies to hit the screens. Films like Shivalinga, Jessie, Last Bus, Karvva, Naani, Mummy and Kalpana 2 managed to scare the audiences but the rest kept them away from the theatres! Ghosts sure were running the show until the last month.
2016 also witnessed a surge in sequel films, and Mungaru Male and Simpleaag Innond Love Story failed miserably. However, Kalpana 2 and Kotigobba 2 both featuring Upendra and Kiccha Sudeep respectively managed to entertain their die hard fans.
But there was a silver lining too. Films like Thithi, Rama Rama Re, Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu, Kiragoorina Gayyaligalu, U-Turn, Dana Kayonu, and Neer Dose were lapped up by the Kannada audience. However, much anticipated films like Apoorva and Mungaru Male 2 proved disastrous.
This year also saw the entry of sons of politicians who made headlines with their debuts. Nikhil Kumar, son of former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy made news with his high budget film Jaguar. Though it received mixed responses, his acting, dance sequences and fights were appreciated. Another son of a noted politician Sachin made his debut with Happy Birthday but the film failed to take off as expected. Lakshmana that did relatively well saw politician HM Revanna’s son, Anup make his debut. Also, Vinay Rajkumar, the third from the generation of Dr Rajkumar who made a comeback with Run Antony, failed to give a hit this time too.
Some other films that made an impact include Devara Nadalli, Priyanka, Actor, ...Re, Ishtakamya, Santheyalli Nintha Kabira, Madamakki, Bablusha, Idolle Ramayana and Niruttara stood apart from the regulars.
