Milana (film)


Milana is a 2007 Indian Kannada-language romantic drama film co-written and directed by Prakash, starring Puneeth Rajkumar, Parvathy Thiruvothu and Pooja Gandhi in the lead roles. The film was the latter's debut in Kannada cinema. The supporting cast features Dileep Raj, Sumithra and Mukhyamantri Chandru. Music for the film was composed by Mano Murthy.
Upon theatrical release on 14 September 2007, the film saw massive commercial success and completed a 500-day run in theatres. Puneeth's performance won him the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor. The film was dubbed into Malayalam as Ishtam Enikkishtam.
Parvathy got overwhelming response by the both audience and the critics for her significant role as Anjali which had impressed the audience.
The film was remade in Odia in 2014 as Something Something 2 and in Bengali in 2016 as Ki Kore Toke Bolbo thereby becoming the fourth Kannada movie after Anuraga Aralithu, Appu and Mungaru Male to be remade in two non-Hindi non-South Indian languages.
The 2013 Tamil film Raja Rani was widely reported to have been heavily inspired by this movie.

Plot

The story opens with Akash being tortured in the police station. The scene then shifts to Akash standing outside Priya's house, and incessantly calling out to her. However, when he sees her house locked, Akash is distraught.
The scene then opens at a wedding where Akash is due to marry Anjali at Mysore. The entire wedding process is concluded through a song 'Madarangiyalli' and the story moves on to Akash spending his first night with Anjali. However, the story takes a dramatic twist here when Anjali demands divorce from Akash. Akash, instead of showing any kind of frustration, calmly agrees to give Anjali her divorce, on the condition that only after they move to Bangalore. Akash also requests Anjali to keep this as a secret from his parents, as he fears they wouldn't be able to handle it. Anjali agrees, and it is shown that Anjali was never interested in the wedding as she was already in love with Hemant, whom she is also struggling to find after her father forbade her to see him again.
The story shifts to Bangalore where it is shown that Akash is a popular Radio Jockey for the station Radio Mirchi. As the days pass, Akash and Anjali face off on various fronts, clearly letting the viewer know that their marriage is on the rocks. However, when Akash rescues his neighbor from a local rowdy Anjali realizes that Akash is not such a bad person after all. She requests Akash to help her find Hemant, to which he agrees. Soon, Akash manages to locate Hemant, and also keeps his word by applying for divorce, and as per the rules, the court grants them 6 months time if they want to reconsider their application.
As the days roll by, it is shown that Hemant is a fraud, and that he had demanded money from Anjali's father to end his relationship with her. When Anjali gets to know this, she is devastated as she feels that her whole life is now ruined. Dejected, she attempts suicide only to be saved by Akash in the nick of time. Post this event, Akash and Anjali undergo a transformation where Akash manages to win Anjali's respect, and soon they become the best of friends.
Soon enough, Anjali realizes that she has fallen in love with Akash, who has helped her through so much of hardships. However, she realizes that she cannot express her love to him as it would make her look small in Akash's eyes. Caught in a perpetual emotional dilemma, she struggles to hide her feelings from Akash. A few days later, the court summons them and approves their divorce.
Anjali is once again devastated as Akash feels no remorse in signing the papers. Anjali decides that she cannot stay in India anymore and decides to move to the US. However, Akash begins to feel a strange sense of loss after he bids Anjali goodbye. He later realizes that Anjali was in love with him and he too was in love with her. He rushes to the airport to prevent her from leaving the country. After a tense climax, Akash and Anjali reunite. Akash jokingly taunts Anjali that now he has to spend the rest of his life with her.

Cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is made up of the following songs:

Critical response

rating 3.5 out of 5 and stating that "Puneet Rajkumar has shown a lot of maturity in his performance. Pooja Gandhi, the 'Mungaru Male' heroine impresses by her song with Puneet is certainly the highlight part of the film. Parvathi has done her best.

Box-office and performance

;Filmfare Awards South