Raajakumara is a 2017 Indian Kannada languageaction drama film written and directed by Santhosh Ananddram and produced by Vijay Kiragandur under the Hombale Films banner. It stars Puneeth Rajkumar and Priya Anand in lead roles. Apart from them, the film features an ensemble cast of Ananth Nag, Sarath Kumar, Prakash Raj, Chikkanna, Avinash in important roles. V. Harikrishna composed the film's score and soundtrack. The film was released on 24 March 2017 and received positive reviews from critics and audience. The film went to become Highest Grossing Kannada Film ever until pushed it to second. The film became the first Kannada movie to complete 6000 shows in multiplex within six weeks of its release. The film also completed 7577 shows in multiplex within 87 days. The film being shown for more than 100-day theatrical run in over 45–50 centres across Karnataka. The gross collections of the movie was reported to be ₹75 crores.
Plot
Siddharth is the adopted son of rich couple Ashok and Sujatha leads a happy life in Melbourne, taking care of his father's business and fighting for his native country's pride, he is a kind-hearted guy who helps anyone in need. He falls in love with Nandini, a salsa instructor. Tragedy struck in Siddharth's life, he loses his whole family in a flight crash and returns to India. Through Nandini's father, he comes to know that his father was hated by people due to polio scheme introduced by him for poor people which was ruined due to the machinations of Jagannath, a corrupt minister. Siddharth takes care of old people in an old age home solving all of their problems. One of them Vishwa Joshi, happens to be the father of Jagannath and he helps Siddharth giving away the evil acts done by his son. Jagannath tries to ruin his plans, tries to get the old age home and even gets his father attacked by his henchmen. In the end, however Jagannath has a change of heart, saves his father and surrenders himself to the police and all the old people reunite with their children.
Cast
Puneeth Rajkumar as Siddharth aka Appu, adopted son of Ashok and Sujatha
Priya Anand as Nandini, a salsa instructor, Siddharth's love interest and fiancèe
Ananth Nag as Vishwa Joshi, Jagannath's father
Sarath Kumar as Ashok, adoptive father of Siddharth
In March 2016, it was reported that Director Santhosh Ananddram and Puneeth Rajkumar would work together for the first time together. V. Harikrishna was selected to compose the music for this film. This film, one of the highly expected movie due to its marketing. "Rajakumara is a different subject which portrays two different stories & the two stories is bridged between Appu's character", said Santhosh. It took almost 1 year for pre-production work, location hunt and casting finalisation.
Casting
was roped to play lead actress role which marked her debut in Kannada cinema, collaboration with Puneeth Rajkumar. The film has an ensemble cast which stars Ananth Nag, Prakash Raj, Sarath Kumar, Achyuth Rao, Chikkanna, Datthanna, Sadhu Kokila, Rangayana Raghu and others.
Filming
The film went on the floors on 22 April 2016. The first schedule took place in Australia in Various Parts like Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney & Melbourne after which the crew did the rest of the shoot in Bengaluru, Chennai, Mysore, Goa, Kashi & Malaysia. The makers of his upcoming film, Raajakumara released the first look of the film on 17 March — to coincide with the actor's 41st birthday.
Soundtrack
composed the soundtrack album and background score for the film. The full album was released on 6 March 2017. The song "Bombe Helutaithe" has the tune of the song "Aadisi Nodi Beelisi Nodu" from the film Kasturi Nivasa.
Critical reception
The film got positive reviews upon the theatrical release from the both critics and the audience. The Sunayana Suresh from Times Of India rated it 4/5 and stated that "The entire ensemble cast, right from comedians Rangayana Raghu and Achyuth Kumar to antagonist Prakash Raj and veterans like Ananth Nag, HG Dattatreya and Bhargavi Narayan have interesting characters sketched out that entertain you." The Indiaglitz rated it 4/5 writing, "This is a good family watch; the youths think on their mistakes, the oldies get relief, fans of Puneeth Rajakumar thoroughly enjoy." The writer Shashiprasad SM of Deccan Chronicle rated the film 3/5 stars and stated that "If family sentiment is your preferred mode of entertainment, then ‘Raajakumara’ will not disappoint you." The writer Archana Nathan of The Hindu described the film as generic, writing "There is very little that gives Raajakumara its identity or a clear storyline... Achyuth Kumar and Ananth Nag perform well but their roles too are too simplistically written." The writer Shyam Prasad of Bangalore Mirror rated the film 3/5 stars and stated that "The constant reference to Puneeth’s career and films goes overboard at times. The film becomes a tribute to the actor and a personality building exercise mostly. But he manages to pull off the role with subtlety that proves his acting prowess again.
Box office
The film released in over 350 screens across Karnataka, collected ₹75 crore, and went on to become Highest Grossing Kannada Film at that time and until release of.
