Katari Veera Surasundarangi

Katari Veera Surasundarangi
Directed by	Suresh Krishna
Written by	Upendra Janardhan Maharshi
Starring	Upendra Ramya Ambarish Doddanna
Music by	V. Harikrishna
Distributed by	Rockline Production
Release date	May 10
Country	India
Language	Kannada
Budget	₹9 Crore
Box office	₹15 Crore (Gross) (Nett : ₹7.5 Crore Satellite Rights : ₹3.5 Crore)

Katari Veera Surasundarangi (Kannada: ಕಠಾರಿವೀರ ಸುರಸುಂದರಾಂಗಿ) is a 2012 Kannada Romantic fantasy film starring Superstar Upendra and Ramya in the lead roles. The film is a sequel to Upendra's earlier blockbuster movie Rakta Kanneeru which was released in 2003. Veteran actor Ambarish also plays a vital role. The film is directed by Suresh Krishna and produced by Munirathna. The film is claimed to be the first full length 3D film in Kannada cinema. The film witnessed an extraordinary opening at the box office on 10 May 2012 in nearly 200 cinemas across Karnataka thus breaking many opening box office records.

Katari Veera Suruasundarangi was declared as a 'Super Hit' and was the Fourth Highest Grossing Kannada film of 2012.

Plot

The film is a sequel to Upendra's earlier blockbuster movie Rakta Kanneeru which was released in 2003. Upendra, a common man who is also the son of Rakta Kanneeru character Mohan, wants to become a don by hook or by crook. He meets notorious don Muthappa Rai to realise his dream. Despite being advised not to take any hasty decision, Upendra plunges into the underworld and kills a known criminal. The news reaches the dead criminal's younger brother in Dubai and he wants to take revenge. During a confrontation with the villain, Upendra gets killed after being stabbed in the back. After his death, Upendra goes to the Yamaloka (Hell). Since his good and bad deeds are equal, the god of death, Yama (Ambarish) orders him to spend 15 days in hell and 15 days in heaven every month. Upendra sees the king of gods - Indra's daughter Indraja (Ramya) singing and dancing in Indraloka (heaven) and falls for her. After seeing her, he is desperate to go to heaven. So he creates a lot of problems for Yama and his assistant Chitragupta (Doddanna). Finally, a troubled Yama asks Upendra to leave hell and go to heaven. In heaven, Indraja starts liking Upendra. Then Yama comes to Indraloka and asks Upendra to return to earth. How Upendra takes revenge on his murderers after returning to earth and how he outwits Yama form the rest of the story.

Cast

• Upendra as Upendra alias Mass Manava / Mohan
• Ramya as Indraja
• Ambarish as Yamadharma Raja
• Doddanna as Chitragupta
• Sridhar as Lord Indra
• Muthappa Rai as Himself
• Suman Ranganathan (special appearance)
• Rishika Singh (special appearance)
• Ramanithu Chaudhary (special appearance)

Production

Casting

The film was earlier rumoured to be a remake of Malayalam hit film Udayananu Tharam and was also rumoured to be having shades of Rajkumar starrer Katari Veera which was released back in 1966. However, in a press meet Upendra denied all the rumours and said that his version is completely fresh and has no links with the above mentioned films whatsoever. Producer Munirathna, who was once the main reason behind the banning of actress Nikita Thukral had approached her to do an item number dance for this film. Nikita had turned down the offer. Upendra had earlier titled this film as Yamendra Upendra and Sadhu Kokila had to direct this film. However due to several reasons, Suresh Krishna was roped in to direct it finally. A single song in the film has three actresses; Suman Ranganath, Ramanito Choudary and Rishika Singh.

Filming

Even during the making, the film drew the attention of stars from other industries. Bollywood actors Sunil Shetty, Mithun Chakraborty, Jayaprada and Tamil star Karthik visited the shooting after the makers used seven cameras at a time. 3D stereoscopic solutions were given by Epic studios. Stereoscopic Director of the 3D Effects was Jeemon and Stereosgrapher was K.P Nambiathiri.

Promotion & Publicity

The trailers of Kataari Veera Sura Sundaraangi which were shown in the single screen theaters and multipelxes across Karnataka earned a lot of appreciation among the Kannada film fans. 'It is a blast of a trailer. One of the best seen in recent times after the Telugu film Eega trailer' said an ardent Uppi fan who was bowled over by the production values of the film as showcased in the trailer. The trailer also got huge popularity in youtube. Many fans who watched the trailer made special mention about Rebel Star Ambareesh’s magnetic screen presence in the film and his thunderous dialogue delivery. Meanwhile, Upendra, Ramya and Munirathna actively promoted the film to make it a huge success.

Reception

Box Office

Katari Veera Surasundarangi witnessed an extraordinary opening at the box office on 10 May 2012 in nearly 200 screens across Karnataka. The film opened to 90 To 100% response all over Karnataka on Thursday. In Bangalore, the film opened to 100% response in all the single screens as well as the multiplexes. The film also witnessed strong openings in other regions Like Mangalore, Mysore, etc. It also had extremely strong openings in regions like Hubli, Dharwad and other rural areas too. On Friday, the film reported extraordinary collections in Bengaluru, Mysore, Davanagere, Chitradurga, Shimoga, Northern Karnataka, Hyderabad Karnataka and other smaller centres. Reports are that at may places where the film had started screening from Friday the collections had been steady and increasing. On Saturday and Sunday, the collections of the film showed an extra ordinary pick up and its opening weekend collection was ₹5.7 Crore and the film grossed a total of ₹7.20 Crore in its first week, thus breaking the records set by Chingari which had collected ₹6 crore in its first week. Katari Veera Surasundarangi is reported to be the all time second biggest opener of Kannada cinema next to Anna Bond. The film continued to storm the box office even during its second week and recovered its investment at the end of its second week. The film grossed more than ₹15 Crore (Nett collections : ₹7.5 Crore & Satellite rights : ₹3.5 Crore) during its theatrical run after completing 50 days of run in 16 centers across Karnataka. The film was declared as a Super Hit by Oneindia Sandalwood Half Yearly Box Office Reports. Katari Veera Suruasundarangi was the Fourth Highest Grossing Kannada film of 2012.

Critical Reception

Katari Veera Surasundarangi received mostly positive reviews. Oneindia praised the technical aspect of the film by saying, "Upendra and Ramya's Katari Veera Surasundarangi is the biggest-ever 3D film made in Kannada till date. Katari Veera Surasundarangi is technically astounding and visually arrests the audience. Kannadigas, who have not seen 3D Sandalwood film in the last two decades, will be thrilled to experience the joy of watching the film in this format". Rediff terms the film as a clear winner: “Katari Veera Sura Sundaraangi is a winner all the way. It will do for Kannada cinema what Avatar did for Hollywood. Producer Munirathna Naidu needs to be commended for investing in a 3D film and pioneering it in Kannada cinema. Just forget the story. Watch it with your 3D glasses on and be entertained!”. Chitraloka too gave the movie a positive review, “Kataari Veera Sura Sundaraangi engulfs you with rich production values, grandeur when it gets started. Later it is Uppi who takes over the reigns to entertain, enlighten and educate the audience with his dialogues and superb dialogue delivery.”

Soundtrack

Untitled

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Ambika"	Nagendra Prasad	Hemanth, Anuradha Bhat	03:59
2.	"Jum Jumka"	Kaviraj	Sonu Nigam, Sunitha Boparaj	04:32
3.	"Oo La La"	Upendra	Tippu, Priyadarshini	04:39
4.	"Oorige Nee"	Upendra	Upendra, Sunitha Boparaj	04:18
5.	"Parijatha"	Chi. Udaya Shankar / Nagendra Prasad	Sunitha Boparaj	04:34