Dandupalya (film)

Dandupalya
Theatrical film poster
Directed by	Srinivas Raju
Produced by	Prashanth G. R. Girish T.
Written by	Srinivas Raju
Screenplay by	Srinivas Raju
Starring	Pooja Gandhi Raghu Mukherjee
Music by	Arjun Janya
Cinematography	Venkat Prasad
Edited by	S. Manohar
Production company	Apple Blossom Creations
Release date	29 June 2012 (2012-06-29)
Running time	152 minutes
Country	India
Language	Kannada
Budget	₹3 crore
Box office	est. ₹40 crore

Dandupalya is a 2012 Indian Kannada-language crime film, starring Pooja Gandhi and Raghu Mukherjee. The plot is based on the real-life exploits of a notorious gang named 'Dandupalya'. The film was directed by Srinivas Raju and produced by Girish under the Apple Blossom Creations banner. It was a major commercial success as it became one of the highest-grossing films in Kannada film industry, being shown for more than 100-days in multiple centres.

A sequel to the film Dandupalya 2, was announced in July 2014, and began production on 24 March 2016. Srinivas Raju directed the film. It was released on July 14, 2017, to decent reviews by critics. Again Pooja Gandhi played the main character in this film. Arjun Janya was the music director and the cinematography was handled by Venkat Prasad.

Dandupalya 3 was shot simultaneously, with part 2 having the almost same cast. Part 3 was to be released within a month of part 2.

Special Note

The names used for the gang members in the movie have not been used in the plot to not hurt the sentiments.

Plot

The scene opens with the gang killing a pig for food. One SI comes for them to kill a man in chittoor, A.P. They agree for a mere 3000 rupees. They kill the man, who turns out to be another police man, by slitting his throat. They join as construction workers with the recommendations of a woman (Pooja Gandhi), where she works. The gang then begin the crime. They spot a home with a lone woman and follow a peculiar pattern: The woman asks for a glass of water to the lone woman in the house and the rest of the gang force enter the home, rape and murder her by slitting the throat, finally stealing the home. In a parallel note, a man living with his sister agrees to marry a girl. They get married and girl gets pregnant but the girl and the man's sister are rape-murdered in a similar style. The man commits suicide by slitting his hand. The gang often get jobs from a corrupt lawyer to commit crimes for him for a small amount.

Inspector Chalapathi is a hard and intelligent cop who does not tolerate crime, especially towards women. The rape-murder-theft continues and it brings considerable pressure on him by seniors and frustrates him as the gang often do not leave a single trace of evidence. He then comes across the case of the man's pregnant wife and sister and from the pattern of killing by throat slitting, he deducts that it is a psycho killing unlike conventional murders. He alerts all the informers of suspicious jewellery selling in local shops. One day, he comes across a case of stealing ornaments of Goddess Durga. From a tip off by informant, he catches the squint-eyed gang member selling the stolen jewellery. The temple's priest recognizes Lord Kartikeya's vel and informs the police that it is not Goddess Durga Devi's. The Initial suspect of him being a petty criminal makes Chalapathi believe that he is a part of Dandupalyam gang.The squint-eyed takes the police to a sleeping gang member (Ravi Kale/Chander in Sarkar movie). The squinted, chander and the inspector go to Lord Kartikeya's temple where previously His ornaments were also stolen and the two male priests were raped and murdered by slitting their throats. The squint eye explains how they stole ornaments without his awareness of the other gang members raping and killing the priests. Chalapathi deduces that they are the gang he is looking for.

The woman gang member spots them in the police station they are kept and the gang go to the corrupt lawyer for help. The lawyer sends habeas corpus writ to Chalapathi. Chalapathi now conforms that they are indeed a part of Dandupalyam gang as no arrest of common migrant construction worker attracts the writ. He locates the other gang members and with his senior's permission, he takes them to a secluded place for 40 days to get information but they do not speak even after unbearable torture. When the inspector starves them, they finally speak up and agree to their crimes.

Chalapathi takes them to court, the corrupt lawyer being their defense. The judge is provided with missing ornaments and a rape victim woman, who miraculously survives the rape, speaks as witness. The judge sentences the gang with Chalapathi concluding what follows will be shown in Dandupalya 2.

Cast

• Pooja Gandhi as Lakshmi, woman gang member
• Raghu Mukherjee as Hari
• Priyanka Kothari as Susheela, Raghu's wife
• P. Ravi Shankar as Inspector Chalapathi
• Makarand Deshpande as Krishna, gang leader
• Ravi Kale as Chander/nabbed when asleep
• Jayadev Mohan as Koti Thimma
• Karisubbu as Chikkmuniya
• Muniraju
• Yathiraj as gang member
• Danny Kuttappa as gang member
• Petrol Prasanna as gang member
• Sudharani as Bharathi, wife of Inspector Chalapathi
• Bhavya as Bhavya, Hari's sister
• Doddanna as an Advocate Bhat / the corrupt lawyer
• Ramesh Bhat as Susheela's father
• Chitra Shenoy as Susheela's mother
• Srinivasa Murthy as Lawyer
• Harish Rai as Inspector Prathap
• Prathik
• Bullet Prakash as Muniyappa, a general contractor
• Pradeep Gadhadhar
• Edakallu Gudda Chandrashekhar as Judge
• Sanketh Kashi as constable

Production

Pooja Gandhi was asked to do the female lead in this film as Lakshmi, is a leader of an infamous notorious gang. Reluctantly she agreed to do the role, because of potential negative talk in Kannada film industry resulting in loss of her image portraying such characters.

Controversy

The film was criticised by social group Bahujan Samaj Horata Samiti, who claimed that its content was offensive. They objected specifically to the film's portrayal of women. Further controversy followed when it was revealed that actress Pooja Gandhi would appear topless in the film.

After the release of the movie, Ambedkar Kranthi Sena activists demonstrated in Bengaluru against the film's "glorification of anti-social activities".

"According to the dictionary, nudity means that you are not covered with a single item of clothing from head to toe. But in this scene, I have worn a sari and I am trying to cover my body, except for my back". says Gandhi about her controversial scene in the film

Soundtrack

Dandupalya
Soundtrack album by Arjun Janya
Released	2012
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	56:30
Language	Kannada
Label	Sai Audio

Track listing
No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Aleyo Alegale"	Karthik, Anuradha Bhat	5:30
2.	"Kalli Nanu"	Vasundhara Das, Harsha Sadanandam	5:00
3.	"Police Theme"	Ravi Basur	5:30
4.	"Yaare Neenu"	Nakul, Priya Himesh	5:00
5.	"Dandupalya Theme"	Instrumental	7:00
Total length:			28:00

Release

The film was certified an "A" by the Central Board of Film Certification. It was released across Karnataka on 29 June 2012 with the title name as Dandupalya. However, the Telugu and Tamil versions were released one year later, on 25 Jan 2013 and 24 May 2014 respectively.

Gandhi received several awards for her performance as Lakshmi.

Critical reception

The film opened to mostly positive reviews from the critics and audience.

DNA praising the performance of Gandhi said viewers should not "miss out on Pooja’s performance or... find out how this notorious gang was caught by the daring police inspector, Chalapathi. And if you already have watched it, well you now have the sequel to look forward to."

Rediff.com rated the film 3/5 and said that Pooja Gandhi "walks away with acting honours. She is a stunner with her vain looks sans makeup throughout the movie and she has lived her role exceptionally well... Ravishankar as the cop is effective... Makrand Deshpande as one of the kingpins of the gang is superb."

The Times of India awarded the film 3/5, praising the performances, "Pooja Gandhi walks away with full honours... Makarand Deshapande is amazing. Ravi Kale is brilliant. Ravishankar gives life to his role of police inspector."

Chitraloka wrote, "Gandhi makes a strong come back like Vidya Balan in Bollywood. The 'Male girl' took risk like the subdued and simplistic Vidya Balan to take a stunning turn in her choice of roles... Pooja took a calculated risk in accepting a role in Dandupalya that is tailor made for Vamps. But the risk seems to be paying off handsomely as her performance in the film is being appreciated and her stature as a dependable actress in the Box office has also risen."

Filmibeat stated, "The actors in the film amazingly perform in their roles. Firstly, Pooja Gandhi is the lifesaver of the film. For all those, who criticised her for not being a good actress, do watch the film to see the other side of Pooja. The way she smokes beedis, sitting and mouthing the dialogues have to be praised. Her entire body language is amazingly excellent and her costume compliment [sic] each other. Last but not least, her skin show is a treat for masses."

Business Standard stated that the film "is powered by some stellar performances. Pooja Gandhi as the leader of the gang is brilliant and extremely confident in her role. While some may typecast her performance as cheap and unwelcoming, I believe it takes guts for a regular heroine to shed her image and agree to play such a gritty part. She definitely deserves special mention for proving cliches wrong. Let's not forget some equally amazing contribution from Makarand Deshpande and Ravi Kale. Ravi Shankar gives life to his role of police inspector, while others in their respective parts outshine each other."

Box office and performance

See also: List of highest-grossing Indian films

The film, along with its dubbed versions collected over ₹40 crore domestically against a production budget of ₹3 crore, and went on to cross over 100-days in multiple centres.

Andhra Pradesh

The film was dubbed in Telugu and released as Dandupalyam. It was well received in Andhra Pradesh. The film Danduplya dubbed version titled under Dandupalyam was released with 110 prints and completed a successful 100-days run at "Guntur" and "Ongole" in AP/Telangana.

Tamil Nadu

A Tamil dub titled Karimedu was produced by Rama Narayanan's Sri Thenandal Films and released on 24 May 2013. The film received critical acclaim from the critics and audience upon the release.The movie had a re-release on 3 September 2021.

Sequels

A sequel to the film was announced in July 2014. Part Dandupalya 2 began production on 24 March 2016, and it was released on July 14, 2017. Srinivas Raju directed the film, which again stars Pooja Gandhi. Arjun Janya was the music director and the cinematography was performed by Venkat Prasad.

The film Dandupalya 3 was shot simultaneously during the Part 2 filming, while the second schedule of shooting was held from April 2017. Initially planned to release within a week after the Part 2 release, the film however, was pushed to release on 2 March 2018.

Trivia

The film brought instant fame to Makarand Deshpande in Kannada film industry, and also he was nominated for 2nd South Indian International Movie Award and Bangalore Times Film Award for best actor in a negative role for his performance in the film as Krishna.

Awards and nominations

Awards and nominations Award Wins Nominations 2nd South Indian International Movie Awards 1 3 Filmfare Awards South 0 1 Bangalore Times Film Awards 0 1 Suvarna Film Awards 1 1
Totals
Awards won	2
Nominations	6

Awards

Ceremony	Category	Nominee	Result
2nd South Indian International Movie Awards	Best Actress in a Negative Role	Pooja Gandhi	Won
	Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Raghu Mukherjee	Nominated
	Best Actor in a Negative Role	Makarand Deshpande	Nominated
Suvarna Film Awards	Best Actress	Pooja Gandhi	Won
Bangalore Times Film Awards	Best Actor in a Negative Role	Makarand Deshpande	Nominated
Filmfare Awards South	Best Actress	Pooja Gandhi	Nominated

See also

• Dandupalya 2
• Dandupalya 3
• Dandupalya 4

External links

• Dandupalya on IMDb