Much ado about nothing
Director Guruprasad often identifies himself as a hathasha prekshaka (a disappointed or frustrated audience). He describes himself as someone who made films just to overcome the disappointment of watching bad films in Kannada.
However, with Ranganayaka, he seems to have forgotten that the audience he is catering to also desires variety in cinema.
Ranganayaka has a superb core idea, perhaps never explored in Kannada cinema. Guruprasad plays himself, a director known for his outspoken nature. Such personalities are a favourite for TRPhungry television media. One day, he is called for a television show famous for hypnotising their guests and unearthing their secrets.
Instead of plunging into this concept headon, the movie offers ample room for Guruprasad to vent his frustration about life and cinema.
There is enough and more showboating, with the interviewer asking questions intended to boost the filmmaker’s ego. For those who have followed Guruprasad’s prerelease interviews, this portion of the film offers nothing new.
Ranganayaka.
Director: Guruprasad
Cast: Jaggesh, Guruprasad, Srinivas Prabhu, Rachitha Mahalakshmi
Runtime: 121 minutes
Storyline: A filmmaker learns about his past life, in which he attempted to make the first ever Kannada movie.
Ranganayaka gets back on track when a hypnotised Guruprasad talks about being born as Padmanabha Sharma in his previous life. In 1896, a visit to Mumbai to see the motion picture invented by the legendary Lumière brothers inspires Padmanabha. He vows to make India’s first motion picture in Kannada.
Y V Rao’s Sati Sulochana, released on March 3, 1934, is Kannada’s firstever movie. Ranganayaka had the opportuni
ty to explore incidents that led to this first Kannada film, but barring a scene that showcases the legendary Puttanna Kanagal, the movie fails to portray the bygone period interestingly. The director, who believes in cinematic liberty, could have delved deep into the challenges of making movies in the pretechnology era.
Guruprasad’s films are known to have eccentric characters who indulge in dark humour, but in Ranganayaka, the context and background of the characters get zero attention.
Guruprasad’s cry for saving the Kannada film industry seems wellintentioned, butRanganayaka takes itself too seriously in the end, when it is actually much ado about nothing.
Ranganayaka is currently running in theatres