99 (2019 film)
99 is a 2019 Indian Kannada-language romantic drama film directed by Preetham Gubbi and produced by Ramu. The film stars Ganesh and Bhavana in the lead roles. The film was released on 1 May 2019. It is a remake of the 2018 Tamil film '96.[1][2]
| 99 | |
|---|---|
 Poster | |
| Directed by | Preetham Gubbi |
| Produced by | Ramu |
| Written by | Guru Kashyap
Raj Urs [Dialogues] |
| Screenplay by | Preetham Gubbi |
| Story by | C. Premkumar |
| Starring | Ganesh Bhavana |
| Music by | Arjun Janya |
| Cinematography | Santhosh Rai Pathaje |
| Edited by | K. M. Prakash |
Production company | Ramu films |
Release date |
|
| Country | India |
| Language | Kannada |
| Budget | ₹3.5 crore |
| Box office | ₹15 crore (US$2.1 million) |
Plot
Ramachandra aka Ram (Ganesh) is a travel photographer. He visits his high school and is overcome by memories. So, a reunion is arranged through their school WhatsApp group. At the reunion, his friends Murali (Ravishankar Gowda), Sudha (Joythi Rai) and Sathish (P.D. Sathish Chandra) catch up with him. Murali hesitantly mentions that Jaanu (Ram's childhood sweetheart) is coming from Singapore.
In 1999, Ram and Jaanu have been friends and classmates in tenth grade. Jaanu is a talented singer. Ram develops a love for Jaanu and she reciprocates. Once their board exams are over, they have a moment with each other where Jaanu asks him not to forget her until they meet again after the holidays.
Jaanu (Bhavana) arrives at the reunion and searches for Ram. When Subha points Ram's location to her, Jaanu walks towards him. She reminisces the first day of 10th grade when she eagerly awaits Ram's arrival to the classroom, but he doesn't show up. She finds that Ram has left the school because his father had financial difficulties and his family relocated to Banglore overnight. Jaanu is inconsolable and pines for Ram until she completes school.
Ram and Jaanu finally meet and find it uncomfortable to interact with each other, but gradually get along. Their friends talk about Jaanu's married life in Singapore and disclose that Ram is still single and has not moved on. After the reunion party, both go out on a drive. Jaanu reveals how she could not forget Ram and would have traded anything just to have met him once back then. She narrates how circumstances forced her to marry someone else. Then, Ram asks Jaanu if she really does not remember the day he came to her college to meet her. Ram says that he and Murali waited in front of Jaanu's college to meet her and passed on a message through a student. Surprisingly, Jaanu refused to meet Ram and forbade him to contact her again. He returned sadly and never tried to meet her since then. Jaanu is devastated listening to this and reveals that she never saw them at her college and thought it was her stalker who was troubling her. Ram tells that except for the mistake of assuming that she hated him, he knew everything about her life. He also tells about seeing her from afar at her wedding. Jaanu is heartbroken because she felt his presence and expected him to come for her until the last minute. Both feel sad about their misfortune and finally come to terms with everything that happened in their lives. Jaanu expresses her desire to spend the final few hours with Ram before she catches the flight back home.
They go out into the city and then to a restaurant and catch up on more memories. There, they meet Ram's photography students who assume Jaanu is his wife and request her to share their story. Jaanu obliges and narrates an improvised version of the time when Ram tried to meet Jaanu at her college. She tells about how they finally met and made up and have been together ever since and got married. Ram feels awkward but tries his best to play along. The students leave and Ram and Jaanu get wet in the rain. So he asks her to visit his apartment to freshen up.
At his apartment, Jaanu is visibly upset that Ram does not have a love life and requests him to move on and get married and have a family. She finally sings Ram's favorite song for him, a song that she had purposefully avoided singing in school in spite of his repeated requests. Ram shows Jaanu a collection of their old memories like love poems, dried flowers and their school uniforms. They realize that time is running out and go back to Jaanu's hotel to get ready for her flight in a few hours. Jaanu is sad knowing that she will leave Banglore and Ram very soon. At the airport, Ram escorts her till the boarding gate and they bid a teary farewell. Jaanu then gets into the flight and leaves.
Back at his home, Ram finds Jaanu's clothes that he had put to dry the previous night. He folds them neatly, puts them along with his treasured collection of school memories and shuts the suitcase and screen cuts to black.
Cast
- Ganesh as Ram[3]
- Hemanth Srinivas plays the younger version[4]
- Bhavana as Jaanu[3]
- Samikshaa plays the younger version[4]
- Ravishankar Gowda as Murali
- Jyothi Rai as Subha
- P. D. Sathish Chandra
- Amrutha Ramamoorthy
- Pranava Murthy
- Shamanth Shetty
- Prakash Thuminad
- Raghu Ramanakoppa as Barber
- Renuka Prasad
- Chandrahas Ullal
Production
99, a remake of the Tamil film 96 (2018), is directed by C. Premkumar, this being the first remake he directed. It is produced by Ramu of Ramufilms,[5] and has cinematography by Santhosh Rai Pathaje.[6] Principal photography began on 17 December 2018, and was expected to conclude by late January 2019.[4] The title 99 was chosen because of Gubbi's friendship with Ganesh which began in 1999, when they were in college.[5] Bhavana agreed to join the film because she knew that the combination of Gubbi and Ganesh would guarantee success.[7] The first schedule of the film was shot in Puttur.[8] This is Arjun Janya's 100th film for music.
Soundtrack
| 99 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 2019 | |||
| Recorded | 2019 | |||
| Genre | Soundtrack | |||
| Label | Anand Audio | |||
| Producer | Arjun Janya | |||
| Arjun Janya chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from 99 | ||||
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The soundtrack is composed by Arjun Janya.[6] This will be his 100th soundtrack.[3] The audio rights were sold to Anand Audio for ₹5 million (US$70,000).[9] The song "Heege Doora" was released as a single on 4 March 2019.[10]
All lyrics are written by Kaviraj.
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Heege Doora Female" | Shreya Ghoshal | 5:08 |
| 2. | "Navilugari" | Shreya Ghoshal | 3:15 |
| 3. | "Anisuthide" | Sanjith Hegde, Shreya Ghoshal | 4:33 |
| 4. | "Nee Gnyapaka" | Sonu Nigam, Palak Muchhal | 4:20 |
| 5. | "Aagide Aagide" | Keerthan Holla, Manasa Holla | |
| 6. | "Naa Sanihake Innu" | Shreya Ghoshal | |
| 7. | "Gamyave" | Armaan Malik |
Release
The film was released on 1 May 2019.[11]
References
- "Before you forget, 99 is not just 96". Bangalore Mirror.
- "'96 is a hit film. That's all matters'". 6 November 2018.
- "Samiksha to play junior Janu in 99; Kannada remake of 96, Hemanth to play Ram". Asianet News. 10 January 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
- "Preetham Gubbi's remake of the Tamil film 96 in Kannada, 99, will release as early as March". Bangalore Mirror. 8 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
- Sharadhaa, A (5 December 2018). "99 will retain the soul of 96". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
- Suresh, Sunayana (5 December 2018). "Ganesh and Preetham Gubbi reunite for 96 remake". The Times of India. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
- "Bhavana said yes to 96 Kannada remake before seeing Tamil original". India Today. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
- "99': Makers unveil the look of Bhavana in the Ganesh starrer". The Times of India. 29 January 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
- "Anand audio bags rights of 99 for Rs. 50 lakh". Cinema Express. 25 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
- "99 | Song – Heege Doora (Lyrical)". The Times of India. 4 March 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- Suresh, Sunayana (1 May 2019). "99 Movie Review". The Times of India. Retrieved 12 May 2019.