Avane Srimannarayana

Avane Srimannarayana (pronunciation ) is a 2019 Indian Kannada-language fantasy adventure comedy film[lower-alpha 1][2][3] directed and edited by Sachin Ravi in his directorial debut. Jointly produced by Pushkara Mallikarjunaiah and H.K.Prakash,[4][5] the film features Rakshit Shetty and Shanvi Srivastava in lead roles.[6] B. Ajaneesh Loknath and Charan Raj composed the soundtrack, with the former composing the score. Karm Chawla handled the cinematography.

Avane Srimannarayana
Directed bySachin Ravi
Produced byPushkara Mallikarjunaiah
H.K.Prakash
Written byRakshith Shetty
Chandrajith Belliappa
Anirudh Kodgi
Abhijith Mahesh
Nagarjuna Sharma
Abhilash
Starring
Music by
CinematographyKarm Chawla
Edited bySachin Ravi
Production
company
Pushkar Films
Shree Devi Entertainers
Paramvah Studios
Distributed by
Release date
  • 27 December 2019 (2019-12-27)
Running time
184 minutes[1]
CountryIndia
LanguageKannada

Described by Shetty as "Southern Odd Fiction",[7] the film follows a corrupt police officer who takes on a bandit chief in order to recover a missing treasure in the 1980s.[8]

The film was released in Kannada on December 27, 2019.[9]

Synopsis

The story starts with Ramarama, the leader of the Abhiras, killing a group of musicians and actors for allegedly looting missing treasure in Amaravati, Karnataka. On his deathbed, Ramarama names Tukaram, his second son his successor, prompting Jayaram, his eldest son to quickly usurp the throne from his brother. He claims that he will not take the throne until the treasure is returned, prompting a territory wide search.

15 years later, and the treasure is still missing. Lakshmi (Shanvi Srivastava) is a local journalist covering Harishchandra, a treasure hunter. She witnesses Harishchandra's kidnapping, and goes to report it to Narayana (Rakshit Shetty), the local police officer. Narayana haughtily assumes he had caught Harishchandra's kidnappers but they were Harishchandra's bodyguards, sent by Tukaram. Tukaram confronts Narayana for having arrested his men and allowing the treasurehunter to be kidnapped, possibly by Jayaram. Tukaram issues ultimatum to Narayana to bring back the treasurehunter at his own risk. Later, by chance Narayana finds out the missing Harishchandra in the reporters van. Narayana makes up a story that he rescued the treasurehunter from Jayaram's highly guarded fort, but it is revealed to the viewers that not Tukaram or Jayaram, but it was Narayana who had gotten the treasurehunter kidnapped and that Narayana is also behind the treasure.

Jayaram catches hold of Narayana after being outraged seeing newspaper coverage of Narayana's alleged breaking into Jayaram's fort. He manages to wittily escape from Jayaram's fort. Later he finds out that the tribe of the killed drama artists are still waiting for their last play in Amaravati and wouldn't leave until their 'Hari' comes and redeems them. The prophecy uttered by a revered saint of theirs says that an eagle would sit on the 'Hari' and he would be their rescuer who would help them. One night Narayana and his aide Achyutanna witnesses a few people of this drama troupe artists carrying away treasurehunter Harishchandra in the dead of the night. They were under the belief that Harishchandra would be their 'Hari'. Following these people from the drama troupe Narayana reaches their hideout, exchanges the costumes with the artists and to everyone's surprise, the eagle sits on his arm. It is then revealed that there is a group of people in the tribe of drama artists who are logical thinkers and are against this prophecy which also includes Lakshmi and the reporters. They had planned to have the eagle sit on one among them using a small trickery, but since Narayana took away the costume of that person, the eagle sat on Narayana instead. When in station with the drama artists they reveal to Narayana that a map was made for the lost treasure but they had no idea about where the map would be. Narayana feels that the band master from the killed drama troupe who is still in Jayaram's custody and who has lost his memory may know about this. Lakshmi, along with the group who don't believe the prophecy, kidnap Narayana but he escapes from there and reaches Jayaram's fort and creates misunderstanding among the Abhiras due to which the scenes of killing the drama artists is recreated before the band master but, unfortunately nothing brings his memory back.

While the other people whom Jayaram suspected are put in the dungeons, Narayana is also put with them for not revealing the truth of the group of drama artists he found. However he escapes by keeping a gun on Jayaram and allows Tukaram to enter the fort and also allows a group of prisoners to escape. Once again with his wit, he escapes from the brothers who now are standing by pointing a gun at each other along with their men. On the way he also finds out that the band master is also escaping and catches him and decodes his words to find out that the map to the treasure lies in the troupe's last play. The prophecy also says that their Hari would also come along with his Lakshmi. Thus Narayana convinces Lakshmi to aid him and admits to the drama tribe that he is their prophesied Hari, and also makes the people happy by telling that they can stage their last play and leave the town in peace.

The last play belongs to a scene from Samudra manthan but Narayana is unable to deduce the hidden clue from the scene. So he tries to extend the drama but Lakshmi, who still is suspicious about Narayana's motives, announces that there won't be rehearsals but directly the show.

Narayana decodes the map and reaches the place of treasure along with Tukaram's people. Meanwhile Tukaram's men kidnap all the people of the troupe and burn the fort along with the troupe and there after finding the treasure Tukarama's people turn against Narayana but it happens to be that the box was full of stones and this angers Tukaram's men and they lock Narayana in the chest and bury him. From inside the chest Narayana decodes the actual mystery but his conscience makes him guilty thus he decides to help the drama troupe. Meanwhile in the fort, Jayarama had broken out of Tukaram's custody and had led a riot and imprisoned Tukaram instead. As Narayana was desperately struggling to stay alive in the buried chest, he is rescued from the chest. The four prisoners whom Narayana helped from Jayaram's prison help him outside after he escapes the chest and he reaches Jayaram's fort along with the treasure. Jayarama fights with Narayana even as the fort is burning down. When Jayarama asks if anyone in the crowd dares to be a candidate for the Abhira clan leadership other than him, Narayana places himself on the throne saying he is eligible for the throne as he brought the treasure to the fort as specified, and tells the Abhira clan members that his first and final order is that from now on no one need not follow the Abhira way of living this leading to all the Abhiras leaving Jayarama behind and running out of the burning fort.

After the final fight the fort is fully destroyed and Narayana too escapes, and he saves Tukaram on his way out. Jayaram sits in the seat of his late father as the fort burns down. Lakshmi and the drama artists waiting outside is overjoyed to see Narayana, and Lakshmi finally sees goodness in Narayana and hugs him, thus actually fulfilling the prophecy of Hari accompanied by Lakshmi having saved the drama tribe.In the mid credit scene, it is shown that the last play of the drama troupe is finally being enacted and Narayana and Lakshmi are planning to get married. In the post credits scene, it’s shown that Treasure Hunter Harishchandra finally manages to make his way into the treasure chest now in the fort’s ruins using his pendulums. There, he sees a man sitting on the treasure box. When he asks who he is, the man says he is Narayana’s father.

Cast
  • Rakshith Shetty as Inspector Narayana
  • Shanvi Srivastava as Lakshmi
  • Achyuth Kumar as Constable Achyuthanna
  • Balaji Manohar as Jayarama
  • Pramod Shetty as Tukaram
  • Madhusudhan Rao as RamaRama
  • Gopalakrishna Deshapande as Bandmaster
  • Anirudh Mahesh as Shanku
  • Salman Ahmed as Drama Company Artist
  • Chandan Achar as Drama Company Artist
  • Raghu Pandeshwar as Drama Company Artist
  • Prakash Thuminad as Drama Company Artist
  • Kiran Raj as Drama Company Artist
  • Sree Harsha as Drama Company Artist
  • Shashank MC as Drama Company Artist
  • M. K. Mata as Gadipaar
  • Vijay Chendoor as Sudhakara
  • Gautham Raj as Vibhasu
  • Ashwin Hassan as Narsi
  • Raghu Ramanakoppa as Harishchandra
  • Rakesh Raaj, Shrikanth Nagaraj, Vishwanath and Rupesh as Cowboys
  • Abhijith Mahesh as Cobar
  • Rishab Shetty as Cowboy Krishna in a cameo appearance
  • Yograj Bhat as Guptananda swamiji in a cameo appearance

Production

The New Indian Express reported in mid-November 2018 that the screenplay of the film was "nearly done" and that the makers were finalizing on the characters for the film and locations, mostly in the North Karnataka region like Gajendragad of Gadag District. Set in the 1980s in a fictional village Amaravathi, it was revealed that Rakshit Shetty would play a police officer.[10] The film team disclosed that it took 18 months to write the screenplay. It was reported to be the Kannada film with the highest number of shooting call-sheets. The film was shot for 198 days with 335 call sheets where one call sheet is one man-day.[11] The film was compiled with 2000 VFX shots.[12]

Soundtrack
Main article: Avane Srimannarayana (soundtrack)

The soundtrack comprises of 4 songs out of which 2 is composed by B. Ajaneesh Loknath (Hands Up & Aagabeku Dushtara Samhara) and 2 more are by Charan Raj (Narayana Narayana & Sabheya Karesi), while B. Ajaneesh Loknath was chosen to compose the film score, which was orchestrated in Macedonia, Greece.[13] Whilst the audio rights of the film were acquired by Divo, the rights to stream the album were bought by Gaana, through their online music streaming platform. The trailer theme of the film was released on 28 November 2019. The film's first single "Hands Up" was released in four versions except Hindi version on 12 December 2019. It was sung by Vijay Prakash in Kannada, Telugu and Tamil, and Renjith in Malayalam with backing vocals by Shashank Sheshagiri, Pancham Jeeva and Chethan Naik, with lyrics by Nagarjuna Sharma for the original version, Vivek for the Tamil version, Ramajogayya Sastry for the Telugu version, Sudamsu for the Malayalam version and Irshad Kamil for the Hindi version.[14]

Release

This film released in five languages - Kannada (titled Avane Srimannarayana), Hindi (titled Adventures of Srimannarayana), Malayalam (titled Avan Srimannarayana), Tamil (titled Avane Srimannarayana) and Telugu (titled Athade Srimannarayana).[15][16] Initially, the makers wanted to release the film simultaneously in all languages on 27 December 2019. But the Kannada version released on the said date, whereas the Telugu version released on 1 January 2020, the Tamil and Malayalam versions on 3 January 2020 and the Hindi version on 17 January 2020, although the Hindi version got postponed again due to less availability of screens.

Reception

CNN-News18 gave 4 out of 5 stars stating "Srimannarayana (Rakshit Shetty) is witty and charming. Keeping the local milieu authentic with his dialogue delivery and mannerism, Shetty shoulders the film in the best way possible. Ajaneesh Lokanath, a promising music director has definitely left his mark".[17] The Times of India gave 3.5 out of 5 stars stating "Avane Srimannarayana scores with its performances, the cinematography, sets and background score elevate the tale. Srimannarayana is a treat for fans of not just Rakshit Shetty, but those who like cinema to be a wholesome intelligent exercise".[18] The News Minute gave 4 out of 5 stars stating "Avane Srimannarayana fantasy thriller is a visual treat and scores high on performances. Rakshit Shetty as the smart, witty, bad cop is good to watch and we get to a see different version of the actor in Shanvi Srivastava. Debut director Sachin Ravi has fulfilled the promise of delivering a sure-fire hit, and Ajneesh Loknath’s background music is the film’s biggest plus".[19]

The Indian Express gave 3.5 out of 5 stars stating "In spite of its flaws, Avane Srimannarayana is an important Kannada film. To put it like Narayana, the history of Kannada cinema could be divided into before and after Avane Srimannarayana".[20] Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South wrote "The film is a joyful pastiche — although one that makes you think the people making it had a lot more fun than those watching it".[21]

Home media

The film was made available to stream on OTT platform Amazon Prime on 2 February 2020 with runtime of 186 minutes.[22][23]

Spin-off

Rishab Shetty, who makes a cameo appearance in the film as "Cowboy Krishna", registered the title of his character upon witnessing the audience's reaction to the character.[24] The New Indian Express reported that a "high-budget" spin-off film for the character will be produced by H.K.Prakash and written by Shetty and the writers of Avane Srimannarayana.[25]

Note
  1. The genre of the film is as disclosed by the film's team in its press release

References
  1. "ASN on BMS", BookMyShow
  2. "Avane Srimannarayana Press Release (Page 1)", Twitter, 28 November 2019
  3. "Avane Srimannarayana has a universal appeal: Rakshit Shetty", Deccan Chronicle, 1 December 2019
  4. "Pushkar Films to distribute Avane Srimannarayana in Karnataka". The New Indian Express. 15 October 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  5. "Kirik Party's editor Sachin to direct Rakshit in a purely romantic subject". The Times of India. 24 January 2017.
  6. "Rakshit Shetty's Next Film Titled As Avane Srimannarayana". Filmibeat.com. 28 February 2018.
  7. "Avane Srimannarayana has a universal appeal: Rakshit Shetty". Deccan Chronicle.
  8. "Avane Srimannarayana Set In 1980s". Chitraloka. 10 November 2018.
  9. "Avane Srimannarayana to get multiple release dates". The New Indian Express.
  10. "Rakshit Shetty to play SMART 80s cop in Avane Sriman Narayana". The New Indian Express. 11 November 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  11. "Here's what special about Rakshit Shetty starrer-Avane Srimannarayana", Bangalore Mirror, 6 June 2019
  12. "Avane Srimannarayana Press Release (Page 2)", Twitter, 28 November 2019
  13. "B Ajaneesh Loknath works with an orchestra from Macedonia for Avane Srimannarayana", TOI, 25 October 2019
  14. "Hands Up, first single from Rakshit Shetty-starrer 'ASN' to be released on December 12". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  15. "Avane Srimannarayana first look poster out! Rakshit Shetty looks dapper as a cop", Timesnownews, 24 November 2019
  16. "'Avane Srimannarayana' to release in five languages", TOI, 12 April 2019
  17. "Avane Srimannarayana Movie Review: Rakshith Shetty Steals the Show". CNN-News18. 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  18. "Avane Srimannarayana Movie Review : Narayana impresses in this fantasy drama". The Times of India. 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  19. "'Avane Srimannarayana' review". The News Minute. 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  20. "Avane Srimannarayana movie review: The Rakshit Shetty-starrer is an important Kannada film". The Indian Express. 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  21. "Avane Srimannarayana: This Rakshit Shetty-Starrer Is Exhilarating, Exhausting, And Filled With Gonzo Visual Imagination". FilmCompanion. 5 February 2020.
  22. "Avane Srimannarayana On Amazon Prime Video Binge Watch List". The Hans India. 3 February 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  23. "Amazon Prime February 2020 releases: 'Darbar', 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood', 'Hunters' and more". The Hindu. 4 February 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  24. "Rishab Shetty registers Cowboy Krishna title - Times of India". The Times of India.
  25. "Rishab Shetty stars in and as 'Cowboy Krishna'". The New Indian Express.
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