Aa Dinagalu

Aa Dinagalu
Promotional poster
Directed by	K. M. Chaitanya
Produced by	Syed Aman M. S. Ravindra
Written by	Agni Shridhar
Starring	Chethan Kumar Sharath Lohitashwa Ashish Vidyarthi Atul Kulkarni Veda Sastry Girish Karnad
Music by	Ilayaraja
Cinematography	H. C. Venu
Edited by	Nagendra Urs
Production company	Megha Movies
Release dates	19 October 2007
Running time	137 minutes
Country	India
Language	Kannada

Aa Dinagalu (Kannada: ಆ ದಿನಗಳು; English: Those Days) is a 2007 Indian Kannada language crime drama film based on the non-fiction novel Daadaagiriya Dinagalu by Agni Shridhar, and directed by K. M. Chaitanya. It stars Chethan Kumar in the lead role. The supporting cast features Sharath Lohitashwa, Ashish Vidhyarthi, Atul Kulkarni and Veda Sastry. The plot revolves around mafia in Bangalore during the 1980s when gangsters Kotwal Ramachandra and M. P. Jayaraj dominated the Bangalore underworld. The film's soundtrack and background music was scored by Ilayaraja.

Upon theatrical release on 19 October 2007, the film received positive reviews from critics who acclaimed the screenplay and the acting performance of Sharath Lohitashwa who portrayed the role of Kotwal Ramachandra. The film won three awards each at the 2007–08 Karnataka State Film Awards and 55th Filmfare Awards South; the awards at the latter ceremony being Best Film, Best Director (K. M. Chaitanya) and Best Supporting Actor (Sharath Lohitashwa).

Plot

Aa Dinagalu is a story about the Bangalore underworld of the 1980s. In the film, Agni Shridhar narrates the preview as story of Kotwal Ramachandra era (1975) coincidentally with declaration of emergency by Indira Gandhi, which led to grooming of M. P. Jayaraj as the uncrowned don of Bangalore mostly working with Knives, Sickles, Longs for terrorising people. Eventually he seems to have got jailed for contempt of court for 10 years. When he returns in 1985, after the death of Indira Gandhi he finds Kotwal Ramachandra to have taken his spot. In this backdrop how a love story finds its place has been shown in the movie.

The story although is based on backdrop of violence is screened with artistic and cinematic touch for which Kannada Industry is famous for. There is no place for violence, fight scenes but still the film succeeds in bringing the atmosphere of 1986 Bangalore in 2007 (release date). K.M. Chaitanya (grandson of Rashtra Kavi G. S. Shivarudrappa) has directed a gripping, realistic film which broke the boundaries between art and commercial cinema.

The screenplay was written by Girish Karnad and Agni Shridhar. While the story and dialogues were written by Agni Shridhar.The film was widely critically acclaimed and went on to be one of the biggest box office hits in Kannada. The Week magazine listed it among the Top 10 Indian films of 2007.

Cast

• Chethan Kumar as Chethan Naik
• Veda Sastry (credited as Archana) as Mallika
• Sharath Lohitashwa as Kotwal Ramachandra
• Ashish Vidhyarthi as M. P. Jayaraj
• Atul Kulkarni as Agni Shridhar
• Achyuth Kumar as Oil Kumar
• Dinesh Mangalore as Seetharam Shetty
• Girish Karnad as Girish Naik, Chethan's father
• Vinaya Prasad as Chethan's mother
• Natak Amaan as Muneer
• Vishwadeepak as Bachchan
• Satya as Sardar
• Asif Farooqi as Siraj
• Dharma as Sub-inspector Shivaraj
• Kishan Shetty as Daniel
• Nagendra Urs as Balarama
• Akbar as Rajendra
• Prabhakar as Samson
• Samyukta Hornad as Divya Naik
• Shwetha Srivatsav as Kothwal's wife

Story

The Story is based upon book Dadagiriya Dinagalu (The days of DadaGiri or Rowdyism) by Agni Sridhar, who was once a criminal identified himself with Bangalore underworld in 1980s.

Soundtrack

Ilayaraja composed the film's background score and music for its soundtrack. The album consists of three tracks.^[1] Lyrics for them were penned by K. Kalyan and D. Sumana Kittur.

Critical reception

Lido Theatre, Mysore on the day of release

Upon theatrical release, Aa Dinagalu received generally positive reviews from critics. R. G. Vijayasarathy of Rediff reviewed the film rating it 3.5/5 and wrote, "Chaitanya has used a straightforward, simple narration resulting in a profound impact. The background score by Ilayaraja is one of the best heard in the recent times in Kannada films. Cameraman H.C.Venu has done a terrific job behind the camera. Sharath Lohithashwa is wonderful as Kothwal Ramachandra, while Atul Kulkarni, Ashish Vidyarthi, Girish Karnad, and the new face Chethan have all given wonderful performances in their respective roles" and concluded writing "Commendable direction, excellent star cast, high class technical crew and a fantastic script..."^[2] The Times of India in its review rated the film 3/5 and called the film a "brilliant portrayal of underworld don Kotwal Ramachandra." The reviewer concluded writing, "Sharath Lohithshwa, Ashish Vidyarthi and Atul Kulkarni are brilliant. While Girish Karnad gives a consummate performance, Archana shines and Dharma excels. H C Venu's camerawork is excellent. Ilayaraja's music is pleasing."^[3] The reviewer for Deccan Herald felt the film was "a damp squib". He felt, "the subject [was dealt] in a straight, staccato fashion that renders Aa Dinagalu more like docu-feature than a film that sparkles with auteur’s classic feel of the medium."^[4]

Awards

DVD

The DVD of the movie has been released on Anand Audio. This is the first time a Kannada movie with 5.1 surround sound is releasing on a DVD.^[10]

See also

• List of crime films
• India Mafia

References

External links

• Aa Dinagalu at the Internet Movie Database