Varadhanayaka

Varadhanayaka
Poster
Directed by	Ayyappa P. Sharma
Produced by	Shankar Gowda
Written by	Srivas
Starring	Sudeep Chiranjeevi Sarja Sameera Reddy Nikeesha Patel P. Ravi Shankar
Music by	Arjun Janya
Cinematography	Rajesh Katta
Edited by	Ishwar
Distributed by	Shankar Productions
Release dates	25 January 2013 (2013-01-25) (India) 28 April 2013 (2013-04-28) (Canada) [1]
Country	India
Language	Kannada
Budget	90 million (US$1.4 million)
Box office	130 million (US$2.1 million) + 22.5 million (US$360,000) {Satellite Rights}

Varadhanayaka is a 2013 Kannada action film starring Chiranjeevi Sarja and Nikeesha Patel in the lead roles. Actor Sudeep plays an important role of a police officer. Sameera Reddy is his pair in the film. This film marks the Kannada debut of Sameera Reddy, an established Bollywood and Kollywood actress. The film is directed by Ayyappa P. Sharma. Arjun Janya is the music director of the film. Shankare Gowda has produced the venture under Shankar Productions banner.It is also dubbed in Hindi as Ek Tha Nayak. The film is a remake of Telugu film Lakshyam which starred Gopichand, Jagapathi Babu and Anushka Shetty.^[2]

Cast

• Sudeep
• Chiranjeevi Sarja
• Sameera Reddy
• Nikeesha Patel
• Dr Ambareesh ... (Guest Appearance)
• Sumalatha Ambareesh ... (Guest Appearance)
• P. Ravi Shankar
• Rockline Venkatesh ... (Guest Appearance)
• Mukhyamantri Chandru
• Jai Jagadish
• Shobaraj
• Sharath Lohitashwa
• J. Karthik
• Sharan
• Chitra Shenoy
• Padmaja Rao
• Bullet Prakash
• Dharma
• Satyajit
• Rajiv and others

Production

Casting

Shankare Gowda, the producer had initially cast Chiranjeevi Sarja to play the main protagonist played by Gopichand in the Telugu version. Later, to reprise the cop role played by Jagapathi Babu in the original version, Gowda approached Sudeep, his main star in the previous venture Kempegowda. Owing to the success of their previous venture, Gowda decided to give extra screen time for Sudeep in the new film.^[3] Gowda was in search of two leading female stars from the Kannada industry. However due to date issues, none could be roped in. Actress Priyamani was approached to play the lead but she refused the offer. Finally in July 2011, Nikesha Patel who had just begun her career in Telugu films was cast opposite Sarja in the lead role.^[4] Later Kamalinee Mukherjee was approached to play the role opposite Sudeep. However, she was dropped and later Bollywood actress Sameera Reddy was finally roped in for the role. Director Ayyappa Sharma's brothers Sai Kumar and P. Ravi Shankar were also roped in to play the supporting characters. It was also announced that Arjun Sarja would be doing a cameo appearance in the film.

Filming

As per the initial plans, the film was supposed to go on sets from February 2011. However several delays caused the shooting to regularly commence from June 2011.^[5] The filming began without even casting the leading ladies for the film.

Release

Initially the film was plan to release on 23, November 2012.^[6] The film released in India on 25 January 2013 to mixed reviews.^[7][8] and also Kannada Sangha in Canada released this film in Canada on 28 April 2013^[1]

Boxoffice

Varadhanayaka box office collection is grossed more than 130 million (US$2.1 million). The satellite rights of the film was sold to Suvarna Channel for 22.5 million (US$360,000).^[9]

Soundtrack

Arjun Janya has composed 5 songs to the lyrics of Kaviraj.^[10]

Awards & Nominations

3rd South Indian International Movie Awards :-

• Best Actor in a Negative Role - Nominated - P. Ravi Shankar ^[11]
• Best Music Director - Nominated - Arjun Janya ^[11]
• Best Playback Singer (Male) - Won - Arjun Janya for the song "Baite Baite" ^[11]

References

External links

• Varadhanayaka at the Internet Movie Database
• Varadhanayaka at AllMovie