Bhairathi Ranagal

A very well done prequel to Mufti that was released in 2017. Story revolves around early life story of Ranagal before he turned a gangster, very convincingly done. Shivaraj Kumar is extremely good in his character. His calm n composed demeanor in first half is highly captivating. The first half of the movie is high on emotions n grabs ones complete attention but in second half, few of the scenes loose the grip for a while. Mufti was one of the finest movie even to this date n this prequel proves to be justified. Available in Prime, my ratings 7.5/10!

A very well done prequel to Mufti that was released in 2017. Story revolves around early life story of Ranagal before he turned a gangster, very convincingly done. Shivaraj Kumar is extremely good in his character. His calm n composed demeanor in first half is highly captivating. The first half of the movie is high on emotions n grabs ones complete attention but in second half, few of the scenes loose the grip for a while. Mufti was one of the finest movie even to this date n this prequel proves to be justified. Available in Prime, my ratings 7.5/10!

That's what the film is about: Shivarajkumar walking in slow motion, holding a machete and swinging it around criminals who can't even touch him even if they are holding machine guns. This is where the Kannada film industry has fallen. Every other film is about machete or gun violence. But the story is the same. If not this, then it's blind romance with cringe dialogues.

The screenplay of the movie is yuck. The acting too. The actress is a waste. She has absolutely nothing to do in the film. Her character doesn't help the script at all. Someone wrote this film will be Shivanna's career best. LOL. Has these lockdown kids even watched Shivarajkumar films of the 90's and beyond? None of the villains have any strength. They are not scary, they haven't hurt the 'hero', the same Tamil style where poor people are killed and the hero rises to the occasion and easily kills every bad person. I really feel sad on watching Shivarajkumar signing such pathetic scripts. Why would you do so?

How out Kannada film industry was shining in the 60's and 70's with directors like Girish Kasarvalli, Girish Karnad being as good as (if not better than) Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak. The likes of Puttanna Kangal, Nagabharana, Shankar Nag brought the industry to such a point, that it's hard to believe that we have fallen into the gutters.

Best Direction by Narthan, the elevations are marvelous. The acting of Shivanna is impulsive. His raw performance was giving me goosebumps by watching it. The story line which is prequel of Mufti took wonderfully by Narthan, improved his direction skills and shivannas look and the way he catches the long is marvelous which cannot be defined in words. My eyes were not enough to watch him on the big screen power packed action cinema which was needed now. This will be the comeback movie after long time for Shivanna not only in Karnataka even compared to other language movies this is one of the best movie. His eyes tell what he is, the look of his eyes is more enough than a sharp knife.

The screenplay of the movie is incredible. The elevations and acting is off the charts. Especially the first half of the movie is flawless when it comes to all the aspects like screenplay, BGM, cinematography and acting. 2nd half BGM is bit dull. This movie will be shivanna's career best.

Coming to the negative side of the movie: There isn't much, but BGM could have been better in the 2nd half, could have casted better main villain, also ending looked bit rush. All these are pretty negligible when you look at the whole picture.

If Anirudh would have done the BGM, I would have given this movie 11/10. I don't understand why this movie is not done at PAN India level, and PR agency sucks for not promoting this movie.

In 2017, Narthan introduced Kannada audiences to cinema with dark and subtle undertones through Mufti. The movie also utilized both Shivanna and SriiMurali's strengths to perfection. The movie did take some cinematic liberties with the comedy and romance track which did affect the pace of the movie. After almost 7 years Narthan comes back with a more crisper narration through the prequel Bhairathi Ranagal.

Bhairathi Ranagal delivers almost everything that it promises from the promotion material that one would have already seen so far. The story is about the origin and rise of the gangster Bhairathi Ranagal which we saw in Mufti and is well built. The first half takes some time to create an arc for the main character which leads to a powerful interval fight sequence. The second half of the movie focuses on the growth of the character and the empire that he builds. The action sequences are more gruesome than Mufti and are gracefully handled for Shivarajkumar's age. The art direction and camerawork stand out for most parts. The dialogues are very well written and there are some really clever one liners which I hadn't heard in Kannada cinema for a long time. The movie shows some exceptional quality showing some strong symbolic references with respect to main character's costume, his reading habits and some elements from its previous movie, Mufti. However the movie is drawn back by the lacklustre background score. Apart from the main theme, most part of the action sequences feel less impactful because of the music. The movie also lacks a challenging negative character especially in the second half. The movie does not create the same emotional impact in the second half as compared to the first. This movie also suffers from a hurried climax just like Mufti.

Shivanna is the core of the film and he gives it all by underplaying Bhairathi Ranagal's character to perfection. He delivers some of the most impactful dialogues at ease which work really well for this movie. However apart from Shivanna and a gangster role in the first half almost every other supporting character isn't well written. The movie could have been done without Rukmini Vasanth's character or they could have brought in a different actor for the role that is. Rahul Bose tries his best to look menacing but is let down by weak writing.

I personally feel that this movie deserved a bigger scale and more time for Shivarajkumar's stardom and this kind of concept. While this may not disappoint, this movie would have been more suitable for a release before Mufti as we are used to the bigger movies and more exciting rivalries in recent times.