Mungaru Male

Mungaru Male

Film poster
Kannada: ಮುಂಗಾರು ಮಳೆ
Directed by Yogaraj Bhat
Produced by E. Krishna
Screenplay by Yogaraj Bhat
Preetam Gubbi
Story by Yogaraj Bhat
Preetam Gubbi
Starring Ganesh
Pooja Gandhi
Anant Nag
Music by Mano Murthy
Cinematography S. Krishna
Edited by Deepu S. Kumar
Production
company
E. K. Entertainers
Distributed by Jayanna
Bhogendra
Release dates
  • 29 December 2006 (2006-12-29)
Running time
 138 minutes
Country India
Language Kannada
Budget ₹70 lakh (equivalent to ₹1.1 crore or US$160,000 in 2013)[1]
Box office est.₹75 crore (US$11 million)[2][3]

Mungaru Male (English: Pre-monsoon Showers) is a 2006 Indian Kannada-language musical romance film co-written and directed by Yogaraj Bhat, and produced by E. Krishnappa. It stars Ganesh, Pooja Gandhi and Anant Nag in lead roles. The film is believed to have shaped and strengthened the careers of Gandhi, Ganesh, director Bhat, playback singers Sonu Nigam, Kunal Ganjawala, Udit Narayan,Sunidhi Chauhan and Shreya Ghoshal in South India and lyricist Jayant Kaikini, choreographers A. Harsha, Imran Sardaria, composer Mano Murthy and others.[4]

The film was the first in India for any language to be screened continuously for one year in a multiplex. The film recorded the highest box-office collections in the history of Kannada cinema and currently holds the record for the longest running film at a multiplex.[5][6] Overall it ran over 865-days in Karnataka. It was remade in Telugu as Vaana[7] and in Bengali as Premer Kahini[8] in 2008.[9]

A sequel to the film titled Mungaru Male 2 was announced in July 2014 and filming began in July 2015. Shashank is directing the film with Ganesh returning to the franchise, while music composer Arjun Janya is scoring music.[10]

Plot

The protagonist Preetam (Ganesh), on a visit to Eva Mall in Bangalore amidst a heavy wind, spots a pretty girl, Nandini (Pooja Gandhi). While staring at her, he inadvertently falls into a manhole. Nandini rescues him from the pit, but in the process loses her heart-shaped watch she had just bought.

While accompanying his mother to Madikeri, Preetam confronts a man named Jaanu (Neenaasam Ashwath). Jaanu, who has been following Nandini, beats up Preetam thinking that he is in love with Nandini. Preetam, unaware that Jaanu has vowed not to allow any one near Nandini, trashes Jaanu and his gang in return.

In Madikeri, Preetam meets Nandini unexpectedly. He identifies himself and expresses his love towards her and offers to tie the watch as an indication for their marriage. Nandini, who is already engaged rejects his request. Still, Preetam vows to marry Nandini if she meets him again. In the meantime, Preetam discovers that his host in Madikeri, Col. Subbayya (Anant Nag) is Nandini's father, who is pretty much deaf, and Nandini's marriage is a just a week away. Dejected, Preetam throws Nandini's heart-shaped watch away. But Nandini calls him over the phone and taunts him to return. Delighted, Preetam goes in search of her watch and brings it back. While searching for it, he spots a rabbit, which he calls Devadas, and brings it along.

Since Nandini's friends are due to arrive from Mumbai for the marriage, Preetam takes Nandini to the railway station. The train from Mumbai is delayed by five hours, so Nandini and Preetam decide to visit a nearby hill-temple. While returning from the temple, Preetam and Nandini are caught in rain. An old couple offers Preetam and Nandini to take shelter inside their hut. Preetam, still in two minds about expressing his love to Nandini, grabs a couple of toddy bottles, goes out in the rain and starts drinking. However, when Nandini walks towards him, offering an umbrella, he is under a state of intoxication and tells Nandini that he'd better stay away from Nandini to remain a decent boy, rather than to propose to or elope away with her.

Nandini is now in love with Preetam and is in a dilemma as her wedding is due in a few days. She requests him to take her to the top of a waterfall and expresses her love towards him, standing at the edge of the waterfall.

Preetam, intent on marrying Nandini, takes her father, Subbayya for a morning jog to discuss his marriage with Nandini. But, Subbayya a heart patient, tells Preetham that he's expected to die anytime and his only aim in life is to get Nandini married off to Gautam (Diganth). On the night before the marriage, Preetam drives away from the house without taking Devadas. He then starts drinking the whole night in a road-side bar. He finds Gautam, asking the bar-owner for directions to Subbayya's home. When Jaanu tries to kill Gautam, Preetam saves Gautam and convinces Jaanu that only Gautam is the best person to marry Nandini.

Next day, he drops Gautam to the marriage house, just in time for the marriage. He then declines to attend Gautam's marriage. Gautam asks for the heart-shaped watch as a remembrance, but, Preetham unwilling to part away with it, leaves. Meanwhile, on the wedding day, everyone is searching for Preetam, but he is nowhere to be found. His mother is the only one who know the truth about his love, and is worried of his whereabouts, but does not show her worry.

Resignedly, Preetam watches the arch proclaiming "Gautham weds Nandini". As he is leaving, he spots Devadas and takes it with him. He drives towards Bangalore, all the while expressing his disappointment to Devadas, but later he comes to know that Devadas is dead.

Cast

Production

Development

Director Yograj Bhat had earlier dabbled in advertising and corporate films. His previous ventures, Mani, starring Mayur and Radhika, and Ranga S.S.L.C., starring Sudeep Sanjeev. Bhat began working on the script of Mungaru Male.[11] He had narrated the script to Puneet Rajkumar who rejected it.[12] Ganesh, whose first film to be released, Chellata, was involved in the script making stage. He introduced Yograj Bhat to producer E. Krishnappa who was Ganesh's acquaintance. Krishnappa agreed to finance the film, since he knew Ganesh. Since Yograj Bhat was unable to cast well-known Kannada actresses, he signed on a relatively unknown actress, Pooja Gandhi, for the lead female role in the film.

Filming

Jog Falls in Sagara, Karnataka, where a few sequences of the film were shot.

Up to 80% of the scenes in the film were shot in the rain.[13] Shooting locations included Madikeri,[13] Sakaleshpura,[13] Jog Falls Sagara,[13] and Gadag. Krishna, the camera man was a part-time photographer prior to the film.

Soundtrack

Mungaru Male
Soundtrack album by Mano Murthy
Released 6 November 2006 (2006-11-06)
Recorded 2006
Genre Feature film soundtrack
Length 31:30
Label Anand Audio
Producer Mano Murthy
Mano Murthy chronology
Amrithadhare
(2005)		 Mungaru Male
(2006)		 Cheluvina Chittara
(2007)

Mano Murthy scored the film's background music and its soundtrack, lyrics for which was penned by Jayant Kaikini, Yogaraj Bhat, Kaviraj and Hrudaya Shiva. The soundtrack album consists of seven tracks.[14] Anand Audio bought the distribution rights for ₹500,000.[15] It was released on 6 November 2006 in Bangalore.[16]

Tracklist
No. TitleLyricsSinger(s) Length
1. "Onde Ondu Sari"  KavirajKunal Ganjawala, Priya Himesh 4:32
2. "Mungaru Maleye"  Yogaraj BhatSonu Nigam 4:49
3. "Kunidu Kunidu Baare"  Jayant KaikiniUdit Narayan, Sunidhi Chauhan, Stephen 4:30
4. "Anisuthide"  Jayant KaikiniSonu Nigam 4:36
5. "Suvvi Suvvali"  Hrudaya ShivaHemanth Kumar 4:38
6. "Ivanu Geleyanalla"  Hrudaya ShivaShreya Ghoshal 3:47
7. "Araluthiru Jeevada Geleya"  Jayant KaikiniShreya Ghoshal 4:38

Reception

Upon the album's release, it topped the charts with the song "Anisuthide" proving to be massive success getting very high radio and TV air time.[17] The album emerged as a massive success topping every Kannada music chart. It was reported that by mid-May 2007, over 200,000 copies were sold in compact discs alone.[18] Hindustan Times reported, "The film has just completed seven weeks, but audio sales have broken all earlier records. All the songs have become hugely popular. Composer Mano Murthy has once again created musical magic with songs like "Anisuthidhe" and "Onde Ondu Saari"."[19]

Release

Mungaru Male was released on 29 December 2006. The satellite rights were acquired by a television channel for ₹3.6 million.[20] The DVD of the film with 5.1 surround sound was distributed by Anand Video.[21]

Critical response

The film received highly positive reviews. Rediff.com awarded it a three-star rating and praised its cinematography, technical values, and the acting of Ganesh and Anant Nag.[22] Nowrunning.com felt that the film lacked a credible story line and gave too much importance to music and song picturisation. Kannada portal Thatskannada.com praised the film for its content, narration and usage of rain as a metaphor for love. Indicine.com[13] gave it four stars.

Box office

It helped in expansion of Kannada film market, which is first of its kind. Made with a budget less than ₹1 crore, the film went on to collect over ₹75 crores.[23][24] Mungaru Male completed 100 days.[25] The film has also been released with 150 prints in Karnataka.[26] This was the first Indian movie which ran over a year in a multiplex, PVR cinemas Bangalore.[27] Mungaaru Male was being screened at full houses, one year after its release.[28]

Overseas

It realesed over 10 countries across the world such as USA, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, UK, Hong Kong and Dubai, europe and london. Mungaru Male was the highest grossing Kannada film overseas. It had made ₹36 lakh (equivalent to ₹56 lakh or US$84,000 in 2013) in the US alone. Noted thing is that 'Mungaru Male' got screening time in many parts of India. People from Tamil Nadu cross the hill and come to place like Kollegal to watch 'Mungaru Male'. It was super hit in London.[29][30]

Awards

The film was awarded the Best Kannada Film award for the year 2006–07 by the Government of Karnataka (seven awards in total from the Government of Karnataka). Additionally, it also won 3 Filmfare awards for best music, awarded to Mano Murthy, and best direction & best film awarded to Yograj Bhat. However, it did not win a single national award from the Government of India.[31]

In other languages

The remake rights of Mungaru Male were acquired by Mr Suryaprakash Rao of SPR Entertainers India Private Limited for Rs.1.5 crores for both the Tamil-language and the Telugu-language versions. The Telugu-language version was released in 2008 as Vaana, meaning rain.[7] It was remade in Bengali language as Premer Kahini. Boney Kapoor is planning to remake the film in Hindi starring either Imran Khan or Ranbir Kapoor.[9]

Book

The director, Yogaraj Bhat, wrote about the making of Mungaru Male in the book Haage Summane, which was released on the occasion of the silver jubilee celebration for the movie.[32]

Sequel

It was announced in July 2014 that Shashank would be directing the sequel of the film, titled Mungaru Male 2. Ganesh would be reprising his role in the film, which would be produced by J. Gangadhar under the banner of E. K. Pictures.[10]

Legacy

The success of Mungaru Male turned Ganesh into one of the most sought-after actors in Kannada cinema. He gave back to back commercial successes Cheluvina Chittara (2007) and moderate successes Hudugaata (2007) and Krishna. The pair of his and Yogaraj Bhat had delivered two consecutive films that emerged as massive commercial successes, the other being Gaalipata (2008).[33] The film also proved to be a launchpad for the career of actress Pooja Gandhi.

The success of the film's soundtrack, especially the track "Anisutide" sung by Sonu Nigam, further propelled his playback singing career in Kannada cinema, who was already a "singer-in-demand" following the massive success of soundtrack.[17] With the song, lyricist and writer Jayant Kaikini's reputation as a writer of romantic songs further elevated, and is considered one of his best.[34] The film also established Yogaraj Bhat and Mano Murthy as the most sought director and composer respectively.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Newcomers rule box office". Indiaglitz.com. 27 July 2007. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  2. ↑ "Superstars of the Kannada Film Industry". mybangalore.com.
  3. ↑ "Will Pancharangi break the records of Mungaru Male?". filmibeat.com.
  4. ↑ Jayant Kaikini
  5. ↑ "Mungaru Male-successful 365 days". mohanbn.com.
  6. ↑ "'Mungaru Male' National record". Correspondent. IndiaGlitz. Retrieved 2007-12-08.
  7. 1 2 Mungaru Male in Telugu
  8. ↑ "Premer Kahini - ScreenIndia.Com". www.screenindia.com. Retrieved 2008-11-04.
  9. 1 2 Imran, Ranbir in 'Mungaru Male' Bolly remake
  10. 1 2 "Mungaru Male 2 To Be Directed By Shashank". oneindia.com. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  11. ↑ The Magic of Mungaaru Male: Interview with Director Yogaraj Bhat
  12. ↑ viggy.com Kannada Film Discussion Board – exclusive platform for Kannada cinema – Mungaru Male Earned 7.5 crores
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Indicine.com – Mungaru Male movie review
  14. ↑ "Mungaru Male (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". iTunes. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  15. ↑ "'Mungaru Male' reigns over Kannada music market". Sify. 1 June 2007. Archived from the original on 10 October 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  16. ↑ "'Mungaru Male' Audio Launch". indiaglitz.com. 7 November 2006. Archived from the original on 8 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  17. 1 2 "'Mungaru Male' still tops the charts". The Hindu. 17 May 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  18. ↑ "'Mungaru Male' album a mega hit". Hindustan Times. 18 May 2007. Archived from the original on 10 October 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  19. ↑ "'Mungaru Male' can be Kannada audio of 2007". Hindustan Times. 24 February 2007. Archived from the original on 10 October 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  20. ↑ Prasad S., Shyam. "My leading men talk like me: Yogaraj Bhat". The Times of India. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  21. ↑ "Mungaru Male – 2006 DVD". Kannada Store. Archived from the original on 7 May 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  22. ↑ "Mungaru Male is interesting". rediff.com. 2 January 2007. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  23. ↑ "Superstars of the Kannada Film Industry". mybangalore.com.
  24. ↑ "Stage set for Mungaru Male sequel". The Hindu. 25 November 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  25. ↑ Kannada cinema boasts of new faces – IBNLive
  26. ↑ Sify Movies
  27. ↑ The Kannada movie Milana also completed one year in PVR Multiplex. The Hindu
  28. ↑ "Karnataka's heartthrob Ganesh secretly marries". IBN Movies. 12 February 2008. "...Mungaaru Male, which broke all records, totally grossed Rs 125 crores. and even completed 50 days at Andra pradesh and Tamil Nadu"
  29. ↑ "FIRST HIT". bangaloremirror.com.
  30. ↑ "`This success is very special to me`". sify.com.
  31. ↑ "State awards". Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-07-22.
  32. ↑ "Events – 'Mungaru Male' Grand Silver Jubilee". IndiaGlitz. 2007-07-11. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
  33. ↑ Lokesh, Vinay (17 September 2013). "Ganesh in Yogaraj Bhat direction?". The Times of India. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  34. ↑ "He spells victory". The Hindu. 14 June 2008. Retrieved 4 October 2015.

References

External links

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