''Appu'' is a 2002 Indian

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

-language romantic

action comedy film Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre. Film The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of actio ...

directed by

Puri Jagannadh Petla "Puri" Jagannadh (born 28 September 1966) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer, who works primarily in the Telugu film Industry. He made his directorial debut with the Telugu film '' Badri'' starring Pawan Kalyan, Renu ...

. It stars

Puneeth Rajkumar Puneeth Rajkumar (17 March 1975 – 29 October 2021), colloquially known as Appu, was an Indian actor, playback singer, television presenter, and producer, who worked in Kannada cinema. He was the youngest son of actor and matinee idol Dr. Rajk ...

and

Rakshita Shweta, known by her stage name Rakshita, is an Indian television personality, film producer and former actress known for her work in Kannada cinema. Early life Rakshita was brought up in Bangalore. Her father B. C. Gowrishankar was a cinemat ...

. The supporting cast features

Avinash Avinash Yelandur (born 22 December 1959) is an Indian actor who stars predominantly in South Indian language films, notably in the Kannada and Tamil film industries. He has been in the industry for two decades and has acted in over 200 films. Kn ...

Srinivasa Murthy Jadalathimmanahalli Krishnappa Srinivasa Murthy (born 15 May 1949), known popularly as Srinivasa Murthy, is an Indian actor and television director. He is mostly known for his work as a director having made many television series in Kannada, be ...

and Sumithra. The film was produced by Puneeth's mother, Parvathamma under Poornima Enterprises, the production banner of the Rajkumar family. It marked the screen debut Puneeth and Rakshita in lead roles. Up on theatrical release on 26 April 2002, the film was a success and completed a 200-day run in theatres. The lead actor

came to be known as "Appu" hereafter among the masses, colloquially. The film was remade in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

in 2002 as ''

Idiot An idiot, in modern use, is a stupid or foolish person. 'Idiot' was formerly a technical term in legal and psychiatric contexts for some kinds of profound intellectual disability where the mental age is two years or less, and the person cannot ...

'' (Directed by

), in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

in 2003 as '' Dum'', in

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

in 2006 as ''

Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ...

'' and in Bangladeshi Bengali in 2008 as ''

Priya Amar Priya ''Priya Amar Priya'' () is a 2008 Bangladeshi action romantic comedy film. The film directed by Badiul Alam Khokon and produced by Monir Hossain under the banner of Asha Production. The story of the film is written and screenplay by Puri Jagannad ...

''.

Plot

Appu is a carefree guy, who spends time hanging with his friends, and is also the son of a

head constable Head constable was a rank used in some British and British colonial police forces, and is still used in the Indian police. England and Wales Originally, head constable was the normal title for the chief officer of a borough police force in En ...

named Venkata Swamy. One night, Appu is thrashed by a rival gang at night, but was rescued by a girl named Suchitra. She pays his hospital bills and donates her blood. She is gone from the hospital by the time Appu regains consciousness. When Appu's friends inform him about the girl who rescued him, he starts to fall for her for her kindheartedness, though he did not see her. Suchi later turns out to be the daughter of the city

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

Rajshekhar. Appu meets Suchi in the college and expresses his love. When she does not agree, he teases her which leads to Suchi to complain about Appu to Rajshekhar, who takes Appu to the police station and severely beats him before being rescued by Venkatswamy and his superior SI Sudarshan. Even though Appu is beaten by Rajshekhar, he becomes more adamant to win over Suchi, and proposes to Suchi again in the college, where she asks him to jump from the building. When Appu is ready to do so, Suchi agrees to his love. However, Rajshekhar is not happy about their relationship and hires some goons to amputate Appu. Suchi discovers this and runs to help him, but is met with an accident. Both of them get admitted to the same hospital where they unite there also. Rajshekhar arranges her marriage with another person, to which she openly opposes and tries to commit suicide. Appu arrives and rescues her, but Rajshekhar still wants to get her married to a man of his own choice, where he also engages goons to kill Appu. Appu finally escapes all the troubles and meets the DGP to help him to marry his love. The DGP finally suspends Rajshekhar and arranges Appu's marriage in the police station. Finally, Appu appears for

civil services The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

and is selected for

IPS IPS, ips, or iPS may refer to: Science and technology Biology and medicine * ''Ips'' (genus), a genus of bark beetle * Induced pluripotent stem cell or iPS cells * Intermittent photic stimulation, a neuroimaging technique * Intraparietal sulcus, ...

Cast

Production

After the success of ''

Yuvaraja Yuv(a)raj(a) (Sanskrit: युवराज) is an Indian title for the crown prince, and the heir apparent to the throne of an Indian (notably Hindu) kingdom or (notably in the Mughal Empire or British Raj) princely state. It is usually applied t ...

'' (2001), Puri Jagannadh was approached by the Rajkumar family to introduce their third son Puneeth Rajkumar to make his onscreen debut as the lead actor. Puri gladly accepted the opportunity. Rakshitha, daughter of cameraman B.C. Gowrishankar made her acting debut with this film, and she went on to play the same character in its Telugu and Tamil remakes.

Soundtrack

Gurukiran Gurukiran or Gurukiran Shetty is an Indian music director of the Kannada film industry in India. He started his career as a music director of the Kannada movie '' A'', directed and acted by Upendra. His music for his next movie ''Upendra'' furt ...

composed the film's background score and music for its soundtrack, with the lyrics written by

Upendra Upendra (Devanagari: उपेन्द्र) is an Indian masculine given name. The meaning of the Sanskrit word ' is "younger brother of Indra" and refers to either Krishna or Vishnu, who as a son of Aditi (or in the Vamana avatar) was born sub ...

, Sriranga and

Hamsalekha Gangaraju (born June 23, 1951), professionally known as Hamsalekha, is an Indian film composer and a songwriter who works in South Indian cinema, predominantly in the Kannada film industry since the late 1980s. He is also a screenplay writer, di ...

. The soundtrack album consists of six tracks.

References

External links

*
''Rediff'' article
{{Puri Jagannadh 2000s Kannada-language films 2002 films Indian romantic action films Kannada films remade in other languages Films scored by Gurukiran Films directed by Puri Jagannadh 2002 action comedy films 2002 romantic comedy films Indian action comedy films Indian romantic comedy films Films shot in Bangalore Films shot in Switzerland 2000s masala films Films set in universities and colleges 2000s romantic action films