''Ondanondu Kaladalli'' () is a 1978 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
epic film
Epic films are a style of filmmaking with large-scale, sweeping scope, and spectacle. The usage of the term has shifted over time, sometimes designating a film genre and at other times simply synonymous with big-budget filmmaking. Like epics in ...
co-written and directed by
Girish Karnad
Girish Karnad (19 May 1938 – 10 June 2019) was an Indian actor, film director, Kannada writer, playwright and a Jnanpith awardee, who predominantly worked in South Indian cinema and Bollywood. His rise as a playwright in the 1960s marked the ...
with soundtrack by
Bhaskar Chandavarkar, starring
Shankar Nag
Shankar Nagarakatte (9 November 1954 – 30 September 1990) was an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, and producer known for his work in Kannada-language films and television. A popular cultural icon of Karnataka, Nag is often referred to as ...
and
Akshatha Rao
Akshatha Rao (born 22 December 1983) is an American cricketer. In August 2019, she was named in United States' squad for the 2019 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament in Scotland. She made her Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) deb ...
in their debut. Through this movie,
Kavita Krishnamurthy
Sharada Krishnamurthy, popularly known as Kavita Krishnamurthy or Kavita Subramaniam, is an Indian playback and classical singer. She has recorded 50,000 songs in 45 various Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Rajasthani, Bhojp ...
started her singing career as playback singer.
The film has influences of the early
samurai films
, also commonly spelled "''chambara''", meaning "sword fighting" films,Hill (2002). denotes the Japanese film genre called samurai cinema in English and is roughly equivalent to Western and swashbuckler films. ''Chanbara'' is a sub-category of '' ...
of Japanese director
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...
, to whom Karnad has reportedly acknowledged his indebtedness.
The film won the 1978
National Film Award
The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directora ...
for
Best Feature Film in Kannada "For delineating the code of warrior's ethics in a medieval setting with a modern vision. The film has excellent outdoor photography, high standard of acting and an eye-catching decor" as cited by the Jury.
[Biography and plays of Girish Karnad]
/ref> Shankar Nag received the "Best Actor : Silver Peacock Award" at the 7th International Film Festival of India for his work in the film.
The movie was released at The Guild Theatre, 50 Rockefeller Plaza on 17 May 1982. Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...
, the chief film critic of The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
, called the movie "that is both exotic as well as surprising in view of all the bodies on the ground at the end, sweet natured!".
The film was subtitled into English for its American premiere on 18 October 1995 in Shriver Hall at the Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
as part of the 1995 Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium
The Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium is a lecture series sponsored by Johns Hopkins University. The Symposium runs each year over the course of the fall semester, as a counterpart to the Foreign Affairs Symposium.
History
Established in 1967, t ...
"Framing Society : A Century of Cinema".[ MSE Symposium Considers the Cinema at 100, 18 Sept 1995](_blank)
/ref>
Plot
Gandugali (Shankar Nag
Shankar Nagarakatte (9 November 1954 – 30 September 1990) was an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, and producer known for his work in Kannada-language films and television. A popular cultural icon of Karnataka, Nag is often referred to as ...
) is a mercenary who comes across a band of soldiers on the trail of a couple of wounded enemy soldiers. He ends up rescuing them and is taken to their chieftain who hires him to train his soldiers to fight his brother — his enemy. While there, Gandugali befriends the son of the chieftain's eldest brother, Jayakeshi, who is consigned to tending to cattle by his uncle. Jayakeshi asks Gandugali to help him reclaim his land and reinstate him as the chief. Gandugali refuses saying he is only a mercenary and that the youngster has no money to offer.
Gandugali helps the chieftain earn minor victories against his brother, much to the envy of the chief's commander. After one battle where Gandugali manages to steal the enemy's cattle, on the day of a festival, the commander of the enemy Peramadi (Sundar Krishna Urs) ends up trapped by Gandugali and his men. Gandugali releases him saying that he did not wish to shed any blood on a festival day.
Gandugali returns to his chief with the cattle only to realise that the chief and the commander are set against him for releasing Peramadi. The chief refuses to see him and the commander assigns men to keep an eye on him. That night an attempt is made on Gandugali's life, but the men looking out kill the assassin. Gandugali is furious when he realises that men had been assigned to keep an eye on him. Gandugali also realises that now with Peramadi defeated they don't have anything to fear or any need for him. He collects his salary and leaves in anger.
On the way he is confronted by Peramadi who challenges him to a duel. After a long fight where both end up exhausted, Peramadi tells him that it was his son who was out to kill Gandugali; his chief had humiliated him for losing the cattle and being defeated by Gandugali and believes that Gandugali killed him. Peramadi swears to wipe out the whole family of the chiefs including Jayakeshi. Gandugali swears to hunt him down and kill him wherever he is if anything happens to Jayakeshi. Finally, Peramadi makes a deal with Gandugali to help him destroy the family in return for letting Jayakeshi go.
The next few days they send out a warning and a challenge to the chiefs which unites them and their armies. Slowly, Peramadi and Gandugali isolate the chiefs, first by scaring away half the army and then killing some. On the way to the final decisive battle, Peramadi tells Gandugali that if he died in the battle, he would not hold himself to the promise of sparing Jaykeshi and kill him. Gandugali, knowing that Peramadi was not be trusted, ensures that Jaykeshi is hidden.
In the final battle, they destroy the chiefs' armies and Gandugali kills the commander in a duel. Jaykeshi escapes from his hideout to fight, but holes up with some soldiers who hedge their bets on him becoming the next chief. Gandugali, having realised that Jaykeshi has escaped, comes down to the palace looking for him and ends up facing his old chief. He refuses to kill him saying that he was his servant and ate his salt, and his deal with Peramadi was only to help him get to them. The chief, however, attacks him at an opportune moment, fatally injuring him. Peramadi comes in after killing his chief (the younger brother) and kills the older chief. He sounds the bugle to signal the end of the war. Jaykeshi runs down to the palace on hearing it. On seeing Gandugali dead, he breaks down near his corpse. Peramadi comes from behind and raises his sword to kill him, but Jaykeshi escapes after being warned. Peramadi realises that Jaykeshi was crying over Gandugali and, after a change of heart, reinstates him as the chief and walks away.
Cast
* Shankar Nag
Shankar Nagarakatte (9 November 1954 – 30 September 1990) was an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, and producer known for his work in Kannada-language films and television. A popular cultural icon of Karnataka, Nag is often referred to as ...
as Gandugali
* Sunder Krishna Urs as Permadi
* Sundar Raj
Sundar Raj is an Indian actor in the Kannada film industry (Sandalwood). Some of the notable films of Sundar Raj as an actor include ''Tabbaliyu Neenade Magane'', ''Ondanondu Kaladalli'', ''Chandanada Gombe'', '' Kurigalu Saar Kurigalu'' (2001) ...
as Commander of Gandugali's Army
* Akshatha Rao
Akshatha Rao (born 22 December 1983) is an American cricketer. In August 2019, she was named in United States' squad for the 2019 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament in Scotland. She made her Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) deb ...
as Savantri
* Sushilendra Joshi as Jayakeshi
* Ajit Saldanha as Iraga, Permadi's Son
* Rekha Sabnis as Permadi's Wife
* Anil Thakkar as Kapardi
* Vasant Rao as Maranayaka
Soundtrack
The title song is the only solo song in the entire movie and it is the first film song of singer Kavita Krishnamurthy.
Notes
In his intro scene, Gandugali is shown to be sleeping, with a casual attitude in the forests, when he is woken up by some soldiers. The way he casually talks, his lazy demeanour and his cool attitude was noted to be in Toshiro Mifune
was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–1965) with Akira Kurosawa in such works as ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Hidden Fortress'', ''Throne of Blood'', and '' ...
style. The other mercenary is played by Sunder Krishna Urs, who later became famous for his baddie roles.
Reception
One of the finest films ever made, the movie has some fascinating stunt scenes, involving Kalaripayattu
Kalaripayattu (; also known simply as Kalari) is an Indian martial art that originated in modern-day Kerala, a state on the southwestern coast of India. Kalaripayattu is known for its long-standing history within Indian martial arts, and is ...
. With wide tracking photography, great shots of the Malenadu
Malnad (; Malēnādu) is a region in the state of Karnataka in India. Malenadu covers the western and eastern slopes of the Western Ghats or Sahyadri mountain range, and is roughly 100 kilometers in width.
Malnadis a region of Karnataka ...
forests and excellent detailing, ''Ondanondu Kaladalli'' is an epic masterpiece.
Awards
7th International Film Festival of India
*"Best Actor : Silver Peacock Award" - Shankar Nag
26th National Film Awards
The 26th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1978. Ceremony took place in Apr ...
* Best Feature Film in Kannada - Girish Karnad and L. N. Combines
Karnataka State Film Awards
Karnataka State Film Awards are the most notable and prestigious film awards given for Kannada film industry in Karnataka, India. These are considered the highest awards for Kannada language films. They are given annually by the Government ...
*Best Kannada Film - 1978-79
*Best Supporting Actor – Sundar Krishna Urs
*Best Editing – P. Bhakthavathsalam
*Best Sound Recording – S. P. Ramanathan
Filmfare Awards South
Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassing ...
*Best Film
*Best Director — Girish Karnad
International Film Festival of India
The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. Held annually, currently in the state of Goa, on the western coast of the country, the festival aims at providing a common pla ...
* ''Ondanondu Kaladalli'' was screened at the 7th IFFI competition section.
* ''Ondanondu Kaladalli'' was also screened at 14th IFFI Homage to Shankar Nag.
References
External links
*
{{Girish Karnad
1978 films
Fictional mercenaries
Indian epic films
Films set in ancient India
Best Kannada Feature Film National Film Award winners
1970s Kannada-language films
Films directed by Girish Karnad
Fictional samurai