''Operation Diamond Racket'' 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

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

spy thriller film Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligen ...

produced and directed by the duo

Dorai–Bhagavan Dorai–Bhagavan were an Indian filmmaking duo consisting of directors B. Dorai Raj (died 2000) and S. K. Bhagavan (born 1933), active mainly in Kannada cinema. They directed fifty films, most of which starred Dr. Rajkumar, Rajkumar and were hig ...

, starring Rajkumar and

Padmapriya Padmapriya (born Padmalochani; died 16 November 1997) was an Indian actress who worked in Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. Her first movie was in Telugu, ''Adapillala Tandri'' (1974). In Kannada, she debuted with ''Bangarada Gudi'' ...

. The supporting cast features Chandralekha,

Vajramuni Sadananda Sagar (11 May 1944 – 5 January 2006), better known by his stage name Vajramuni, was an Indian actor who appeared in Kannada films. He portrayed negative characters during most of his career and was considered one of Kannada cinema's ...

Thoogudeepa Srinivas Mysore Srinivas (17 April 1943 – 16 October 1995), known by his stage name Thoogudeepa Srinivas was an Indian actor who appeared in Kannada films and is remembered for his portrayal of negative-shaded characters. He is the father of actor, D ...

Tiger Prabhakar Tiger Prabhakar (30 March 1948 – 25 March 2001), also known as Kannada Prabhakar, was an Indian actor known for his works predominantly in Kannada and Telugu cinema, with a few Malayalam, Tamil and Bollywood films. Career Prabhakar started hi ...

and Fighter Shetty. The film was the fourth and the last in the ''CID 999 Franchise'' created along the lines of the ''

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

'' and '' James Bond – styled'' films following ''

Jedara Bale ''Jedara Bale'' ( kn, ಜೇಡರ ಬಲೆ ) is a 1968 Kannada language spy thriller film directed by Dorai–Bhagavan starring Rajkumar, Jayanthi, K. S. Ashwath, Narasimharaju and Udayakumar. The music of the film was composed by G. K. V ...

'', ''

Goa Dalli CID 999 ''Goadalli CID 999'' is a 1968 Indian Kannada-language spy thriller film written, directed and produced by Dorai–Bhagavan duo. The film starred Rajkumar in the lead role as a detective. Popular Indian actress Lakshmi made her debut in Kannad ...

'' and '' Operation Jackpot Nalli C.I.D 999''. The film was re-released in 2013. This is the only colour movie in the franchise and also the only movie in the franchise to not feature Narasimharaju. The movie was dubbed in Hindi in 1983 as ''Jasoos 999''. A fifth movie in the franchise titled ''Operation Golden Gang'' was announced but dropped owing to average response to this movie coupled with high budget for the sequel. The movie was shot in Nepal and became the first Kannada movie to be shot outside India. However, another Kannada movie which released four months later, ''

Singaporenalli Raja Kulla ''Singaporenalli Raja Kulla'' () is a 1978 Indian Kannada language action film directed by C. V. Rajendran starring Vishnuvardhan, Manjula, Dwarkish, Lokanath and Thoogudeepa Srinivas in pivotal roles. It was the first Kannada film to be shot ...

'' is widely credited as the movie which started the trend of Kannada movies being shot outside India since it was shot in a country which is not an Indian neighbour.

Plot

CID CID may refer to: Film * ''C.I.D.'' (1955 film), an Indian Malayalam film * ''C.I.D.'' (1956 film), an Indian Hindi film * ''C. I. D.'' (1965 film), an Indian Telugu film * ''C.I.D.'' (1990 film), an Indian Hindi film Television * ''CID'' ( ...

officer Prakash aka ''CID 999'' solves the gold smuggling cases where the CID Chief mentions about increase in diamond smuggling and missing case of top scientists. Prakash traces the lead from his fellow officer Madhu and locates David, the local kingpin. He impersonates as David and traps Lalita, who has the diamonds. Prakash kills David and entrusts Lalita to Madhu. He goes to the hideout warehouse, where David was supposed to drop the diamonds. Prakash finds the diamonds hidden in face-covers and alerts the police to seize the warehouse. Prakash returns, only to find that Lalita escaped and Madhu dead. Meena, Madhu's sister vows vengeance against Madhu's killers. After checking an address in Lalitha's bag, which is located in

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

, Prakash and Meena act as a

honeymoon A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds immediately after their wedding, to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase ...

couple and leave for Kathmandu. Monzein, Prakash's friend and fellow-agent helps him with clues about antique shops, which are suspected to be involved in smuggling. Prakash spends quite some time, posing as a tourist, but cannot locate any clues about the smuggling gang. Vishwanath, the kingpin at Kathmandu tries to kill Meena and Prakash repeatedly, but Prakash overpowers him. Frustrated, he orders his secretary Drenko to befriend Meena. Drenko kills Monzein's entire family and kidnaps Meena. Prakash finds a radar on top of a building at a remote site and finds it to be the secret hide-out and enters by disguising himself as one of the henchman. He observes a speech, where the diamonds are used as a powerful beam to bring down any fighter jet-planes,

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

or military installation. Prakash gets caught and is thrown into a snake cage, along with Meena, leaving them to die. However, Prakash and Meena escape where Prakash overpowers the place, kills all the henchmen and their boss where he frees up Meena and burns down the place using a watch bomb.

Cast

* Rajkumar as CID 999 Prakash *

as Meena, Madhu's sister *

* M. B. Shetty (credited as Fighter Shetty) *

Rajanand Venkataraju known by his professional name Rajanand (1927-2004), was an Indian actor in the Kannada film industry. Some of the notable films of Rajanand as an actor include '' Operation Diamond Racket'' (1978), '' Mayura'' (1975), and '' Eradu Ka ...

* Nithin Kumar * Shani Mahadevappa * Chethan Ramrao * Mamatha Shenoy * Chandralekha * Seema Kapoor * Raji * Jennifer * Babbi * Manzin

Release

The title of the movie created confusion among fans as to whether it was ''Racket'' or ''Rocket''.

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by

G. K. Venkatesh Gurusala Krishnadas Venkatesh (21 September 1927 – 17 November 1993) was an Indian film score composer who primarily worked in Kannada cinema during the 1960s, 1970s and until the late-1980s. He also composed music for Telugu, Malayalam and Ta ...

, with lyrics penned by

Chi. Udaya Shankar Chitnahalli Udayashankar (18 February 1934 – 2 July 1993; born in Chitnahalli) was an Indian lyricist and dialogue writer in the Kannada film industry for over three decades, who penned more than 3000 songs for films and devotional songs. H ...

. The song "If You Come Today", sung by Rajkumar became widely popular, as the song was entirely written in unintentionally

broken English Broken English is a name for a non-standard, non-traditionally spoken or alternatively-written version of the English language. These forms of English are sometimes considered as a pidgin if they have derived in a context where more than one ...

Re-release

''Operation Diamond Racket'' was re-released across 40 theatres in

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

on 31 May 2013. The film received a good opening, having collected on the opening day in Kapali Theatre,

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 3628810 ( Hindi dubbed version) 1978 films 1970s Kannada-language films Indian detective films Films scored by G. K. Venkatesh 1970s spy thriller films Indian spy thriller films Films directed by Dorai–Bhagavan