''Popcorn Monkey Tiger'' is a 2020 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
crime film directed by
Duniya Soori
Suri/Soori known as Duniya Suri or Sukka Suri is an Indian movie director. He became known as Duniya Suri in the wake of the success of his debut movie '' Duniya'', for which he won the 2006–2007 Karnataka State Film Awards in the Best Sc ...
and produced by K.M. Sudhir. It features
Dhananjay
Arjuna ( Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among P ...
in the lead role, along with
Nivedhitha
Niveditha, formerly known and credited as Smitha, is an Indian actress, who predominantly appears in Kannada films. She attracted notable attention with her performance in the film '' Avva'' (2008) that fetched her the Karnataka State Film Awar ...
.
The
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...
and
score are composed by
Charan Raj, cinematography is by Shekhar S. and the art department was handled by Malla.
The script was written by Amritha K. Bhargav and
Duniya Soori
Suri/Soori known as Duniya Suri or Sukka Suri is an Indian movie director. He became known as Duniya Suri in the wake of the success of his debut movie '' Duniya'', for which he won the 2006–2007 Karnataka State Film Awards in the Best Sc ...
, screenplay was written by Amritha K. Bhargav.
The film serves sequel to the ''
Kendasampige'' (2016) and to ''Kaage Bangara'' (2020).
Plot
The plot unfolds in a
reverse chronological fashion. The plot's focus is the life of protagonist Seena and the evolution of his character due to external forces that sway him in several directions. Women/lovers involved in Seena's life contribute to these forces that trigger the
Metamorphosis of his character. He goes from being a garage mechanic to being a prominent leader in the underworld mafia.
"Popcorn" Devi, one of the lovers, has a profound impact on Seena's life. The back story on how "Popcorn" Devi got involved with the underworld unfolds parallelly alongside Seena's story.
Cast
*
Dhananjay
Arjuna ( Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among P ...
as Tiger Seena aka "Monkey" Seena
*
Nivedhitha
Niveditha, formerly known and credited as Smitha, is an Indian actress, who predominantly appears in Kannada films. She attracted notable attention with her performance in the film '' Avva'' (2008) that fetched her the Karnataka State Film Awar ...
as Devika aka "Popcorn" Devi
*
Sparsha Rekha
Rekha, popularly known as Sparsha Rekha, is an Indian film and television actress known for her work in Kannada cinema. She turned producer with the film ''Demo Piece
''Demo Piece'' is a 2020 Indian Kannada-language comedy drama directed by V ...
as Padma
*
Amrutha Iyengar as Sumithra
*
Sapthami Gowda as Girija
*Prabhu Srinivas as Razor Gopi
*Sinchana Gowda as Sinchu
* Monisha Nadgir as Sujaata
* Poornachandra Mysore as Bablu
*
Prashanth Siddi
Prashanth Siddi is an Indian actor who works in Kannada-language films. As of August 2020, he has appeared in seventy films.
Career
Coming from a lower income background, Prashanth Siddi was selected by Chidambar Rao Jambe to work in the theatre ...
as Havrani
* Goutam as Rakesh aka "Mooga"
* Nanda Kishore as Khalai
* Sudhi as Kothmeri
* Niranjan as Bhadravathi Kushka
* Nikhil as Michel
Soundtrack
Charan Raj scored the background music and soundtrack for the film. The soundtrack album comprises two tracks, the lyrics for which were written by Rithwik Kaikini and HanuManKind. The audio rights were bought by PRK Audio in December 2019.
Kaikini wrote the track "Maadeva" which featured lyrics in English. The song was initially titled "Wah Wah Wah" and was later changed to "Maadeva" by Raj by saying "The decision of using English vocals on this number was rather organic. For Maadeva, we worked according to the visuals, and when Suri reviewed, he said this met his expectations." Director Suri said, "So far, I would have helped create over 50 songs for the movies. At one stage, the interest wore off and I did not want any songs for this film. I needed a mood for a particular scene and asked composer Charan Raj. He and lyricists Ritwik Kaikini and HanuManKind came up with this. Once I delegate, I hand it over completely. I don't get much English, and my associate Amritha Bhargav explained the lyrics to me. The song made a lot of sense, and I went ahead with it."
Reception
The film opened with positive reviews from critics. Sunayna Suresh of ''
Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest se ...
'' gave 3.5 stars on 5 and said that "A Film for lovers of gore and the underworld". Aravind Shwetha of
The News Minute
''The News Minute'' is an Indian digital news platform based in Bangalore, Karnataka. It was founded by Dhanya Rajendran, Chitra Subramaniam and Vignesh Vellore in 2014. Apart from Karnataka, it also has bureaus in the states of Telangana, An ...
gave it 3 stars on 5 and praised the reverse chronological screenplay of the film.
References
External links
*
{{Pushkar Films
Indian crime films
2020s Kannada-language films
Indian gangster films
Films directed by Duniya Soori
2020 crime films