Topiwala
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''Topiwala'' is a 2013
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 ...
political satire Political satire is satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where s ...
film starring
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 subs ...
and Bhavana in the lead roles. The film was written by Upendra and directed by M. G. Srinivas. Kanakapura Sreenivas and K. P. Srikanth jointly produced this venture under R.S. Productions banner.
V. Harikrishna V. Harikrishna (born 5 November 1974) is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer, playback singer and film producer. He has mainly scored music for Kannada films. After his stint as a programmer and assistant musician, Harikrishna made h ...
composed the music. The film was released on 15 March 2013 in 150 theaters.


Premise

Basak, who wants to steal the money in
Swiss bank Banking in Switzerland dates to the early eighteenth century through Switzerland's merchant trade and has, over the centuries, grown into a complex, regulated, and international industry. Banking is seen as emblematic of Switzerland, along wit ...
which was
black money A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the ...
of corrupted politicians. He needs a secret code for that, which is with a mentally retarded man, who names himself as ''Mr.India'' but has lost his memory due to the accident. How does Basak recover the code and whether he will be successful in developing the country's economy with the black money forms the crux of the plot.


Cast

*
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 subs ...
as Basak * Bhavana as Suman Bedi *
Rangayana Raghu Kotturu Chikkarangappa Raghunath (born 17 April 1965), known by his screen name Rangayana Raghu, is an Indian film and stage actor, known for his work in Kannada cinema. Portraying mostly comic and negative-shaded characters, he has appeared ...
as Ramanayana Raghu * Maithreyi as Malashri *
P. Ravi Shankar Pudipeddi Ravi Shankar (born 28 November 1966), also known as Sai Ravi, is an Indian actor, dubbing artist, director and writer. He predominantly appears in Kannada films, in addition to Telugu and Tamil films. He dubbed for over 3500 films w ...
as Sarkar *
Vijanath Biradar Vaijanath Basappa Biradar is an Indian comedian and actor who works in Kannada cinema. He has acted nearly 500 movies in Kannada. He was awarded the top one best actor in the 2011 India Imagine film festival that took place in Madrid, Spai ...
as Mr India *
Raju Talikote Rajesaba Maktumasab Yankanchi (also known as Raju Talikote) is an Indian actor and comedian. He was one of the participants in Bigg Boss Kannada (season 7). Selected filmography *''Punjabi House (2002)'' *''Manasaare (2009)'' *''Pancharangi ...
*
Achyuth Kumar Achyuth Kumar is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Kannada cinema. Born in the town of Belur, in the district of Hassan and brought up in Tiptur. He graduated in bachelor of commerce from the Kalpatharu First Grade College, which was ...
as Lokayuktha Loki *
Mithra Mithra ( ae, ''Miθra'', peo, 𐎷𐎰𐎼 ''Miça'') commonly known as Mehr, is the Iranian deity of covenant, light, oath, justice and the sun. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seein ...
*
Mukti Mohan Mukti Mohan is an Indian dancer and actress. She participated in Star One's dance reality show '' Zara Nachke Dikha 2'' and emerged as the winner. She also appeared on the comedy show '' Comedy Circus Ka Jadoo'' on Sony Entertainment Televisio ...
as an
Item number In Indian cinema, an item number or item song is a musical number inserted into a film that may or may not have any relevance to the plot. The term is commonly used within Indian films (Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, and ...


Production


Casting

''Topiwala'' went on floors in 14 March 2012. The script and screenplay of the film were 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 subs ...
and radio jockey M. G. Srinivas was selected to direct the film. Actress Bhavana of '' Jackie'' fame was cast in the female lead. The film was produced by Kanakapura Sreenivas, who produced Upendra's '' Omkara'' in 2004. The film also stars debutante actress Maithreyi,
Rangayana Raghu Kotturu Chikkarangappa Raghunath (born 17 April 1965), known by his screen name Rangayana Raghu, is an Indian film and stage actor, known for his work in Kannada cinema. Portraying mostly comic and negative-shaded characters, he has appeared ...
, and Raju Talikote in supporting roles while Ravishankar plays the antagonist.
Vijanath Biradar Vaijanath Basappa Biradar is an Indian comedian and actor who works in Kannada cinema. He has acted nearly 500 movies in Kannada. He was awarded the top one best actor in the 2011 India Imagine film festival that took place in Madrid, Spai ...
has a surprise cameo.
Mukti Mohan Mukti Mohan is an Indian dancer and actress. She participated in Star One's dance reality show '' Zara Nachke Dikha 2'' and emerged as the winner. She also appeared on the comedy show '' Comedy Circus Ka Jadoo'' on Sony Entertainment Televisio ...
, participant of Star One's dance reality show
Zara Nachke Dikha ''Zara Nachke Dikha'' ''(English: Show Me Your Dance)'' is an Indian dance reality show originally aired on STAR One but then aired on STAR Plus. The series debuted on 14 July 2008 and was hosted by Karan Singh Grover and Shweta Gulati. All t ...
, was brought in for an item song. The film was successfully wrapped on 20 December 2012.


Promotions

At the first press meet of the film, held in December 2012, producer Kanakapura Srinivas said that a younger team was brought in for the film to try to generate fresh thoughts in presentation. "Now, we have ''Topiwala'' with a young team which is sure to create new bench marks", said Sreenivas. Upendra described the film as a political satire based on current affairs and
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
. "The film is based on incidents that happen in contemporary times. Political incidents are part of the script. It is a humorous commentary on every distortion that we see in our society", said Upendra.


Soundtrack

The film's music was composed by
V. Harikrishna V. Harikrishna (born 5 November 1974) is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer, playback singer and film producer. He has mainly scored music for Kannada films. After his stint as a programmer and assistant musician, Harikrishna made h ...
. Audio CDs were released into the market on 13 February 2013 and an official audio launch was held at the Windsor Manor Hotel in
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 ...
on 23 February 2013. All three brothers of the Rajkumar family,
Shivrajkumar Nagaraju Shiva Puttaswamy (born 12 July 1962) known by his screen name Shiva Rajkumar, is an Indian actor, producer and television presenter, predominantly works in Kannada cinema.
,
Raghavendra Rajkumar Raghavendra Rajkumar (born 15 August 1965) is an Indian actor, singer and producer of Kannada cinema. He is the son of actor Dr. Rajkumar and film producer Parvathamma Rajkumar. He made his debut as a lead in the film ''Chiranjeevi Sudhakar'' ...
, and
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. Raj ...
attended the audio launch along with cast and crew of the film and other film personalities.


Reception


Critical response

Srikanth Srinivasa from Rediff.com wrote "The title credits are quite imaginatively done and the thoughts in the film are also ingenious but the execution could have been a lot better. Topiwaala is worth a one-time watch only for Upendra’s fans. Others may be taking a risk watching it". A critic from
The 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 s ...
scored the film at 3 out of 5 stars and says "While Upendra manages to do justice to his role, Bhavana is not at all impressive. Raju Talikote bores you with his monotonous dialogues. Mythreyi playing the role of Malashri shines. Except for one song ‘Malli malli’, the music by V Harikrishna has nothing much to offer." A critic from 
Bangalore Mirror ''Bangalore Mirror'' is a daily English-language newspaper published in Bangalore, India. It is a deputed newspaper and is the second-largest circulating English newspaper in the city ''Vijay Times'' ''Vijay Times'' was an English newspaper st ...
wrote  "The first-half is jam-packed, but quite a few scenes don’t make any impact.If this is a method employed to make the audience watch the film twice over, it surely doesn’t work. The second half of the film is better in comparison. Though the film picks up steam towards the end, it is too late to do any damage control.The premise had potential, but the execution is poor".


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Topiwala 2013 films 2010s Kannada-language films Films set in Bangalore Indian political satire films Films scored by V. Harikrishna Films shot in Bangalore