Super Ranga

Super Ranga
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sadhu Kokila
Story by	Vakkantham Vamsi
Based on	Kick (2009) by Surender Reddy
Produced by	K. Manju
Starring	Upendra Kriti Kharbanda
Cinematography	Ashok Kashyap
Edited by	Joni Harsha
Music by	Arjun Janya
Production company	K Manju Cinemaas
Release date	19 September 2014 (2014-09-19)
Running time	146 minutes
Country	India
Language	Kannada
Budget	₹9 crore (US$1.3 million)[1]

Super Ranga is a 2014 Indian Kannada-language action comedy film directed by Sadhu Kokila and produced by K. Manju under the banner K Manju Cinemaas. It stars Upendra and Kriti Kharbanda in lead roles. The supporting cast features Priyanka Rao, Raghu Mukherjee, Hema Chaudhary Doddanna, Rangayana Raghu, Bullet Prakash and Sridhar. The film is a remake of the 2009 Telugu film, Kick. The limited theater release may have contributed to the 35 days of its run with a 1-week gap after completing 4 weeks.

Plot[]

Naina, a chivalrous girl, is given a marriage proposal by her father, who asks her to meet the bridegroom before agreeing. The bridegroom, Kalyan Krishna, and Naina meet and discuss about each other. When Kalyan Krishna reveals his name, Naina reveals that she dated a guy named Kalyan previously. Naina then narrates the story behind her relationship with Kalyan. Kalyan is a brilliant young man, but holds the world in contempt, due to always looking to get a kick out of everything. This attitude of wanting that special something which will give him the kick he needs, prevents him from doing anything or working in any particular job for long. Naina first meets Kalyan when she tries to help her friend with her love marriage with Ajaam, her friend's driver. Kalyan also comes to help Ajaam with the marriage as the best man. Naina develops an instant dislike towards Kalyan, because of his attitude and character. Naina wishes not to meet him again but is forced to do so for her sister when her sister reveals that she likes him.

Knowing about Kalyan's character and hoping to spoil the alliance, Naina approaches him to sabotage the alliance and make her sister hate him. He agrees and does so, but then reveals that he is in love with Naina. Although Naina is shocked and does not initially like him, she starts to reciprocate his love slowly. Eventually, Naina tells Kalyan that she likes him, and they become good friends but does not tell him she loves him. On Naina's suggestion, Kalyan finds a job as a software engineer, though he resigns it shortly due to his attitude and tries to keep it a secret. Unfortunately, Naina comes to know about it through her uncle and breaks up with him. After this episode, Naina leaves for Malaysia, where her parents live. After telling him her story, Kalyan agrees to marry Naina, and she agrees likewise. Krishna then narrates his story as a very successful police officer. He is after a very daring thief, who is very crafty, cunning yet his identity unknown. This thief has been targeting all the rich people of Hyderabad and has eluded the police every time, including Krishna, hence his obsession with him. The thief, later revealed to be none other than Kalyan, escapes Krishna again after his latest heist. After that, Kalyan contacts Krishna, calling him his partner(after he had Krishna unwittingly lead Kalyan's latest target to a stash of hidden money belonging to a cabinet minister). Calling him a loser, Kalyan gives him a hint to his next heist, which Krishna deduces is in Malaysia, after realising the LOSER is actually the number of the flight he came in on, after inverting the letters.

Krishna reveals to Naina that this was the reason why he came to Malaysia. Naina unexpectedly runs into Kalyan in Malaysia, where he is receiving treatment for memory loss, but in reality, it is a cover for his stay. Naina, with the intention of making Kalyan regain his memory and making him feel real bad by marrying Krishna, has Kalyan stay with her family and introduces him to Krishna. She later discovers his lie and is enraged, but forgives him after he calls her out for her hastiness and judgement in marrying Krishna when she actually loved Kalyan deep down. Krishna, during the course of his investigation, realises that Kalyan is the thief after finding similarities between the thief and Kalyan's phrases, and the heist he is planning is actually robbing the Home Minister who bought a large sum of money to Malaysia, which is unaccounted for and is being invested in a foreign firm. After robbing that money, Kalyan encounters Krishna and gets into a chase, which ends when Krishna rear-ends Kalyan's car, and he crashes into the river, scattering the money in the process. Kalyan's father later tells Naina that after seeing a couple commit suicide to avoid the grief of seeing their daughter die, Kalyan gathered the money for her surgery. Upon seeing her happiness, Kalyan realises he has found his calling and the thing that gives him a kick. Meeting up with Kalyan, Krishna tells him that he will one day catch him red handed. Kalyan then challenges Krishna that before August 16th, he is going to perform his last heist: rob a huge election fund worth INR 500,00,00,000, and if Krishna wants to catch him, he can only try and catch him then, and after that, he won't be able to. Heading out to the heist, Kalyan runs into Krishna, who challenges him to do the heist in his presence. Kalyan successfully performs the heist with Krishna by ramming the wall of the office where the funds are being held and, in the ensuing chaos, gets the money and runs away. He narrowly escapes when a group of school children holding a rally prevent the police from firing at him. Krishna comes to know that all the money that Kalyan stole was donated to all the children across the country anonymously, hence the rally for him. Kalyan later becomes a police officer and surprises Krishna at a cabinet meeting, where he tells him he is replacing him as the lead officer in the case, leading Krishna to laugh and suggest to the Home Minister that Kalyan is the man for the job. As the Home Minister remarks that he would like to see the thief's face, Kalyan responds that since they have seen his face, it's as good as seeing the thief's face and that they're in for a real kick.

Cast[]

• Upendra as 'Kick' Sri Ranga
• Kriti Kharbanda as Naina
• Raghu Mukherjee as Ranganath
• Hema Chaudhary as MLA Kanaka Ratna
• Doddanna
• Sadhu Kokila as Halwa Raj
• Bullet Prakash as Police officer
• Rangayana Raghu
• Sridhar
• Avinash
• K. Manju as motorbike buyer
• Priyanka Rao as Subbu, Naina's younger sister
• Seetha as Ranga's Mother
• Suchithra
• Poornima Bhat
• Jyothi Rai
• Kuri Prathap
• Kaddipudi Chandru
• Joe Simon
• Bank Suresh

Production[]

Development[]

It was announced in August 2013 that the film would be directed by Sadhu Kokila, after speculations that Ramesh Aravind and Loki would be directing it.^[2] Kokila had directed Upendra previously in Raktha Kanneeru (2003) and Anatharu (2007), both of which saw success at the box office.

Casting[]

Super Ranga was to initially star Deepa Sannidhi as the female lead opposite Upendra. Citing date problems, Sannidhi had to leave, who was then replaced by Kriti Kharbanda.^[3] Shaam, who starred in the original film, Kick and its Tamil remake, was set to reprise his role in this film.^[4]

Filming[]

The filming began in September 2013. The song "Dance Raja Dance", of the film was shot in Slovenia. It features 12 characters of Upendra in a single visual, made possible by the rotography technique.^[5] The film completed its 35-day shoot in Malaysia and was one of the few Kannada language films to have shot there extensively.^[6]

Soundtrack[]

Arjun Janya composed the music for the film and the soundtracks, with lyrics for the soundtracks penned by K. Kalyan, Upendra and V. Nagendra Prasad. The album has four soundtracks.^[7]

Reception[]

Kavya Christopher of The Times of India gave the album a rating of 3/5 and wrote, "It's an Upendra film. One that has to be quirky in every way, and the music is no different." She added that the song "Dance Raja Dance" is the best of the album.^[8]

Release[]

The film was announced that it would be released on 18 September 2014 to coincide with the occasion of Upendra's birthday.^[9] It was released however, the next day. It was reported that the film released in 170 theaters across Karnataka.^[10]

Critical reception[]

Upon its theatrical release, the film received positive to mixed reviews from critics. Shyam Prasad S. of Bangalore Mirror reviewed the film and wrote, "[Sadhu Kokila] manages to give an 'Uppi' touch to the film", a reference to the characters portrayed by Upendra in his earlier films. He concludes by praising the role of cinematographer Ashok Kashyap and the acting department.^[11] S. Viswanath of Deccan Herald reviewed the film giving it a rating of three out of five and called the film "chuckle-a-minute mad caper". He added writing, "Brimming with trademark Upendra mannerisms, the film is a breezy, boisterous ride."^[12] Shashiprasad S. M. of Deccan Chronicle gave the film a 2.5/5 rating and writes, "A slight disappointment, it loses its sheen irrespective of the glittery star cast, to boost the box office collections." He called the plot "the real hero.. but the film as an entertainer lacks the kick."^[13] Bharath Bhat of FilmiBeat gave the film a 3/5 rating and writes, "Super Ranga is a tailor made movie for Real Star Upendra. The role suits his crazy mannerism. The movie is a must watch for Uppi Fans."^[14]

References[]

External links[]

• Super Ranga at IMDb