The movie had not only garnered Rs 75 crores at the Box Office, but also set a record as the highest grosser in the history of Kannada film industry.

Will Pancharangi break the records of Mungaru Male?
Thursday, September 9, 2010, 13:12 [IST]
By: Shekhar H Hooli


Yogaraj Bhat came to limelight after the release of his movie Mungaru Male (MM) in 2006. Although it had got mixed response from the critics, it was successful in impressing the film goers. The movie had not only garnered Rs 75 crores at the Box Office, but also set a record as the highest grosser in the history of Kannada film industry. After this film, Yogaraj Bhat had tried very hard and come out with another two movies like Gaalipata and Manasaare, but could not break his own record.

After these movies, the director took one complete year to make another wonderful movie that could break the record. Yogaraj's latest movie Pancharangi, starring blue-eyed boy Diganth and cute Nidhi Subbaiah in the leads, seems to have set to stand equal to the charm of MM. Like MM, this movie has got mixed reviews and got good response from the audience. At least 85% percent of audience have gone out of theatre with contented heart. After the first show of the movie, several Kannada TV channels
collected the feedback of the audience, many of them said that they could not get enough of the movie and expressed their desire to watch it again.

Now, the experts in Gandhinagar are keeping their finger crossed about the success of the movie Pancharangi. They are busy comparing it with MM and calculating the merits and demerits of the film. But I strongly feel that the movie will break all records of the Box Office. I think it will do even better than MM and create a new record at the Box Office. The reasons for it are as following:

Firstly, the main highlight of MM was its music. It has seven songs and all of them wowed the listeners. Pancharangi too has seven songs and have started playing their magic. Mano Murthy has composed music for both the films. The only difference between the songs is that all the songs in MM have been shot amidst the nature, whereas a few songs of Pancharangi have been shot using art works. But this does not deffer the songs in catching the attention of the viewers.

Secondly, both the films have a very thin storyline with gripping narration. They are comedy-cum-love stories. The love story has less scope in Pancharangi compared to MM, yet it is more intensive and powerful than MM. If you look at the comedy part, comedy in Pancharangi is more natural than that of MM. At least in the first half of Pancharangi, we don't understand how fast it finishes. As far as dialogues are concerned, the dialogues in MM were comic and punchy, whereas in Pancharangi along with these two things, they are more meaningful, philosophical and talks more of real life.

Thirdly, as for the characterisation, MM has a very less number of characters, whereas Pancharangi has large number. Except Ganesh and Ananth Nag's characters, all other characters were serious in MM, whereas in Pancharangi, almost all the characters are funny and humourous. Each character has a weakness or shortcoming and the comedy arises from their mannerism. I strongly feel that Yogaraj has used comedy to mock at the present generation. Moreover, Pancharangi is a sharp satire on modern life and the director has covered it with humour.

Finally, the technical parts in the Pancharangi are quite similar and even a notch better than that of MM. MM has several beautiful locations, whereas Pancharangi has only two locations like coastal area and a college near Bangalore. But V Thyagarajan has managed to bring that MM charm with his camera work. Art direction and choreography of songs in Pancharangi are far better than MM. When compared to MM, Pancharangi lacks only one aspect that is fight sequences, that might disappoint action lovers.

After calculating all these aspects, I would like to say that Pancharangi will definitely break the record of MM. What do you think of it? Do you agree with me? Justify your stand by giving reasons in the comment box.