Rana Vikrama

<p>: In the pre-independence era in Karnataka, one of the villagers was brought by the police. After hearing about freedom on the radio, Louis Batten, a of the , threatened the villager that he would never free his village, Vikramatheertha, and wanted to take all of the resources, even stating that it was his. He shoots the villager twice for the enmity between them, thus torturing him. He also throws a sword towards him and challenges him to fight. Suddenly, the villager, who is revealed to be Rana Vikrama, wakes up, slashes, and kills him with the sword he had thrown at him. : Divya, a , goes missing in a place called Vikramatheertha, which is not on the map. She had earlier sent a letter to K.V. Anand Rao. Learning about Divya’s disappearance, Rao asks the to send a newer recruit officer to investigate. Meanwhile, Vikram, an aspiring cop, is rejected by the selection officer as he refuses to give a bribe. Vikram and his girlfriend Paaru meet Anand Rao, who assigns them to the mission. Vikram goes to Vikramatheertha in and finds out that the people are enslaved by Patil to illegally export soil to an unknown buyer. After being insulted, Vikram thrashes Patil and his henchmen and sends Patil into a coma. Patil’s brother Kulkarni, the ruling party of Maharashtra, hears of Patil’s coma and sends goons against Vikram, but to no avail. Vikram organizes the people to order the area and goes to change the border between the states. On the way, Vikram thrashes Kulkarni’s goons right in front of Kulkarni and warns him not to interfere. Vikram reports to Anand Rao with his findings, including an , the people who speak Kannada, and also about Kulkarni. In the meantime, Vikram and the people excavate Vikramateertha and find many artifacts that they restore to their former glory, and the pictures of the artifacts are sent to Rao, who later tells Vikram that the has approved for the site to be developed. Vikram requests that the annexure of the site should be developed on to show Karnataka their heritage. Meanwhile, Johnson, the of Louise Batten, calls Kulkarni, who is helping Johnson smuggle the soil of Vikramatheertha, to ensure everything is fine. He signs a contract for 10 billion dollars and will give Kulkarni (US$12 million) in exchange for triple the soil. Rao reveals about Vikramatheertha’s exploits and Vikramatheertha’s belonging to Karnataka to the media, where Johnson and Kulkarni learn about the news, Kulkarni relays everything to Johnson and begs him to come to India. On the day of , while Anand Rao is talking about Vikramatheertha belonging to Karnataka, Vikram’s grandmother Gowri wakes up from her long inactivity, and Vikram visits her ailing grandmother, who reveals her past. : Vikramatheertha was a thriving village with a famous temple. Gowri, the daughter of the village chief Ranganna, falls in love with her father’s student Rana Vikrama, and they get married. Meanwhile, the area is under the control of Louis Batten, who is only interested in gaining profits. One of his found 100% in Vikramatheertha’s soil, and later got killed by him. Louis Batten and the British collaborators tell the villagers they must vacate the village, but they refuse, at which Batten kills Ranganna, only for Vikram to attack him. Humiliated, Batten sends a large army force to forcibly evict or kill the villagers. The villagers fight back with stones and bare hands, but the guns and cannons of the enemy force them back. Vikrama tells Gowri and the remaining villagers to flee and return to fight the British. However, Vikram is betrayed by his partner Ashoka and is handed over to Batten. Batten tortures him mortally, but Vikram slashes the throat of Batten before his death. : Johnson gruesomely bombs Vikramatheertha, causing many deaths and the is humiliated, as well as Vikram’s grandmother’s condition gets critical. Anand Rao assigns Vikram to investigate the bombing. Vikram convinces Rao of the need to kill Johnson for the safety of the country to prevent the soil from getting into the hands of international terrorists. Vikram goes to find and kill Johnson with his squad officers, but Johnson escapes and has Vikram’s team double-cross him. After dispatching the squad, Vikram arrives at the mines, where Johnson is supervising the loading of the soil and chases him along a train. Vikram kills Johnson and Kulkarni, thus saving the soil. In the aftermath, Vikram is promoted to by Anand Rao. It was reported in October 2013 that would direct in this film, which was announced to be produced by Jayanna Combines. The film was officially launched, along with a teaser on 17 March 2014, coinciding with Puneeth Rajkumar’s birthday. clapped for the first shot, while switched on the camera. According to Pavan Wadeyar, Puneeth Rajkumar will be seen as a student and a cop in this film. , a popular – actress, returned to Kannada cinema with this film, breaking a seven-year hiatus. was selected as the other heroine, after opted out. was roped to play as the main antagonist. The regular shooting of the film started from 9 June 2014 in . To shoot the key scenes of the film, a massive outdoor set was erected at on the bank of the and it is said to be one of the most expensive outdoor sets for a Kannada film. visited the shooting spot at Hampi. It is the first of the film Puneeth Rajkumar, which shot at Hampi, while his father and brother had a film shot there earlier. The introduction scene of was shot at , thus becoming first Kannada film to shoot at . The major scenes were shot at , , , and near . The major climax scene was canned at Jindal Factory, for 18 days. It was reported that the makers of the film had invested a whopping 1.25 crore in the climax. Pavan Wadeyar, in order to create a high-octane climax in the film, got a 10 kg gun especially designed for the film. The 16-member team of Ranavikrama wrapped up the last schedule of shooting in , in January 2015. The post production activities commenced during the final phase of shooting. Puneeth Rajkumar began dubbing for his role by the end of February 2015, but had to stop as the actor caught and had later completed his dubbing portion. Vikram Singh completed his dubbing on 9 March 2015. Anjali completed her voice dubbing for her role on 19 March 2015. It was reported that it was her first time dubbing for a Kannada film. The music was composed by in his eighth collaboration with Puneeth Rajkumar. Pawan Wadeyar, in an interview with , said that there are 4 songs in the film and Puneeth Rajkumar has crooned two songs, but later only one song sung by Puneeth Rajkunar was retained. Pavan Wadeyar has announced in his that the songs of the film will be released on 10 April 2015. The audio album received mixed response from audience. The film’s first look was released on 17 March 2014 on the occasion of ‘s birthday in . The teaser was played in all theatres of , irrespective of the any language film, which was being played at the centre. It was the first time that the trailer of a film was released across all theatres in Karnataka. The second teaser was released on 12 December 2014, along with the Tamil film . The third teaser was released on 17 March 2015, on the occasions of Puneeth Rajkumar’s birthday. The satellite and digital rights of the film were sold to and . GS Kumar of gave 4/5 stars and wrote “A fast-paced commercial flick which no action junkie should miss.” Shyam Prasad S of gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote ” will flatter the fans of Puneeth as the actor’s image is exploited to the maximum.” Veena. N of gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote “Rana Vikrama is high octane action entertainer. The movie is a feast for all Puneeth Rajkumar fans.” The movie collected ₹4 crore in first 2 days. The first weekend collection was reported to be around ₹7.50 crore to ₹10 crore. The 5 days net collections were reported to be ₹8 crores.</p>