Godfather

<p>Shivasagar, a , has a son, Vijay who is playful and irresponsible. To teach him a lesson, he sends Vijay to Bhamapura to help the poor. Vijay doesn’t want to go, but a local pizza restaurateur convinces Vijay and his friends that the village is one big brothel. In reality, Bhamapura is a sacred village and the restaurateur had purposely deceived Vijay and his friends. Divya and her classmates also visit the village. They come for their social activity course to improve the village’s health and hygiene. A large building is reserved for him and the girls are asked to stay in the poor families’ houses. Vijay and his friends arrive and start to woo the girls, whom they mistake for Bhamapura’s prostitutes. When Divya discovers their plan, she and her friends decide to teach Vijay and his friends a lesson. Vijay and his friends are wooed by Divya and the other girls. They are led to separate rooms where the girls inject a serum that makes them itch all over. They leave, screaming and scratching. Vijay tells Divya to leave her profession and offers to save her honour by marrying her in the village temple the next day. Divya doesn’t come, but Vijay and his friends happen to see her leaving on a bus bearing the name of the girls’ college, revealing that they have been duped. When Vijay returns home, Shivsagar discovers that his son has fallen in love. With his influence, Vijay and Divya get engaged. Later, Vijay goes to Divya’s house in a drunken state. Her family prevent him from talking to her. This eventually leads to a fight. Vijay then goes to Divya’s cousin’s house to meet Divya and apologise for his behaviour but suddenly attempts to rape Divya’s cousin. Then on the same day at night, Vijay tries to kill Shivasagar, but is luckily stopped by Ko Thanda and is stabbed by Vijay. Disappointed with Vijay’s behaviour, Shivasagar sends Vijay to a therapist. Here enters Ajay, Vijay’s . Assuming Vijay’s identity, he had taken money from the bank, got drunk and went to Divya’s place and attempted to rape Divya’s cousin. Ajay hates Shivasagar for leaving him and his mentally-challenged mother (Catherine Tresa). Later, Divya manages to sneak into Vijay’s room in the hospital and believes his explanation that he is innocent. She leaves and shortly afterwards, Ajay appears, smuggles and dumps Vijay out of the hospital, takes over his identity and goes to kill Shivasagar. The father notices that it’s not his son and gets out of his wheelchair to defend himself. Vijay arrives at the scene, surprised that his father is able to walk and demands an explanation. Shivasagar tells him that he was a dancer who behaved effeminately due to dancing. His mother had arranged for Shivasagar to marry her friend’s daughter (Ajay’s mother). He agreed but the girl rejected Shivasagar for being too feminine and insults him in front of the wedding crowd. Unable to bear the embarrassment, Shivasagar’s mother died on the spot. Shivasagar, enraged, raped the girl, a deed that resulted in her becoming pregnant. The doctor refused to give her an abortion and so Vijay was born. Shivasagar takes his child from her mother saying the child would be the only hope of his life. Shivasagar says he is ignorant of Ajay’s existence and the reason for his resemblance to them. Ajay escapes and threatens Vijay and Divya’s wedding. Shivasagar attempts to stop him when Ajay’s grandmother arrives and explains that Ajay is also Shivasagar’s son and Vijay’s twin and that Ajay’s mother went mad when Ajay was about to get hit by a lorry. Ajay realises his mistake. He wants Shivasagar to shoot him, but the police misunderstand and think that Ajay is pointing a gun at Shivasagar and they fire at Ajay. Shivasagar intervenes and is shot instead. Ajay accepts Shivasagar’s apology and is then arrested. Ajay’s mother does not accept food from anyone, until Vijay comes dressed up as Ajay and feeds her. The film ends with Vijay stating that Shivasagar is the of the family. The film went on floors on 28 April 2009 in Bangalore at Abbaiah Studios. Producer first roped in Upendra and then went on to cast and the daughter actress , Soundarya, but Simran opted out after becoming pregnant. Another budding actress, Catherine Tresa was also brought in to reprise the role originally played by in the Tamil version. It was who insisted his longtime friend A. R. Rahman compose the music for the movie. Initial reports wrongly reported that cinematographer would be the director of the film. Sethu Sriram, who had apprenticed under the veteran cinematographer and independently shot films like , , , , , , , , , , , , , , andOh My God!, directed the film. The soundtrack album consists of songs by A. R. Rahman. The background score of the film was composed by Rajesh Ramanath. The soundtrack consists of eight songs, with all of the compositions, except one, retained from the . “Alapane” was the only fresh song composed for the Kannada version. The audio launch was held in a grand manner in Chancery Hotel, on 13 June 2012. The soundtrack album became very popular, and received highly positive critical reviews and met with many positive responses from audiences. Rahman got his first nomination in Kannada, by getting nominated in the category in the . As Upendra played lead roles in two films and , the producers of those films had discussions over the back-to-back release of two films with the same lead actor. As per reports, the producer pushed the release date of to 3 May 2012 from 24 Dec 2010. However, the mounting spar of the tussle over which film must release first was left unsolved. KFCC, part of intervened the matter and stated that the film getting censored first would be released first. The producer of the film stated the production to be continuing for over 12 months and naturally wanted to release before . The release was rescheduled in the second week of May 2012. However, after several rounds of discussions, avoiding clashes with Upendra’s other films, the release was confirmed for the second week of June 2012 as censoring was pending. The production house was unsatisfied with promotional activities done before release of the film, and the release date was pushed to 27 July 2012. opened to a large number of highly positive reviews from the critics upon release. gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and stated, “Upendra has once again proved his mettle as the ‘Real Star’ in Sandalwood with this film. This is one of those films that can be watched by anyone – be it mass or class.” gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and stated, “A brilliant piece of directorial work by S Sriram who has chosen a serious family sentimental story and given it an excellent dramatic treatment which caters to all age groups. It’s Upendra’s extraordinary triple role that carries the entire story forward. Upendra stands out among others for his amazing performance from the beginning to the end. Enjoy a brilliant Bharatanatyam by Upendra, a highlight of the movie.” S Shyam Prasad, entertainment editor of , gave 3.5 stars out of 5 praising Upendra’s performance in the flashbacks and stated that “Upendra alone makes this film a worthwhile watch. He ups the film several notches higher. The film is worth a watch and is a total entertainer.” A Sharadhaa from wrote “Director Sriram taking the cameraman’s role has done a good job at the editing desk, not giving much room to find faults. This is definitely a treat for family goers as Godfather does not have any dialogues with ‘double meaning’, which is otherwise the case with most of the movies starring Upendra”. Srikanth Srinivasa from scored the film at 2 out of 5 stars and says “Rajesh Ramanath’s background score is below average.  A R Rahman has used some of his rejected tunes for his songs in this movie. Sriram’s direction is just average. Watch this movie if you are an Upendra fan”. Vijayasarathy Rajapur from wrote “Overall ‘Godfather’ is a clear winner because of Upendra’s striking performance. Go and watch it for Upendra’s awesome performance as a Bharathanatyam dancer”. witnessed a tremendous opening at the box office on 27 July 2012 in more than 120 screens across Karnataka. The film opened to 80 to 90% occupancy levels all over Karnataka on its release day. On Friday, it raked in above 10 million with an average of 85% occupancy in most of the theaters. However, the collections showed a minor drop on Saturday and it managed to earn around 8.5 million. However, the movie picked up well on Sunday and collected more than 10.5 million and ended the weekend with an impressive gross of 29 million. According to distributor Prasad, the film recovered more than half of its budget by collecting almost 30 million during its opening weekend. Producer K Manju announced that the film earned 46 million in its first week. The film grossed more than 75 million in two weeks and fetched a net share of more than 56 million for the distributor. The film completed 50 days in release and did moderate business overall, bringing sufficient returns for the distributor through satellite rights and fetched a profit of 30 million for the producer. The film was declared a “Super Hit”. However, the film’s box office performance was well expectations and near the expected blockbuster success. The film has won & received nominations for the following awards since its release:</p>