Vikrant Rona

<p>The film opens with children reading storybooks. One of them narrates a tale about a Brahmarakshasa in Kamarottu, a village in , who kidnapped and killed children. The story transitions to a child being abducted by a mysterious figure. The next day, we meet Janardhan Gambira, a short-tempered landlord living with his wife, Shaku, and brother, Eknath. His friend’s son, Vishwanath, arrives with his family, including his daughter Panna, who is engaged and wants her wedding in their ancestral house. Janardhan refuses, saying the house is haunted after his son, Sanju, was accused of stealing temple jewels 28 years ago. That night, Sanju returns from London and, with Panna, finds the beheaded corpse of police officer Suresh Krishna in the house well. Detective Vikrant Rona arrives in the village with his daughter, Guddi, to investigate. He survives an attack and finds eerie clues, including a ₹1 note, cryptic writing, and signs of past child murders. He discovers that 14 children, mostly students from the local school run by Lawrence Pinto, were killed similarly. He interrogates local smuggler Moose Kunni, learning of his links to the crime. Meanwhile, Panna investigates on her own and finds an old woman, Deyyu, in the ancestral house, along with Suresh Krishna’s severed head. She learns that Deyyu is the mother of Nittoni, a former temple caretaker framed for theft by Janardhan and Vishwanath. Nittoni and his family—wife, sons Madhava and Raghava, and a young daughter—committed suicide in shame, leaving Deyyu mentally unstable. Vikrant discovers that the crime scene of a child’s murder is on Moose Kunni’s property. While interrogating him, he learns that the murdered children’s fathers were Madhava and Raghava’s classmates who had bullied and humiliated them for their lower caste and status. Panna hears a village elder say that the same cryptic writing found on the corpses was present at the site of Nittoni’s family’s death. The elder also recalls another note vowing revenge against those responsible. Vikrant realizes that only four bodies were found at the time of Nittoni’s family’s death, meaning Madhava likely survived. When he questions Lawrence Pinto again, he notices a Shiva tattoo, raising suspicion. Pinto escapes, leading Vikrant to an abandoned temple where he finds the names and belongings of the murdered children. A shocking revelation follows—Vikrant’s daughter, Guddi, was actually one of the victims, and her presence throughout the film was a hallucination caused by his trauma. His wife remains in a coma from the same attack. Vikrant, a former classmate of Madhava and Raghava, had never actively bullied them but had also never defended them. He realizes that Madhava, now disguised as Lawrence Pinto, is exacting revenge. Meanwhile, Panna and Munna, realizing they are the next targets, are kidnapped. Vikrant deduces that Madhava’s younger brother, Raghava, is also alive. The truth is revealed—Sanju is actually Raghava, who killed the real Sanju as revenge for the temple theft that led to his family’s downfall. In the climax, Vikrant fights Madhava and Raghava. Madhava and Deyyu die, while Vikrant defeats and kills Raghava, avenging his daughter. Panna and Munna reunite with their family, while Vikrant, at Janardhan’s request, keeps Raghava’s fate a secret from Shaku. Sudeepa and Anup Bhandari were to collaborate for a project titled ; however, the film was put on hold as Sudeepa heard another script from Anup Bandari. Sudeepa decided to produce the film with newcomers playing the lead roles but decided that he himself will star in the film after listening to the script. is produced by Manjunath Gowda’s Shalini Arts. Alankar Pandian of joined the film as a co-producer. Primary photoshoot began on 1 March 2020, and filming started on 2 March at Hyderabad under the title . Actor began filming and simultaneously. The producers originally planned to cast Sudeep’s nephew Sanchith Sanjeev, but went with Nirup Bhandari instead. When the team preparing for second schedule hits badly and the works stopped. On 13 June, the crew announced they would resume shooting in July. Then on 16 July 2020, they resumed their work amid pandemic at , Hyderabad, by constructing huge dense forest set. Most of the filming done in and Hyderabad. Other shoots were done in , and . This was the first Kannada movie to use the advanced real-time 3D creation tool . was roped in to play a prominent role along with a song appearance, while Anup Bhandari’s brother and other actors and actresses like Neetha Ashok, , and appear in other pivotal roles. Music director composed the songs and for the movie and its his first collaboration with actor . The music rights of the film are owned by and . The film was released worldwide on 28 July 2022 with version in more than 3000 screens. Earlier the film was scheduled to release on 19 August 2021. However, it was postponed due to the to 24 February 2022, and later to 28 July 2022. In addition to the original Kannada, the film was dubbed and released in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and English. The film released in 3000 screens including 450 in Karnataka. The film was released in 87 screens in . The film was initially planned to be made on a budget of 15 , however, the budget was increased to 95 crore due to the scale of the film with including promotional budget . The Telugu version was released in 370 screens in the first week and continued to be screened in 320 theatres in the second week. The Hindi version of the film is distributed by and all over . The Middle East region rights have been bought by One Twenty 8 Media. The distribution rights of the film are acquired by ‘s . The distribution rights of the film was acquired by while the and distribution rights were acquired by Cosmos Entertainment. The satellite and digital rights of the Kannada version have been purchased by and , respectively. It was officially announced by Zee Kannada head Raghavendra Hunsur in his channel’s show, Zee Kutumba Awards in 2021. The film digitally streamed on ZEE5 on 2 September 2022. The Hindi, Tamil and Telugu versions were digitally streamed on from 16 September 2022. On the website , 40% of 5 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4/10. Renuka Vyavahare of gave the film 3 out of 5 and wrote ” could evolve into a decent mystery series ahead packed with more dark adventures if the makers get rid of the unnecessary fluff. With so much potential, we wish this mysterious fantasy had risen to the occasion sooner.” Shrishti Negi of gave the film’s rating 3 out of 5 and wrote “Overall, Vikrant Rona is a treat for hardcore Kiccha Sudeep fans who have been waiting for this film with bated breath. The film releases in theatres today.” of rated the film 1.5 out of 5 stars and wrote “The convoluted plot and stilted dialogues of this Kiccha Sudeep-starrer mar the experience”. A critic for rated the film 1.5 out of 5 stars and wrote “VIKRANT RONA fails to impress due to the poor script, direction and length”. Bharathi Pradhan of rated the film 1.5 out of 5 stars and wrote “Vikrant will even sing you a lullaby. Whether in Kannada or Hindi, you’ll go zzzzz”. of rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote ” isn’t interested in specificities. It seeks to overwhelm with the scale of its ambition. It falls well short of greatness but never stops trying”. Nandini Ramnath of rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote “Focused on creating a visually evocative setting and showcasing leading man Sudeep’s cool moves, is happy to miss the wood for the trees”. Deepa Gahlot of rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote “The plot keeps getting weirder by the minute, and scenes leapfrog round with no control. The result is bafflement and boredom”. Rohit Bhatnagar of rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote “The film has an interesting premise, but it’s weaker on the screenplay front and does not hold your attention for long”. Sowmya Rajendran of rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote ” has been marketed as an “action adventure fantasy” film — but strangely, it doesn’t fall into any of the three genres”. A critic for rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote “Except for the lavish sets and proceedings, the film fell low on emotions. In trying to emulate his predecessors, Anup Bhandari failed to recreate the emotions which impacted him badly”. Soundarya Athimuthu of rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote “Vikrant Rona tries to be smart with its detailing in the plot”. The film grossed ₹35 crores on the first day including ₹16 crores to ₹17.80 crores from Karnataka alone. The first day domestic net collections were reported to be around ₹19.6 crores. The Hindi version collected ₹1 crore nett on the first day which was reported to be higher than the Hindi dubbed versions of , , and . The Telugu version grossed ₹2 crores on the opening day. On the second day, the Hindi version collected ₹75 lakhs in northern belt which was reported to be more than the second day collection of in North India. The film was reported to have collected ₹55–₹60 crores in two days from all its versions. The three-day worldwide collection was estimated to be around ₹80– ₹85 crores. The film was reported to have collected ₹20 to ₹25 crores on second day and ₹23 to ₹25 crores on third day. The film collected ₹25 crores to ₹29 crores on the fourth day. reported the four-day weekend collection to be ₹100 crores and reported it to be ₹96 crores while estimated it to be around ₹ 105 crores. According to , the film grossed ₹110 crores in four days whereas estimated it to be around ₹115–₹120 crores. The Hindi version was reported to have collected ₹5.96 crores in first four days. By the end of fifth day, the worldwide gross was estimated to be around ₹110 crores to ₹134 crores. The Telugu Version was reported to have grossed ₹10 crores in six days. The film was reported to have grossed ₹5.5–6 crore on the seventh day. Though few sources reported that the film grossed ₹158.5 crores in seven days, other sources reported that the film crossed the ₹150 crore mark in 8 days. The film grossed ₹3 crore on day 10 and ₹3.5 crore on day 11. The total 11 day collection of the Hindi version was reported to be around ₹9.7 crores. However, reported that the 11 day worldwide gross of the film from all five versions to be ₹86 crore based on a report by consultancy firm Ormax Media which had considered collections until July end but published in mid-August. The film collected ₹1 crore each on Day 12 and Day 13. The film was reported to have grossed ₹200 crores at the end of two weeks thereby becoming the third Kannada film to reach that milestone after and . At the end of 16 days, it was reported that the film collected ₹14 crores nett from the Hindi version and ₹7.5 crores nett from the Telugu version. and reported that the film had grossed ₹210 crores at the end of 27 days. In an interview with , Sudeepa had asserted a possibility of a sequel to .</p>