Aptharakshaka Kannada

Starring: The late Dr. Vishnuvardhan, Vinaya Prasad, Sandhya, Vimala Raman, Bhavana, Komal Kumar, Avinash,
Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Srinivasa Murthy, Bhavana, Ramesh Bhat, Rajesh, Suja
Director: P. Vasu
Producer: Krishna Kumar
Music Dir: Guru Kiran
Lyricist: Kaviraj
Singers: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, Gurukiran, Shamita Malnad, Rajesh Krishnan, Nanditha, Lakshmi Nataraj, Karthik
Distributor: Moserbaer
Genre: Horror, Comedy, Romance

Songs:
1. Omkara Abhinaya
2. Chamundi Taayi Aane
3. Kabadi Kabadi
4. Gharane Ghara
5. Rakshaka Aptharakshaka

Released Year: 2010
Running Time: 150 minutes/Colour/Kannada

Cast
Vishnuvardhan as Dr. Vijay / Vijayarajendra Bahaddur
Sandhya as Gowri / Nagavalli (present)
Vimala Raman as Nagavalli (past)
Avinash as Ramachandra Acharya
Lakshmi Gopalaswamy as Saraswathi
Komal Kumar as Dr. Srinath
Bhavana as Neetha
Vinaya Prasad as the mother
Suja
Srinivasa Murthy
Ramesh Bhat as the father
Rajesh as Veera Sena


Review
I have not written a synopsis for this film, as the one on the website is perfectly adequate, and a more detailed version is available on Wikipedia. This is a ?must watch? film. I first watched the 2010 Telugu remake, ?Nagavalli?, and only watched ?Aptharakshaka? for the first time today. From the story-line, it does not seem to be the sort of film that might appeal to everyone. In this modern scientific age, we tend not to believe in the supernatural, nor in people being possessed by evil spirits. Yet that is what is shown in the film. But please read on!

In brief, the story is about a family with three girls, of whom the elder sister, Saraswathi (Lakshmi Gopalaswamy) is possessed by the evil spirit of a court dancer, Nagavalli (Vimala Raman) of a hundred years previously, who was loved by a king, Vijaya Rajendra Bahaddur (Vishnuvardhan). But she was in love with Ramanatha (Vineeth). When the king found out, he beheaded Ramanatha, and burned Nagavalli to death. Now her spirit has come back again (there was a previous film ?Apthamitra? 2004 ? based on this story), and has possessed Sarasthwati, who can appear as a thirty-foot long serpent. The family call a snake-charmer, but the serpent kills him. Then they call a priest, Ramachandra Acharya (Avinash), and a psychiatrist, Dr. Vijay (Vishnuvardhan). We now have the friendly conflict between the old ways and beliefs, and modern Medical Science. There, I?ve done it ? I?ve given you a synopsis!

I enjoyed this film much more than the Telugu version. It is more light-hearted, and there is quite a lot of comedy, particularly by Dr. Srinath (Komal Kumar). The acting of everyone is superb. This was the 200th film starring Vishnuvardhan, the last film he made. He completed the dubbing before he died on 30th December, 2009, but the film was not released till 19th February, 2010, so he did not get to see it ? but what a fitting tribute it is to a great actor. One of his songs has a giant ?200? behind him. Avinash is superb as the priest. Vinaya Prasad as excellent, as usual, as the mother of the girls, as is Ramesh Bhat as their father. The girls are all good in their different roles, particularly Sandhya.

The songs are good, fitting in with the story. My particular favourite was the comic song ?Kabaadi, Kabaadi?, with everyone playing Kabaadi. So many films include Kabaadi a ?game? with two opposing teams. I?ve never quite been able to work out the rules, because they seem different in every film featuring the game. It can be extremely violent, or very funny as in this film.

5 stars

Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]