Synopsis
?Aramane? (Palace) is the story of Arun (Ganesh), who is working as a photographer in a studio in Mysore. In one of his assignments, he has to meet a rich and influential old man (Anant Nag), a wealthy businessman, who leads an undisciplined and lonely life, drowning his sorrows in alcohol, looked after by a faithful servant, Basayya, known as Basa. Arun has been called to take a passport-size photo which the old man needs for a business agreement. Arun asks him to shave and present himself fresh and clean, then he will take the photo. But the old man demands that Arun takes the photo as he is. Then, on the way back from the studio, Arun gets a call from the studio to go back to see the old man, who is one of the wealthiest men in the city. He goes back, and the old man has tidied himself up, shaved, and his hair is combed and neat. He has remembered that it was a long time ago when his late wife, Lakshmi, used to tell him to be neat and tidy about his appearance, because although he is the boss and can do what he likes, his workers look up to him and respect him. He says to Arun, ?will you take my photograph?? Arun takes the photo. When he returns with the photo, the old man looks at it and says, ?Don?t I look handsome?? He asks Arun to drink with him, and he asks Arun if he will take a family photo of his whole family. Arun agrees to do this, and asks the old man to get them there in the morning. But the old man explains that they all left 22 years ago, and that he can?t call them back. He says he?s old, and he would like to see them and be surrounded by them before he dies. He makes Arun promise to unite them. Then he tells Arun that his daughter, Savitri, is married to Pratap, the Police Commisioner in Bangalore. They have a daughter, Geeta, who was a year old when they left the house. He has a son, Kishore,who lives in Sydney, Australia; and his other son, Santosh, lives in Washington in USA. Arun says he?ll go to see the family in Banagalore. He calls the old man Tataa (grandfather) affectionately. Tataa promises to take care of all his expenses. They become real ?buddies?.
It turns out that Lakshmi, before she died, made him promise to remarry if she died, so that he would not be all alone. It was when he told his family that he was going to remarry that they all left him.

The rest of the film is about how Arun attempts to re-unite the family.

This section contains spoilers.

Arun goes to the house in Bangalore, and sees Savitri and her daughter go to a local supermarket where a very unpleasant Savitri complains about being sold something past its sell-by date. He finds the daughter goes to college, and under the guise of doing research on joint families, meets her, and tells her that her grandfather is still alive (her parents had said he was dead). She is Neeta, Geeta?s younger sister. She is delighted to talk to Tataa on his mobile phone. Then he gets to know Geeta, and becomes her only friend and confidant. He falls in love with her. But she is already in love with Dr. Vishal. He unites her with her grandfather. He eventually takes a photo of her with her parents at her Medical School. When he delivers it to their house, he ?in error? leaves a photo in the parcel of Tataa, which she sees. He tells her it is an old man who is all alone, and may not live long. She is filled with remorse and goes with her family to see her father again.
They plan to have Geeta married, and Arun will take the family photo. But how will he be able to photograph the girl with whom he is in love, marrying someone else?

Songs:
1. Ninna pasae nooru edharu
2. You got to smile
3. Nanagu ninagu Kannalae
4. Patra bareyala
5. Nanna yedeyalli
6. Hagalu kanasinalli

Released Year: 2008
Running Time: 142 minutes/Colour/Kannada

Review

This is one of my favourite Kannada films. It shows the loving relationship that develops between Anant Nag and Ganesh, a grandfather-grandson relationship. They are both excellent in their roles, the lonely old man and the kind young lad who is always anxious to please and to help. The entire cast are good. This is a film to treasure, a film to watch again and again.

Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]