Bul Bul Kannada

Starring: Ambarish, Darshan, Rachitha Ram, Ramya Barna, Spoorthi, Ashok, Sharan, Chithra Shenoy,
Sharath Lohitashwa, Tennis Krishna, Sadhu Kokila, Ramesh Bhat, Sridhar
Director: M.D. Sridhar
Producer: Meena Thoogudeepa Srinivas, Dinakar S.
Music Dir: V. Harikrishna
Lyricist: Kaviraj
Singers: V. Harikrishna, Sonu Nigam, Tippu, S.P. Balasubramanyam, Hemanth, Karthik
Distributor: Sri Ganesh
Genre: Drama

Synopsis
In 1980, a group of close friends were leaving college. Faced with the sad prospect of perhaps never seeing each other again, they decided to meet regularly in the future. They included Amarnath (Ambarish), Vishwanath (Ashok), Appa Rao (Tennis Krishna) and Ramesha (Ramesh Bhat), Subbaiah (Sadhu Kokila) and Ramana.

Present day – we see Vijay (Darshan) competing with another college student in a motorbike race, which Vijay wins. The loser tries to molest Nisha (Ramya Berna), a girl who has been watching, but Vijay rescues her by fighting off the loser, and his friends. Nisha tells Vijay that he loves her, but he tells her that he has never thought of her in that way, he has only thought of her as a friend, and would like them to remain friends. Shortly after, Vijay hears from his friends that Nisha is in hospital, having tried to commit suicide, and that her father (Sharath Lohitashwa), a notorious Don, has sent his goons to kill Vijay. The Don captures Vijay’s friends, and demands that Vijay marry Nisha, or he will kill his friends. Vijay says he is willing to marry Nisha, but that she will not be happy, because he cannot love her in the way her father does. He then tells an elaborate story of Kaveri (Rachita Ram), a girl with whom he fell in love in Switzerland. Kaveri suffered from short-term memory loss, as a result of an accident a year previously. She can remember everything that happened before the accident, but when she goes to sleep, she forgets everything that happened the previous day. She is now in coma as a result of being a passenger in a further accident, when Vijay was driving – and Vijay, who feels responsible for this, is waiting for her to come out of coma. Nisha’s father is moved by the story, and says he will handle Nisha. The story is, however, untrue and Vijay’s friends are afraid of what will happen if Nisha and her father discover that it is untrue. Kaveri was, in fact, a childhood friend of Vijay, before Ashok, her father, moved the family to Switzerland.
It is the time of the college reunion for the parents (and their college-going sons, and Kaveri, the daughter of Vishwanath), which is held in Ramesha’s house, and Vijay is the son of Amarnath. Vijay is excited at the prospect of meeting Kaveri again, whom he has loved since childhood, and whom he wants to marry. However, Kaveri is indifferent to him. Vishwanath likes Rishi, who is Appa Rao’s son, and wants his daughter to marry him: Amarnath promises to help this marriage to be arranged, out of gratitude for what Vishwanath had done for him in the past. Rishi arrives, and we discover it was he with whom Vijay fought, when he tried to molest Nisha. He is brash, and a show-off, but Kaveri seems to like him.
What will happen if Nisha’s father finds out about Vijay’s deception? Why is Kaveri indifferent to Vijay? Whom will she marry?

Songs:
1. Junior Helappa
2. Ondhu Sanje
3. Jagadalliro
4. Nille Nille Kaveri
5. Hoo Chendu

Released Year: 2013
Running Time: 153 minutes/Colour/Kannada

Cast:
Ambarish as Amarnath, Vijay’s father
Rachita Ram as Kaveri
Ramya Berna as Nisha
Ashok as Vishwanath, Kaveri’s father
Tennis Krishna as Apparao
Sadhu Kokila
Sharan
Ramesh Bhat as Ramesha
Ambarish as Amarnath
Rachita Ram as Kaveri
Ramya Berna as Nisha
Sharath Lohitashwa as Nisha’s father
Ashok as Vishwanath
Tennis Krishna as Apparao
Sadhu Kokila
Sharan, as one of Vijay’s friends
Ramesh Bhat as Ramesha
Sridhar as Rishi
Chitra Shenoy as Vijay’s mother
Spoorthi

Review
This film is a remake of “Darling” Telugu (2010). Vijay’s untrue story in the first half of the film is based on the Hollywood film, “50 First Dates” (2004), and when his friends question him about it, he replies that he had taken the story from an English (it is in fact American) film and added Kannada Masala to it. The story in fact relates to “short-term memory loss” and the idea was used in “Ghajini” (Hindi and Telugu) and “Simple Agi Ondh Love Story” (Kannada).

One criticism I have of both films is that young Swiss lads do not behave in the way we see them depicted in the film. Also, while I know, both from Indian films and from personal experience, Indians are very warm-hearted and caring and very family orientated – I find that the Swiss people can also be very warm-hearted and caring, when you get to know them.

Which film is the better – “Darling” or “Bul Bul”? If you are from Karnataka, you will obviously prefer to watch the latter in your language, and if you are from Andra Pradesh, you will want to watch “Darling”. I am from Scotland, und understand neither language, having to rely on the subtitles. “Darling” is one of my many favourite Telugu films, and I like the acting of Prabhas and Kajal Agarwal. But likewise the acting of Darshan and Rachitha Ram. However, the untrue story of the first half of the Kannada film I find more convincing than that of the Telugu film. The untrue story is set in Switzerland, a country very dear to me, and the Kannada film shows the beauty of the Swiss scenery in greater detail then the Telugu film. However, something very strange – the scenes which lead up to the ending in the Kannada film are more typical of the climax of a Telugu film, and the same scenes in the Telugu film are more typical of what I would expect to find in a Kannada film! So while I had a slight preference for the Kannada film, I would recommend both!

5 stars

Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]