Kempe Gowda - Movie Review

Director-cum-actor Sudeep's much-expected movie Kempe Gowda is really superb with all its sound production values, except one blunder, which has been often committed by the most of the Kannada filmmakers. The first half of the flick has been shot in Rona (North Karnataka) and the hero Kempe Gowda is born and brought up in Rona, but he speaks Bangalore Kannada.

Kempe Gowda is a remake of Surya's Tamil movie Singam, which has already become hit in both and Tamil and Telugu. Sudeep's power-packed performance is the main attraction of the film. Arjun's music, Different Danny's fights, Sharan and Bullet Prakash's comedy, Krishna's picturisation, Arun Sagar's art direction, choreography, beautiful locations, costume and make up works are the other highlights of the film. The movie lacks usual punch dialogues of Sudeep.

Kempe Gowda is an action-cum-romantic story, which has all the masala ingredients like action, comedy, music, sentiment and others. The movie is all about an honest police officer. Tormented by a Bangalore don, the hero challenges to eliminate all rowdy elements in the city. The director has got good grip on the tempo, which keeps hold on the audience with its twists and turns every now and then.

The story revolves around Kempe Gowda, an honest police sub-inspector. He has a dream of running a provisional store, but he becomes a police office and he is posted as PSI at his own town Rona. He falls in love with a girl (Ragini Dwivedi), who has come to his town from Bangalore to spend her holidays. Meanwhile, he develops enmity with a don called Arumugam (Ravi Shankar) of Bangalore in connection with the suicide of an NRI. The don tries to ill treat him by using his influence. How Kempe Gowda will face his challenges and eliminate him will form the interesting part of the film.

Kicha Sudeep is the showman in the film Kempe Gowda. He has delivered an excellent performance. Especially, he rocks the audience with his energetic action scenes. As Arumugam, Ravi Shankar has given wonderful performance, which matches the acting of Sudeep. Ragini Dwivedi does not have much scope, but she has tried to use the given chance to show her talent. Although Sharan and Bullet Prakash's comedy looks artificial, it is enjoyable. Gisrish Karnad, Jai Jagadish, Tara, Ashok, Ashok Kheny and others have also done justice to their respective roles.

Besides Sudeep's acting, Arjun's music is another highlight of the film. Songs like 'Srirama Jairama...', 'Vayassu Nanange Hadinentaytu...', Hale Radio...' and 'Thara Thara...' are good to listen. Different Danny's choreographed stunts are also biggest attraction of the film. Besides music and stunts, Arun Sagar's art direction, costumes, make up, choreography, locations and picturisation in the songs are really excellent. Overall, Kempe Gowda has sound Technical values.

As it is said at the beginning, the biggest drawback and blunder in the movie is the Kannada dialect used in the first half of the film Kempe Gowda. Hardly any character speaks the dialect of North Karnataka, which could have boosted the comedy element in the first half. However, this does not stop the viewers from enjoying the movie. It has good entertainer values. Do watch the film this weekend.

Producer: Shankare Gowda

Director: Sudeep

Cast: Sudeep, Ragini Dwivedi, Gisrish Karnad, Jai Jagadish, Sharan, Bullet Prakash, Tara, Ashok, Ashok Kheny and others.

Music: Arjun Janya