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Bell Bottom
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Wikipedia article
'Bell Bottom' is a 2019 Indian Kannada-language crime comedy film directed by Jayatheertha and written by Dayanand T. K. The film, set in the 1980s, is produced by Santhosh Kumar K. C. under the Golden Horse Cinema banner. The film features Rishab Shetty and Hariprriya in the lead roles. The supporting cast includes Achyuth Kumar, Yogaraj Bhat and Pramod Shetty.
The technical crew members for the film include B. Ajaneesh Loknath as the music composer, Aravind Kashyap as the cinematographer, K. M. Prakash as the editor and Raghu Niduvalli as the dialogue writer.
The film was shot in Joga village, Sagara taluk in Shivamogga. Parts of the police station sequences were shot in Udupi.
The film launched in late January 2019 and released across theaters in Karnataka on 15 February 2019. The movie became one of the highest grosser of 2019.The completed 100 days in 25 plus centers having Housefull shows. The movie premiered at the 'Indian Film Week' in Japan.
Plot
Divakara is a wannabe detective who grows up watching murder mystery and spy novels and movies like 'Goa Dalli CID 999' where he adopts his name as 'Detective' Divakara. After immense pressure from his Constable father Annappa, Divakara joins the police station as a constable. One day, Divakara solves a murder mystery and gets immensely popular where Inspectors Sahadeva, Manjunath and Parashuram entrust him to solve a mysterious robbery case where recovered goods are stolen in the police station. Divakara accepts and begins the investigation.
With Constable Qureshi's help, Divakara suspects 'Marakutuka' and interrogates him where he learns about a maniac named 'Sagani' Pinto, but to no avail. Admist investigation, Divakara meets Kusuma, a bootlegger who sells hooch in the area and falls in love with her. Divakara learns about a robbery bust by his cousin Inspector Sunil where he informs Sunil about the mysterious burglary where despite tight security at night, the goods are stolen. Divakara learns about a priest named 'Mantravadi' Modi Nanjappa, where he suspects foul play. After a misunderstanding, Sahadeva insults Divakara, which leads Divakara to take vengeance against Sahadeva with the help of Photographer friend Gurupada.
After a clue, Divakara suspects some blind priests as they had always arrived at the police station at the time of the robbery where he also learns Kusuma's involvement in the robberies. Gurupada uploads the photos of Parashuram's wife Lalitha romancing Sahadeva (when Divakara and Gurupadha accidently sees them romancing in the forest and that Gurupada took photos of them), which leads to Parashuram creating a ruckus at the bar by atracking Sahadeva and Manjunath, where Gurupada takes the photos of the ruckus and provides it to Sunila, who in turn provides it to the Police Commissioner which leads to the Inspectors getting arrested.
Divakara interrogates Kusuma about the robberies, but there is no evidence against her for the involvement in the robberies. At night, Divakara learns about a drug named Devil's Breath and that Pinto was illegally supplying the drug and interrogates Pinto where he reveals about Modi Nanjappa is also involved in the robbery. While interrogating the blind priests, Divakara learns about the antidote of the drug which is actually created by Kusuma and that Kusuma frequently arrives at the police station at the time of the robbery in the pretext of her marks card theft and also trains the blind priest to perform the robbery without leaving any clues.
After relaying the information to Annappa, Divakara reveals that Annappa is the main kingpin behind the robberies. Divakara ask the reason for the robberies to Annappa, who reveals that Chamanlal Seth, a rich merchant had laid the eyes on the land of 'Ashakirana' orphanage which is famous for producing Bell bottom pants. With the help of Sahadeva, Parashuram and Manjunath. Seth manages to send the children under the pretext of renovating the orphanage and files that there is no orphanage of such name.
With the orphanage being leased with Seth, Annappa decide to steal the robbery goods and also to take vengeance against the Inspectors. Having them locked in the interrogation room, Divakara reaches the place where the goods are buried, but there is no sign of the goods. On the day of the building lease, Divakara manages to make Seth to refuse the land on the basis of superstitious beliefs and the orphanage is saved. Thus the orphanage is reopened again where Divakara and Kusuma, along with Annappa and his girlfriend Lalitha happily marry.
Cast
* Rishab Shetty as Detective Divakara
* Hariprriya as Kusuma
* Achyuth Kumar as Annappa
* Yogaraj Bhat as Marakutuka
* Pramod Shetty as Inspector Sahadeva
* Sujay Shastry as Sagani Pinto
*Pranay Ranjan as Police Officer
* Shivamani as Mantravaadi Modi Nanjappa
* Dinesh Mangalore as Chamanlal Seth
* P. D. Sathish as Photographer Gurupada
* Prakash Thuminad as Police Constable Qureshi
*Renuka as Lalitha
* Girikrishna as Inspector
* Naveen D Padil as Goobe Rama
*Santhosh Kumar K.C as Police Inspector Sunil, Cousin of Detective Divakara
Soundtrack
B. Ajaneesh Loknath has scored the soundtrack and score for the film. A total of three songs were composed by him. The audio was launched under Rishab audio label. The songs are written by Yogaraj Bhat and Raghu Niduvalli.
Marketing
Unlike the usual marketing strategies including poster release, teaser and trailer releases, the film team approached a different strategy by releasing the audio trailer of the film. With this, the film became the first ever in the world to have an audio trailer. The audio trailer clocked 2 minutes 57 seconds and was released on a popular radio channel in Bengaluru. Later, a video trailer was released and was narrated in a 'Harikath' style.
Release and reception
The film got a good response at the box office. The movie became one of the biggest films in 2019. It became the first Kannada film of 2019 to complete 100 days. Seeing the success of the film the makers announced a sequel titled 'Bell Bottom 2' in January 2021.
The critic of The News Minute wrote that Dayanandas story makes so much sense because it takes place in the 80s. Director Jayatheertha has managed to stitch a beautiful tale together and he knows how to draw an audience to theatres. Arvind Kashyap proves his prowess with the camera. The '80s tone is perfectly captured and his sense of framing is brilliant. He takes us on a nostalgic journey to the '80s just with his camera. The movie rides high on comedy and emotions and also has the undertones of a crime thriller. The music, cinematography and dialogues make 'Bell Bottom' one of the best movies of the year so far. Ajneesh Loknaths background music and songs lift the mood and give the right '80s feel. The pun-filled dialogues are entertaining and make us laugh hard.
The critic of Times of India paper wrote Bell Bottom is one of the finer films to have hit the screens lately. The film is entertaining, no doubt. But what is more commendable is the fact that it has those little nuances that ensure the imagery to the time that the film is set in remain intact. Bell Bottom is worth that weekend trip to the cinema halls for its laughs and clever writing.
The critic of The New Indian Express wrote Bell Bottom made under Golden Horse Cinema is worth a watch as it marks the beginning of a summer thrill.
Awards and nominations
Remake
The film is being remade in Tamil by Sathyasiva with the same title. Initially, the Hindi movie of the same name starring Akshay Kumar was speculated to be a remake of this movie. However, Akshay Kumar later denied the same saying his movie was based on an original screenplay.
References
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