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The Worst 5 Kannada films of 2014

Kannada cinema saw some pretty bad films this year.

The first half of 2014 has been disappointing for the Kannada film industry. Some of the big films, starring superstars, failed to set the box office registers ringing.

In all, 63 Kannada films hit the screens during the first six months.

After looking at the best, here's looking at the worst so far:

Ninnindale
Cast: Puneeth Rajkumar, Erica Fernandes, Tilak, Vinayak Joshi
Director: Jayanth Paranji

The much-hyped Puneeth starrer Ninnindale failed to sustain the good opening of the first few days.

The music, composed by Mani Sharma, became popular.

Puneeth’s performance was uninspiring, pale and unenthusiastic, and the film has been rated as his biggest flop.

Erica Fernandes showed promise, but the rest of the cast was disappointing. Most of the actors were new and drawn from the Telugu industry. They failed to connect to Kannada audiences.

Famous Telugu film comedian Brahmanandam became a laughing stock as he appeared in just a single scene.

Jayanth Paranji, a popular Telugu director and a Bangalorean, however, managed to keep Puneeth busy in adventure sports like sky diving and rock climbing. Most of the outdoor portions were shot in the US.   

Vindha’s camerawork was the only saving grace.

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Crazy Star

Cast:  V Ravichandran, Priyanka Upendra, Aakul Balaji, Rangayana Raghu, Prakash Rai
Director: V Ravichandran

V Ravichandran, the showman of Kannada cinema, has been making his film Manjina Hani for the last few years. He has been promising his fans that the movie will soon hit the theatres.

Meanwhile, he announced plans to remake the Malayalam hit Traffic and thus was born Crazy Star.

Though he has tweaked the Malayalam hit, Crazy Star came across more as an autographical sketch of himself.

Although Ravichandran has not lost his touch, audiences found the movie to be average.

Even the chemistry with his Malla co-star Priyanka did not set the box office registers ringing.

Dil Rangeela

Cast:  Ganesh, Rachita Ram, Priyanka Rao
Director: Preetham Gubbi

Dil Rangeela marked the return of Ganesh and Preetham Gubbi after the successful Maleyali Jotheyali.

This romantic comedy failed to meet audiences’ expectations or make any impact at the box office all over Karnataka. It met with average success in Bangalore since the urban crowd identified with the fun and frolic in the movie.

The film has some well-timed comedy scenes but was predictable in the second half.

Rachita Ram, who had a successful debut with Bulbul, showed promise and was presented quite glamorously in this film.

Savaari 2

Cast: Srinagara Kitty, Girish Karnad, Kiran Rao, Abbas, Shruti Hariharan, Madhurima, Mukyamantri Chandru
Director: Jacob Verghese 

The much-awaited sequel to a successful film failed to flatter the original. The first film, Savaari was itself a remake of the Telugu hit Gamyam.  

The first half of the movie was slow while the second half had some twists with a comic ending.

Audiences found the journey to be tedious, never ending and forced.

A number of characters tell their stories in flashback. Audiences expected a comedy but the movie became too much of a journey.

Ulidavaru Kandante

Cast: Rakshit Shetty, Kishore, Tara, Yajna Shetty
Director: Rakshit Shetty

There was a lot of publicity and online media interest in this film. The film was stylishly made and seemed to be inspired by Mexican films.

Audiences that seldom watched Kannada movies fell for the style and presentation of the film. However, the average cine-goer gave it the thumbs down.

Debutant director Rakshit Shetty, who is also an upcoming actor, took all the accolades for his technical brilliance in capturing the beauty and culture of Mangalore and its surroundings.

The film did average business at the box office after its huge first week opening.

Ajaneesh Loknath’s music became a sensation and Chawla’s camerawork was much talked about.