Balaramana Dinagalu first single Shuru Shuru: Santhosh Narayanan returns to Kannada cinema with gangster drama
Shuru Shuru is a lovely melody to establish the relationship between the lead pair, Vinnod Prabhakar and Priya Anand, sung mostly by Sanjith Hegde with additional vocals by Punya
Last Updated: 04.14 PM, Dec 17, 2025
“Santhosh Narayanan is the music composer who defines the gangster movie genre”, said filmmaker KM Chaitanya, about bringing the hitmaker of films like Retro, Jigarthanda Double X, Dasara, and many more, back to Kannada cinema. Years ago, Santhosh had briefly worked on the score of Lucia and then, on Dhwaja, which was the Kannada remake of his Tamil film Kodi. Seven years later, he returns to Kannada cinema with Balaramana Dinagalu, which is Aa Dinagalu maker Chaitanya’s return to the gangster genre.
KM Chaitanya: Only Santhosh Narayanan could do justice to Balaramana Dinagalu
The filmmaker was speaking at the launch of the first single from the film, Shuru Shuru, sung beautifully by Sanjith Hedge and additional vocals by Punya. “Santhosh is someone who blends Indian with western, folk, rock and so much more. There are so many shades to his music and the team felt that he is the only person who could do justice to our film,” he added.
Dreaming of having Santhosh on the job is one thing, but actually getting him to agree and that too within a budget they could afford was the challenge then. “When I discussed the idea of getting Santhosh on board, and spoke to producer Shreyas, I was hesitant because it is an expensive proposition. But all that Shreyas said that if I could convince Santhosh, he’d do the same with his mother (Padmavathi Jayaram, with whom he has co-produced the film),” explained Chaitanya.
For the song Shuru Shuru, Santhosh sent the filmmaker the basic composition for the lyrics, which Jayant Kaikini wrote. In fact, even when they shot the song, they didn’t have the final recorded version, so leading man Vinnod Prabhakar and heroine Priya Anand would do random things that they thought were apt for the sequence, which Chaitanya and DoP Venu captured.
Balaramana Dinagalu FAQs
Q. What is the real-life inspiration of Balaramana Dinagalu?
A. Balaramana Dinagalu is director KM Chaitanya's return to the gangster genre, after Aa Dinagalu. This time, he is presenting the tale of a gangster called Balarama, who was active in the 80s and 90s. The film explores the meteroic rise of Balarama and his eventual death, when he was killed while in jail.
Q. List the cast of Balaramana Dinagalu
A. Balaramana Dinagalu is led by Vinnod Prabhakar as the title character. He is joined by Priya Anand, Vinay Gowda, Ashish Vidyarthi, Ramesh Indira, Atul Kulkarni, Avinash, among others.