Namma Preethiya Ramu re-release: Challenging Star Darshan’s film to be back in theatres

It was during the promotions of Kranti that Challenging Star Darshan was repeatedly asked about when he would do yet another performance-oriented roles, on the lines of Namma Preethiya Ramu. He followed that up with Kaatera, which was hailed as the film that saw the return of Darshan the actor and not star. Namma Preethiya Ramu, though, is widely considered as one of his career-best performances, although the film was not a commercial success.

Directed by the duo of Sanjay and Vijay, Namma Preethiya Ramu was the remake of the Malayalam hit Vasanthiyum Lakshmiyum Pinne Njaanum, starring the late Kalabhavan Mani, in which Darshan played a visually-impaired singer. The film, which first came to theatres way back in 2003, is set to get a re-release. Namma Preethiya Ramu will join the Valentine’s Day set of films on February 14 in theatres.

The film features music by Ilaiyaraaja, with most of the tunes reused from the Tamil remake of Vasanthiyum Lakshmiyum Pinne Njaanum, called Kasi. Darshan was joined by Navya Natarajan, Hamsavijetha, Doddanna, Umashree, Karibasavaiah, Pavithra Lokesh, Ramesh Pandith, Shyam Yadav, Nandini, among others, on the cast.

Namma Preethiya Ramu revolves around the title character Ramu, a blind singer, who is the breadwinner of his family. When a local landlord promises to get Ramu all the help for a surgery to restore his eyesight. The landlord, though, has nefarious intentions, the result of which is tragic for Ramy and his family.

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At the time of the film’s release, critics were unanimous in their praise of Darshan’s performance, even though Namma Preethiya Ramu is a remake and he had Kalabhavan Mani’s role as reference. The Malayalam original was a big hit at the time, but the Kannada version failed to replicate that mantra at the box office. Kalabhavan Mani had won a Special Jury Award at the National Film Awards for his role as Ramu.

Namma Preethiya Ramu is also available to stream on JioCinema and/or OTTPlay Premium.