Worst of Kannada cinema in 2022: From Body God, Trivikrama, Ravi Bopanna to Petromax and more

The year 2022 well and truly belonged to Kannada cinema. It all started early this year with Rocking Star Yash’s mammoth KGF: Chapter 2, which was followed by other good story-telling pieces like 777 Charlie, Vikrant Rona and Kantara. There were several other Kannada films that stood out, which did not get the pan-India attention these bigger titles got, but overall, the prospects of the industry looked good.

Not everything was rosy in Sandalwood though. With several pre-pandemic films still being lined up for release, the year has seen its fair share of colossal failures too, some of which were so bad it had one wondering why anyone would even dare to invest on them. Here’s a look at some Kannada films that had blink-and-you-miss theatrical outings.

By2Love

Director Hari Santhosh’s film had Dhanveerraah and Sreeleela in the lead, as a young couple who go from abhorring love to falling for each other. Much in love as they are, they also see the logic in checking if they are truly compatible, and decide to get a baby into their midst. A baby that they pay for to be smuggled out of an orphanage. Apparently, this act of child trafficking is okay, so long as the lead couple realize that they love the child after returning it back to the ‘black market channel’ it came from.

Body God

Director-actor Prabhu Srinivas’ film about a debt-ridden male nurse keeping his dead patient ‘alive’ had its fair share of cringe moments, including that of a dead body molesting the house help. The comedy, some of which had Prabhu onscreen, was also quite bad.

Trivikrama

This was the highly-anticipated big-screen debut of Crazy Star Ravichandran’s younger son, Vikram. The film, by Sahana Murthy, though, had an age-old wafer-thin plot that didn’t offer the star son anything to bite into. To make matters worse, he was paired with Akanksha Sharma, who could bring no emotion whatsoever to her pretty face.

Sugarless

On paper, Pruthvi Ambaar’s film had a good premise. It revolved around the stigmatisation surrounding people with diabetes, especially younger patients. Pruthvi played a 28-year-old, who is suddenly saddled with having to adjust to a new lifestyle. The film’s failure was in the treatment of the subject.

Petromax

Director Vijayaprasad’s adult comedy laced with philosophy was about four grown-up orphans – three men and a woman – trying to find a rented accommodation and the accompanying struggles. The filmmaker did not even bother resorting to double entendre, keeping the sex jokes direct and getting the ladies, Hariprriya and Karunya Ram to ‘crack’ them.

Ravi Bopanna

The first indication that Crazy Star V Ravichandran’s Kannada adaptation of the Malayalam hit Joseph would be bad was when he released a trailer that was liberally sprinkled with, ‘Le Le Bopanna’.

Thotapuri

Director Vijayaprasad’s second film of the year was yet another adult comedy, this time with Jaggesh in the lead and the sex jokes sprinkled liberally around a subject about religion. Thotapuri was to be a two-part project, with Dhananjaya’s character to be more prominent in the second, but given the film’s lacklustre box office performance, it remains to be seen if it will get made.

Champion

The launchpad of Sachin Dhanpal, Champion made some headlines because the makers got Sunny Leone to do a special number in the film. Besides that, the film, which paired the debutant with Aditi Prabhudeva, had nothing else to write home about, as it mixed an underdog tale with routine commercial elements.

Dil Pasand

Multiple heroines, it would seem, are a must for Darling Krishna now. Not that it makes much of a difference. Dil Pasand’s greatest failing was in casting Megha Shetty as one. The actress was a complete fish out of water as a traditional girl who gets a modern makeover for the man of her dreams. Nishvika’s arc revolved around the assumption of a night of alcohol-fuelled passion with Krishna, and then claiming to be pregnant from the very next moment.

Triple Riding

Golden Star Ganesh also had a misfire this year in the form of Triple Riding. Paired with not one, but three heroines, this film had even his fans saying that he ought to take a break from these routine emotional love stories that he’s been doing for a while.