Kannada cinema audience were hungry as hell, the theaters were empty and sad as it could get. It was the last decade that made the audience believe that magic can happen again and this time it will be persistent love for the Kannada audience.
Cinema lovers across the world started believing in Kannada cinema in the last decade.
Let’s open the curtains with Honorable Mentions: Uggram, Kirrik Party , Pancharangi and Mata.
1. Eddelu Manjunatha[2009]
Content is KING! This film justifies it with pure and fresh content.
Manjunatha is a lazy man who does not want to struggle to earn a living. He gets married to a hard-working woman who works in a garment factory and decides to change his attitude towards life.
Director Guruprasad has changed the attitude of Kannada filmmakers from this film.
2. Siddlingu[2012]
It’s not a love story that amazes, it’s the journey of a character, which is hard to find in a Kannada film.
Sidlingu’s passion for cars leads him to Srirangapattana, where he meets Mangala, who helps him realize his dreams. He falls in love with Mangala who thinks that he is just an innocent youngster.
Director Vijay Prasad makes a subtle statement of how characterization is important in a film.
3. Lucia [2013]
It’s the making that delivers, it’s a mystery that the Kannada film industry had been waiting for a long time.
A man suffering from insomnia is tricked into buying a drug, Lucia that makes his desires come true in his dreams, blurring the line between fantasy and reality.
Director Pawan Kumar creates a convincing parallel narrative on the screen.
4. Simpleaagi ondu love story [2013]
This film has the simplest take on a love story, but the director has produced a gem out of the basic storyline.
Kushal is sent by his radio jockey sister Rachana to Kodagu to meet her boyfriend’s sister, Ithihasini, in the hope that the two will take a liking to each other, leading to marriage, and thus paving the way for her own marriage.
Director Suni changes a way a story can be told just through conversation, which is one of a kind.
5. Ullidavru Kandante[2014]
This is the film, which has the making of a legendary film with great actors in every frame.
A journalist sets out to uncover the truth behind an incident, through the perspectives of different people, unraveling how they and their lives are intertwined with it.
Director Rakshit Shetty makes every frame a painting.
6. Rangitaranga [2015]
This movie, to sum up, has a brilliant story line and sound design, this combo was always lacking in the Kannada film industry.
Mysterious events begin to unfold after a reclusive novelist and his wife move back to her ancestral village, followed by a journalist.
Director Anup Bhandari uses the tools of cinema—sound design and cinematography at its best.
7. Kendasampige [2015]
It’s a gripping love story which is a combination of Romance and thriller which is beautiful to experience.
When a love story goes awry, two young lovers are forced to take to the road with the police hot on their heels. They escape across Karnataka in a roller-coaster ride that is at once enthralling, exasperating and nail-biting.
Director Soori proves he can do any genre.
8. Uturn[2016]
You can tell it’s a Pawan Kumar film on how he builds up suspense, especially until the climax.
Mysterious events occur around a double road flyover in Bangalore, that’s what you need to know about the plot.
Director Pawan Kumar shows pure craft involved in making a thriller film.
9. Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu [2016]
It’s not the story this time, it’s the story teller’s love towards Kannada cinema, that makes the film what it is. This film is the game changer for many aspiring filmmakers in Kannada.
Venkob Rao, a widower suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, is moved to an old-age home by his son. When he goes missing one day, he ends up crossing paths with criminals.
Director Hemant Rao makes you fall in love with cinema as an art.
10. Thithi [2016]
After watching this film, the audience around the world started believing it was always magical to just experience a story.
Set in the Indian district of Mandya, three generations of men react to the death of their 101-year old patriarch.
Director Raam Reddy creates magic on the screen out of nothing. It’s inspirational.
11. Shuddhi [2017]
This film has the best drama ever seen in the Kannada film industry.
An American making her way through India befriends two journalists fighting for justice. Together, the three women set out to right a series of wrong.
Director Adarsh Eshwarappa displays pristine drama for Kannadiga’s.
12. Ondu Mottaya khate[2017]
It’s a bald man’s story. Yes, you read it right! This will remain as a milestone in Kannada film industry for the years to come.
Janardhan, a reserved young man, contemplates his options after an astrologer predicts an ascetic future for him unless he gets married within the year.
Director Raj Shetty breaks the norms of storytelling in Kannada cinema.
13. Sarkari Hi. Pra. Shaale Kasaragodu [2018]
The Kannada language will remain in the hearts of every Kannadiga. This film witnessed claps in theatres in 2018 that’s all we can say about it.
A bunch of children at a Kannada medium school in Kasaragod leads carefree lives as their parents struggle to keep Kannada afloat in the town in Kerala. They get a rude shock that their school will be shut and that they must study in a Malayalam medium school henceforth. Can they keep the school from shutting down?
Director Rishab Shetty combines art with love on screen.
Recommended: 10 Reasons Why You Should Watch this Kannada Movie Titled SHPSK
This is the beginning of the huge list for the years to come; the new age wave of Kannada cinema which Kannadiga’s would ride. Thank you for all the filmmakers who believed and made us experience cinema, which Kannadiga’s dreamt of.
MetroSaga, Tips of The Hat for the love of cinema. Do comment and let us know what you felt about the list.
This Article is Written and Contributed by Raghu Basarimarad
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