A DEMONIC TRAIL OF HORROR AND TERROR

Dandupalya is a quaint village in Karnataka, which attained notoriety because of the misdeeds of a criminal gang with origins in that village. The merciless gang committed scores of ruthless rapes, burglaries and murders and unleashed a reign of terror in and around the metropolitan areas of Bengaluru. It is estimated that the gang killed in cold-blood over eighty people between 1996 and 2001. Eleven of the gang members were sent to the gallows.

"ದಂಡುಪಾಳ್ಯ" ('Dandupalya') is a 2012 Kannada film that documents the gruesome crimes of the notorious gang. The crime drama received positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success. It was dubbed in Telugu ('Dandupalyam') and Tamil ('Karimedu').

The plot, rooted in reality, revolves around this tightly-knit group of bandits, who would feast on donkey meat and get drunk on hooch before hatching their devious plan. The next day, Lakshmi (Pooja Gandhi) would scout the neighborhood for secluded houses with women at home alone.

The modus operandi was then for Lakshmi to knock on the door of the identified victim and ask for some water to quench her thirst. The moment the lady turned her back to fetch water, Krishna (Makarand Deshpande), Hanuma (Ravi Kale) and others, would barge in to kill brutally and loot ruthlessly. Krishna even took sadistic pleasure listening to air from the victims' lungs gushing out of their slit throats.

Inspector Chalapathi (P Ravishankar), assigned to investigate the bone-chilling and blood-curdling murders, cracks the case in due course.

Director Srinivas Raju has been sincere in his endeavour. Despite an instrinsically engrossing plot, the narrative fails to build the suspense to a nail-biting crescendo. The script and story-telling should have been more faithful to the real-life story; they encompass de trop romantic sequences that distract. The quilt-like screenplay too weakens the grip; disjointed sub-plots dent the overall impact of the dolorous, depressing tale. A dash of detail and a touch of extra research would have enhanced the intensity.

The ensemble cast has several heavyweights from the world of cinema. Pooja Gandhi is the STANDOUT; she confidently adds raw, rustic pep and punch to her role– the 'shifty-eyes' is overdone though. Makarand Deshpande is OUTSTANDING too. The stellar galaxy of actors, of Ravi Kale, P Ravishankar, Doddanna, Ramesh Bhat, Chandrashekar and others, has fared commendably. Unfortunately, the script affords little time to the characters to develop fully onscreen.

Arjun Janya's music has a melancholic vibe; the sound effects are apt for the sombre, sinister mood of film. The editing and camerawork are on par.

I rate this crime drama: 6.5 on 10!

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