THRILLS OF BUSTING A GANG OF THUGS

“A thriller is a very carefully structured story,” wrote a well-known crime writer. In stark contrast, a potboiler offers enough thrills despite its unstructured, and often hackneyed, story.

“ಸಿಂಗಪೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ರಾಜ ಕುಳ್ಳ” (‘Singapoorinalli Raja Kulla’, which translates to: ‘Raja Kulla in Singapore’) is a 1978 Kannada film that turned out to be a whopper of a success at the box-office. The action thriller started the trend in Kannada films of shooting at exotic locales overseas; it was a musical blockbuster too film.

Shivaraj (Loknath) and Junie (Thoogudeepa Srinivas) are underworld kingpins in Singapore; both are into diamond smuggling and a host of other nefarious activities. Needless to say, they are on the radar of law enforcement authorities. Detective Venu a.k.a. Kulla (Dwarakish) is entrusted with the task of bringing the hoodlums to justice.

Pop-singer Raja (Vishnuvardhan) gets acquainted with Gopinath Rao (Shakti Prasad), a wealthy man into some shady stuff. Tara (Manjula), Gopinath’s daughter, too is romantically involved with Raja. Because of some past rivalry, Gopinath hires Raja to knock off Shivaraj.

Both Raja and Kulla reach Singapore. At loggerheads with each other, the two go at it hammer and tongs― umpteen face-offs and fisticuffs follow. While at work, Kulla develops a soft corner for sweet Felina (Miss Felina), a Singaporean intelligence operative.

So do Raja and Kulla manage to bring the thugs to book?

CV Rajendran’s direction is stereotypical for an action flick. MD Sundar’s story uses copybook thriller material; sure enough, his screenplay is suffused with suspense― result: a cliffhanger replete with the usual plot twists and narrative ruses. There is a fair sprinkling of dare-devilry in the action sequences; fight scenes too overflow with toxic masculinity. High-speed car and boat chases are a highlight. The Singaporean roads though are surprisingly bereft of terrible traffic and treacherous turns; so, the reckless careening looks lame-‘n-tame.

The Rajan-Nagendra duo has composed the background score. Set to lyrics that flowed from Chi. Udaya Shankar’s pen, each of the playback songs in the album is a chart-buster. Deft camerawork and decent editing are the icing on the cake.

Vishnuvardhan shines with a perfect mix of cool charm and suave style; Dwarakish exudes his usual cheekiness in all the tomfoolery. Manjula and Miss Felina are eye candy in their glam doll roles. Uma Shivakumar, Lokanath, Thoogudeepa Srinivas and Shakti Prasad are cast in pivotal roles.

In a nutshell, the movie is an amalgam of action, romance and suspense…it makes for some purebred entertainment!

I rate this action thriller: 7.0 on 10!