Avane Srimannarayana (, stylized as ASN) is a 2019 Indian Kannada-language western fantasy adventure comedy film directed and edited by Sachin B. Ravi in his directorial debut. Jointly produced by Pushkara Mallikarjunaiah and H.K.Prakash, the film features Rakshit Shetty and Shanvi Srivastava in lead roles. B. Ajaneesh Loknath and Charan Raj composed the soundtrack, with the former composing the score, whereas Karm Chawla handled the cinematography. Described by Shetty as "Southern Odd Fiction", the film follows a corrupt police officer who takes on a bandit chief in order to recover a missing treasure in the 1980s.
The film's script was written by Rakshit Shetty, Chandrajith Belliappa, Anirudh Kodgi, Abhijith Mahesh, Nagarjuna Sharma, and Abhilash. Originally announced in February 2017, the scriptwriting took 18 months to complete, with filming eventually began in March 2018 and ended in June 2019. It was filmed in portions across North Karnataka region, and a huge set was erected at Bengaluru, where 90% of the film's shoot took place. The film was shot for 200 days, thus becoming the longest Kannada film to be shot, and also the only Kannada film with the highest number of call sheets. The film was compiled with 2000 VFX shots.
Produced on a budget of 200240 million, Avane Srimannarayana was released in Kannada on 27 December 2019 and grossed 560 million worldwide. It was simultaneously dubbed and released into different languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi. The Telugu version released on 1 January 2020. Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi versions released on Amazon Prime Video on 3 January 2020.
Plot
During the 1980s in the western lawless city of Amaravati, Karnataka, the ruthless bandit king Ramarama of the Abhira kingdom kills a theater troupe for stealing a government treasure before he can. He spares and abducts the troupe bandmaster for his entertainment, but finds that they have already hidden the treasure. He searches to no avail, and on his deathbed he passes the throne to his younger son Tukaram. This leads his older son Jayaram to jealously and he kills his father and wounds Tukaram before taking the throne for himself, but he promised his father in his last moments not to kill Tukaram. Jayaram declares himself king but that he won't sit on the throne till they find their rightful treasure, but they fail to even fifteen years later.
The journalist Lakshmi and her cameraman Sudhakar are seen reporting on Harishchandra, a treasure hunter hired by Tukaram to find the missing treasure, but he's kidnapped during the report. Lakshmi reports this to the negligent inspector Narayana, and that the possible abductors were Jayaram's men. Narayana had mistakenly arrested four of Harishchandra's guards who were appointed by Tukaram who is now a politician bent on killing his brother. He lets them go but Tukaram catches and wishes to punish him. He forces Narayana to write a bounty on his own head, and he must find Harishchandra or be killed by mercenaries.
Narayana, however, takes advantage of this, and secretly writes the bounty to instead be to steal the newspaper delivery van to prevent Lakshmi from reporting his mistake but he ends up finding the kidnapped Harishchandra in the van and decides to fake a story where he rescued him for publicity. Jayaram reads about this and captures Narayana where he confesses the truth, but Jayaram lets Narayana live on the condition he'll find the treasure. It's revealed that Narayana used mercenaries to kidnap Harishchandra since he himself coveted the treasure. He also finds out from men of the earlier theater troupe that they're a religious group who believe in the prophecy of savior called Sri Hari. Since Jayaram seeks to persecute the troupe, Hari is supposed to protect them and a prophecy says an eagle will sit on the chosen one's hand. Narayana and his deputy Achyuthanna find that Harishchandra is kidnapped again by the troupe who believe he's Hari. The two disguise themselves and infiltrate the troupe festival, but an eagle sits on Narayana's arm as they're caught, causing the troupe to declare him Sri Hari.
Lakshmi confronts Narayana and warns him that posing as Sri Hari is dangerous, and that a faction of the troupe don't believe the prophecy. She tricks Narayana into a trap and kidnaps him, revealing that she and Sudhakar are members of said faction. The eagle from the previous night was supposed to choose Sudhakar but Narayana knocks him out to take his disguise, causing him to become Sri Hari instead. Lakshmi keeps him for punishment but Narayana escapes when they leave and consults a few of the believers in the troupe, who tell him the map for the treasure exists but nowhere to be found. For this, Narayana goes back to the Abhira fort and skillfully frames a guard Narsi for pocketing Tukaram's ring, which Narayana actually stole from him earlier. He also bribes two guards to frame Narsi as a thief, so Jayaram imprisons him. This was meant to snap the bandmaster out of his trauma and have him stand up for Narsi but it fails. The bribed guards help Narayana escape the fort, and the latter summons Tukaram eventually leading to a standoff between the brothers. As Narayana escapes, Tukaram outguns Jayaram and seizes the fort. The bandmaster manages to escape, but Narayana confronts him and finds out the troupe's traditional play reveals the treasure location.
Narayana goes back to Lakshmi and convinces her to help him find the treasure and save the troupe. He finds that the play tells the story of how the ocean was churned to create magical entities and one is symbolic of the treasure location. Despite Lakshmi cancelling further rehearsals, Narayana decodes the play and identifies the location as a secluded mountain forest. Some of Tukaram's men meet with Narayana to search for the treasure, while others manage to abduct the entire troupe and pour gasoline on the fort to destroy it. Jayaram manages to escape custody and kills Tukaram's men, eventually tying his brother to a cross. Narayana also finds a decoy chest with rocks, so Tukaram's men bury him alive, but Achyuthaana and other police manage to save him. Narayana deduces the real chest's location and takes it. He takes it to Jayaram and sets up snipers around the fort. He heads to the throne room and shows the treasure, stating that he'll exchange it for the troupe's lives. Narayana also shows that his men have started to burn the fort, causing Jayaram's men to renounce their loyalties and flee. Realizing he has lost everything, Jayaram fights Narayana in rage but is overpowered. Narayana evacuates the troupe and Jayaram is killed in the fire. Narayana is praised as a hero for his actions and eventually falls for Lakshmi, leading to their marriage. During the credits, Harishchandra meets Narayana's long lost father.
Cast
Rakshit Shetty in a dual role as Inspector Narayana and Vasudev (Narayana's Father), the former is the corrupt, selfish, and negligent inspector of Amaravati. He is skilled in combat and deception, is humorous, and goes through redemption. Shanvi Srivastava as Lakshmi, the reporter who follows the conflict between Jayaram and Tukaram, and eventually becomes Narayana's lover. Achyuth Kumar as Constable Achyuthanna, Narayana's close friend and right hand. Balaji Manohar as Jayarama, the ruthless Abhira king and main antagonist. Pramod Shetty as Tukaram, Jayaram's brother who is usurped and wishes to kill him. Madhusudhan Rao as Ramarama, Jayaram and Tukaram's father. Gopalkrishna Deshpande as Bandmaster, who was abducted by Ramarama and scarred by witnessing his friend's execution. Anirudh Mahesh as Shanku Salman Ahmed as Drama Company Artist Chandan Achar as Drama Company Artist Raghu Pandeshwar as Drama Artist Prakash Thuminad as Drama Company Artist Prakash Shenoy as Drama Company Artist Kiran Naik as Drama Company Artist Sree Harsha as Drama Company Artist Shashank MC as Drama Company Artist M. K. Mata as Gadipaar, Tukaram's henchman Vijay Chendoor as Sudhakara, Lakshmi's cameraman Gautham Raj as Vibhasu, one of Ramarama's men Ashwin Hassan as Narsi, one of Jayaram's men, who is framed by Narayana. Raghu Ramanakoppa as Harishchandra, a treasure hunter who is kidnapped by Narayana and then the theater troupe Rakesh Raaj, Shrikanth Nagaraj, Vishwanath, and Rupesh as Cowboys Abhijith Mahesh as Cobar Rishab Shetty as Cowboy Krishna in a cameo appearance Yograj Bhat as Guptananda swamiji in a cameo appearance
Production
Development During February 2017, Rakshit Shetty who was busy promoting the film Kirik Party (2016), in United States, announced that he will sign his next film, a romanctic comedy genre, with editor Sachin Ravi's directorial debut, who worked with Rakshit in Ulidavaru Kandanthe and Kirik Party. The conceptual poster of the film was released on 24 December 2017, with the film being titled as Avane Srimannarayana, which also stars Shanvi Srivastava in the female lead. It was touted to be an action comedy film, whose pre production work was expected to take place in March 2017, and the shoot will kickstart in April 2017. However, the team took 18 months to write the screenplay, as reported from a source. The film was set in the 1980s in a fictional village Amaravathi, and it was revealed that Rakshit Shetty would play a police officer.
In January 2018, Rakshit Shetty, Sachin and cinematographer Karm Chawla, writers Chandrajit Belliappa and Anirudh Kodgi, went on a recce across Hubli, Gulbarga, Vijayapura, Davanagere and Dharwad, to finalize the locations for a vintage setting based for the script. He stated that "The story is set in a fictional town and needs a rustic terrain that is also dry. So we headed to the picturesque locales of North Karnataka to finalize the story." The team eventually finalized Basavakalyan, after Rakshit Shetty stated, "In Basavakalyana we found the perfect setting for the film. With its ruins and majestic forts, it provided just the right ambience for the script." It was reported to be the only Kannada film with the highest number of shooting call-sheets. The film was shot for 200 days with 335 call sheets where one call sheet is one man-day. The film was compiled with 2000 VFX shots.
Filming The film was launched on 14 March 2018, followed by a puja ceremony at the Dharmagiri Manjunatha Temple in Bengaluru. Rakshit Shetty and Shanvi Srivastava were present at the event. It was followed by a look test, the same week and have and the cast members doing script reading exercises. The team headed to Basavakalyan in North Karnataka regions, with shooting kickstarted on 20 March 2018, where the first schedule was held for 15 days. It was followed by a 10-day schedule in Bengaluru, where the makers filmed few scenes at a huge set erected in Kanteerava Studios. Rakshit stated "The film is set in a fictitious town and it will be shot in specially erected sets that will comprise 60% of the film. Since each of the sets requires 25 days to be put up, we will shoot the portions that will require the arid locales in North Karnataka between the time the sets get ready." On 9 May 2018, the makers wrapped the schedule in Bengaluru, and headed to Vijayapura on 15 May to shoot major sequences in the arid landscapes. On 25 May, the lead actress Shanvi joined the team to shoot her portions for the film. During filming, Rakshit simultaneously joined the launch of his new film 777 Charlie, directed by Kiranraj.