Dandupalya (film)

The names used for the gang members in the movie have not been used in the plot to not hurt the sentiments.

The scene opens with the gang killing a pig for food. One SI comes for them to kill a man in chittoor, A.P. They agree for a mere 3000 rupees. They kill the man, who turns out to be another police man, by slitting his throat. They join as construction workers with the recommendations of a woman (Pooja Gandhi), where she works. The gang then begin the crime. They spot a home with a lone woman and follow a peculiar pattern: The woman asks for a glass of water to the lone woman in the house and the rest of the gang force enter the home, rape and murder her by slitting the throat, finally stealing the home. In a parallel note, a man living with his sister agrees to marry a girl. They get married and girl gets pregnant but the girl and the man's sister are rape-murdered in a similar style. The man commits suicide by slitting his hand. The gang often get jobs from a corrupt lawyer to commit crimes for him for a small amount.

Inspector Chalapathi is a hard and intelligent cop who does not tolerate crime, especially towards women. The rape-murder-theft continues and it brings considerable pressure on him by seniors and frustrates him as the gang often do not leave a single trace of evidence. He then comes across the case of the man's pregnant wife and sister and from the pattern of killing by throat slitting, he deducts that it is a psycho killing unlike conventional murders. He alerts all the informers of suspicious jewellery selling in local shops. One day, he comes across a case of stealing ornaments of Goddess Durga. From a tip off by informant, he catches the squint-eyed gang member selling the stolen jewellery. The temple's priest recognizes Lord Kartikeya's vel and informs the police that it is not Goddess Durga Devi's. The Initial suspect of him being a petty criminal makes Chalapathi believe that he is a part of Dandupalyam gang.The squint-eyed takes the police to a sleeping gang member (Ravi Kale/Chander in Sarkar movie). The squinted, chander and the inspector go to Lord Kartikeya's temple where previously His ornaments were also stolen and the two male priests were raped and murdered by slitting their throats. The squint eye explains how they stole ornaments without his awareness of the other gang members raping and killing the priests. Chalapathi deduces that they are the gang he is looking for.

The woman gang member spots them in the police station they are kept and the gang go to the corrupt lawyer for help. The lawyer sends habeas corpus writ to Chalapathi. Chalapathi now conforms that they are indeed a part of Dandupalyam gang as no arrest of common migrant construction worker attracts the writ. He locates the other gang members and with his senior's permission, he takes them to a secluded place for 40 days to get information but they do not speak even after unbearable torture. When the inspector starves them, they finally speak up and agree to their crimes.

Chalapathi takes them to court, the corrupt lawyer being their defense. The judge is provided with missing ornaments and a rape victim woman, who miraculously survives the rape, speaks as witness. The judge sentences the gang with Chalapathi concluding what follows will be shown in Dandupalya 2.

Pooja Gandhi was asked to do the female lead in this film as Lakshmi, is a leader of an infamous notorious gang. Reluctantly she agreed to do the role, because of potential negative talk in Kannada film industry resulting in loss of her image portraying such characters.[10][11]

The film was criticised by social group Bahujan Samaj Horata Samiti, who claimed that its content was offensive. They objected specifically to the film's portrayal of women. Further controversy followed when it was revealed that actress Pooja Gandhi would appear topless in the film.

After the release of the movie, Ambedkar Kranthi Sena activists demonstrated in Bengaluru against the film's "glorification of anti-social activities".[12]

"According to the dictionary, nudity means that you are not covered with a single item of clothing from head to toe. But in this scene, I have worn a sari and I am trying to cover my body, except for my back". says Gandhi about her controversial scene in the film[13]

The film was certified an "A" by the Central Board of Film Certification. It was released across Karnataka on 29 June 2012 with the title name as Dandupalya.[14] However, the Telugu and Tamil versions were released one year later, on 25 Jan 2013 and 24 May 2014 respectively.[15]

Gandhi received several awards for her performance as Lakshmi.

The film, along with its dubbed versions collected over ₹25 crore domestically against a production budget of ₹3 crore, and went on to cross over 100-days in multiple centres.[27]

A sequel to the film was announced in July 2014. Part Dandupalya 2 began production on 24 March 2016, and it was released on July 14, 2017. Srinivas Raju directed the film, which again stars Pooja Gandhi. Arjun Janya was the music director and the cinematography was performed by Venkat Prasad.[32][33][4]

The film Dandupalya 3 was shot simultaneously during the Part 2 filming,[34] while the second schedule of shooting was held from April 2017. Initially planned to release within a week after the Part 2 release, the film however, was pushed to release on 2 March 2018.

The film brought instant fame to Makarand Deshpande in Kannada film industry, and also he was nominated for 2nd South Indian International Movie Award and Bangalore Times Film Award for best actor in a negative role for his performance in the film as Krishna.[35]

• Dandupalya 2
• Dandupalya 3
• Dandupalya 4

• Dandupalya at IMDb