Uppi 2

Following the massive success of his 1999 film Upendra, Upendra had always wanted to make a sequel to it. Having written the story sometime in the early 2000s, it was ready by 2004. In January 2012, Upendra announced that he is working on the script for the sequel titled Upendra 2. The first posters of Upendra 2 were released on the Internet on 16 September 2012.[6] The posters featured a huge rectangle, with no clear name inside it, but with a heap of mathematical formulae – be it arithmetic, algebra, geometry, analytical geometry, calculus and so on – and had a byline – "directed by Upendra".[7] The title of the film was changed to Uppi 2 after he saw it painted on the back of an auto rickshaw.[8] Uppi 2 was launched by Upendra on 18 September 2013 at Kanteerava Studios in Bangalore, amongst thousands of fans gathered to witness the launch. Lathi Charge from the police to control the crowd of fans gathered at the venue was reported.[9]

As the makers were on the lookout for the female lead for the film, the names of Bollywood actresses Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Vidya Balan made rounds.[10] Eventually, a Russian model-turned-actress Kristina Akheeva landed the role.[11]

Right from the time Upendra announced of making the film, posters made by fans began circulating on social media platforms, most of which featured Upendra in costume from his eponymous prequel to Uppi 2. The official first look poster was revealed on 1 November 2014.[12] This was followed by numerous fan-made posters released by Upendra on his Facebook page, which were in turn circulated and received widespread popularity leading up to the film's release. The first teaser trailer of the film was released on 18 September 2014, marking Upendra's 47th birthday.[13] Alongside, fan-made Dubsmash videos and teasers were circulated and shared by the official Facebook and Twitter handles of the film.[14] The first look poster of the film's Telugu version was released in August 2015.[15] Upendra launched an official app of the film and other merchandise including T-shirts featuring the film's title logo, a week prior to its release.[16] The second teaser trailer was released on 10 August 2015. It featured Upendra doing a yoga posture, sirsasana, in the Himalayan region, and sporting the look of an aghori.[17] The cutout poster of this was unveiled by him at a theatre in Bangalore.[18]

Ytalkies.com reviewed the album and gave it a mixed review it considering that "Uppi [Upendra] and Gurukiran combo" were coming together after long time and fans having had to wait two years for the album. The reviewer called the track "Baekoo Baekoo Anno" and wrote, "the peppy beats and deep-thinking lyrics are very entertaining." Of the track "Excuse Me Please", he wrote, "This is more of a ‘different style dialogue narration’ song; Uppi takes over the song with some entertaining lyrics, where he explains that time is everything..." He concluded calling it "[a] very average album".[23]

Archana Nathan of The Hindu called the film a "self-help book" where "Upendra wonders... about the concept of you (neenu) "unearth[ing] theories about the different kinds of people on this planet, their manner of thinking..." and handing down "some life advice." She further wrote, "Upendra theorises about three different kinds of people: those who obsess about the future, those who live in the past and finally, those who live entirely in the present. It is the third kind that he champions and practises in the film. Uppi2 wants to reform you but overdoes it."[35] S. Viswanath of Deccan Herald wrote, "... Upendra takes on a highly philosophical pitch while narrating a convoluted, but cracker of an action plot." He called the film Upendra's "show all the away" and added that "he goes on philosophising about the real and unreal, seen and unseen, the here and now. [the film] climaxes to an unpredictable end, you are in a tizzy, swirled and squished by the storytelling."[36]

Shyam Prasad S. of Bangalore Mirror felt that "[t]he execution of the film does not match the brilliance of the script." He drew comparisons of the protagonist's role and philosophy of life to Eckhart Tolle's work The Power of Now and called the lead character a pale shadow of his trademark eccentric characters in A and Upendra which behaved like Jean-Paul Sartre's Erostratus.[37] A. Sharadhaa of The New Indian Express felt the film was "[H]igh on intrinsic value" and wrote, "It may be an ambitious attempt to teach life lessons to the common man, but that is exactly the reason why Uppi 2 could fall into the category of films which were bold enough to go beyond the obvious. And surely, even with its little puzzles, the film does not disappoint." She further wrote, "As an actor too, he [Upendra] portrays the various shades of life with élan. His different avatars all send a message. Kristina Akheeva has tried her best to live up to expectations while Parul Yadav’s short and sweet role has a good impact."[38]

Sunayana Suresh of The Times of India felt that it "preach[es] his [Upendra's] brand of pop philosophy, which has far evolved from the one he preached in the decade-old film Upendra". She wrote, "Parul Yadav's cameo is one of the highlights of the film. Upendra is at his vintage best when it comes to acting." She felt that Kristina Akheeva's casting was "debatable" noting that "she doesn't seem to add much weight to the film" with her lip sync also going "awry".[39]

Uppi 2 opened very strongly in theatres and registered a 100% occupancy in most theatres across Karnataka and from screening in the United States.[32] Many theaters scheduled the first show on Friday as early as 6 AM. Advanced bookings which were opened online two days earlier on Wednesday got a huge response. Most of the shows at single screens and multiplexes in Bengaluru were sold out soon.[40] It collected ₹3.25 crore on its first day from Karnataka alone setting up records for the highest first day for a Kannada movie.[41] The business saw a growth on Saturday due to Independence Day. As a result, the film earned ₹3.60 crore on the second day taking the two-day total business of the film to ₹6.85 crore.[41] The film collected a total of ₹10 crore in its first weekend. It reportedly collected more than ₹15 crore in 3 weeks from release in Karnataka.[42] The film completed 50 days run in theaters.[43] It collected ₹80 lakh share in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.[30] According to Bookmyshow website's Best of 2015 survey, Uppi 2 sold the second highest number of tickets on Bookmyshow among Kannada movies in 2015 behind RangiTaranga and ahead of other box-office hits like Mr. and Mrs. Ramachari, Ranna and Rana Vikrama.[44]

Upon release in the US in 21 screens, it collected US$31,981 (₹21.26 lakh) in its first weekend.[42] On course of a successful run in the US, it was further released in over 20 screens and Upendra was invited there in September 2015 to promote the film.[45] After its 8th weekend in the US, the film had collected a total of US$47,347 (₹30.88 lakh).[46] Uppi 2 is the second highest grossing Kannada film in US behind RangiTaranga (which grossed ₹2.1 crore) and ahead of the third highest grosser Mr. and Mrs. Ramachari (which grossed ₹8 lakh in US).[47] It also opened to houseful screenings in Australia (Perth, Melbourne, Sydney), Germany and Singapore.