Farhan Rana Rajpoot at 15:45, 14 January 2023

2023-01-14T15:45:41Z

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{{Use Indian English|date=February 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Infobox film
| name = A
| image = A 1998 Kannada film poster.jpg
| alt = 
| caption = Film poster
| director = [[Upendra (actor)|Upendra]]
| producer = {{plainlist|
*B. Jagannath
*B. G. Manjunath
}}
| writer = Upendra
| starring = {{plainlist|
*Upendra
*Chandini
*[[Archana (Kannada actress)|Archana]]
}}
| music = [[Gurukiran]]
| cinematography = [[H. C. Venugopal]]
| editing = T. Shashikumar
| studio = Uppi Entertainers
| distributor = Yash Raj
| released = {{Film date|df=yes|1998|01|16|}}
| runtime = 148 minutes
| country = India
| language = Kannada
}}

'''''A''''' is a 1998 [[India]]n-[[Kannada]] [[romance film|romantic]] [[Psychological fiction|psychological thriller]] [[film]] written and directed by [[Upendra (actor)|Upendra]]. It starred Upendra and Chandini as the lead couple.<ref>[http://www.rediff.com/entertai/1999/dec/11chand.htm Article about the plot of A, and an interview with Chandni, the heroine]. Rediff.com (11 December 1999). Retrieved on 2015-08-18.</ref> It tells the love story between a film director and an actress which is narrated through multiple [[Flashback (narrative)#Film|flashbacks within flashbacks]] and reverse screenplay. The film deals with dark truths of the film world like the [[casting couch]]. Due to the [[Reverse chronology|reverse screenplay]], some audience members watched it multiple times to understand the story. The movie was a instant [[cult hit]].

The opening sequence of the movie where a misanthropic man who is exhilarated by the sense of power he receives by carrying a revolver while walking on the streets was reported to be based on [[Jean-Paul Sartre]]'s short story ''Erostratus'' found in his 1939 collection of short stories '' [[ The Wall (Sartre short story collection)|The Wall]]''.<ref>https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/entertainment/reviews/uppi2/articleshow/48486523.cms?</ref>

Upon release, ''A'' collected more than {{INR}} 20 crores at the box office.<ref name="indiaglitz1">[http://www.indiaglitz.com/a-sequel-to-a--kannada-news-58693 A sequel to A – Kannada Movie News]. Indiaglitz.com (19 July 2010). Retrieved on 2015-08-18.</ref> The movie was dubbed into [[Telugu language|Telugu]] and released in Andhra Pradesh. The film was remade in Tamil as ''[[Adavadi]]''.<ref>[https://archive.today/20071019223234/http://entertainment.oneindia.in/tamil/reviews/adavadi-review-200407.html Adavadi – Review]. Entertainment.oneindia.in. Retrieved on 18 August 2015.</ref> It was [[Gurukiran]]'s first film as a music director.<ref>[http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/entertainment/kannada-composer-gurukiran-wants-to-do-more-reality-shows_100125589.html Kannada composer Gurukiran wants to do more reality shows]. ''The Hindu''. 12 January 2008</ref> Upendra won the [[Udaya Film Awards|Udaya Film Award for Best Male Actor (1998)]] and Gurukiran won the [[Udaya Film Awards|Udaya Film Award for Best Music Director (1998)]].{{citation needed|date=April 2014}}

==Plot==
A foreign woman, Marina, wants to distribute the unreleased controversial film ''A'' directed by Soorya. However, the [[Central Board of Film Certification|censor board]] permits only twenty random minutes to be screened, and the climax is censored to such an extent that it no longer made any sense. She suggests its producers re-shoot the film. However, Soorya is not able to participate in the film's shoot as he became a drunkard after actress Chandini, who debuted with his film, rejects his love. Soorya's family is unable to meet their ends after he stops directing films. Lost in her thoughts, he wanders near her house every night drunk, only to be expelled by her henchmen.

Chandini, unable to bear Soorya's torture, asks him to jump from a building to prove his love. Soorya jumps without hesitation. While he survived the fall, he's badly wounded and admitted to the hospital by Marina and the team. There, one of Soorya's former assistant directors explains Soorya's past to Marina. Soorya was a successful director who had no feelings, especially for a woman's love. After his current female lead fails to act properly, he casts Chandini after a chain of events. Initially, Soorya rejects Chandini's love, but after frequent run-ins and days of pursuit, Soorya falls in love with her madly. He later meets a rich and busy Chandini, who lives in a big bungalow and as the mistress of a wealthy married businessman. She defends herself, saying that Soorya's views on the materialistic world influenced her to prioritize money over everything else after her father's death. He tries to explain to her that she is wrong but is expelled.

Since then, Soorya gave up everything and became an alcoholic, wandering near her house every day, hoping that she would accept him. He escapes from the hospital and is confronted by Marina, to whom Soorya explains his love for Chandini. He then saves a novice actress named Archana from a group of henchmen who are revealed to be Chandini's. Archana reveals Chandini was used as bait by the politicians to trap Soorya and stop his ''A'' from release. Chandini, in turn, exploited the weakness of those politicians by way of the casting couch. She proves this to Soorya, who, along with his father and Archana, is arrested on charges of prostitution. The police were bribed by Chandini, who abducts Archana while Soorya and his father are arrested.

Soorya and his father are released on bail by Marina, and his family's plight makes Soorya swear revenge. He restarts the shoot of ''A'' and turns out to be a superstar due to the films' success starring him. The climax shoot is pending, and Soorya wants to shoot it realistically, which is the murder of Chandini in a burning house. The camera rolls and Soorya kidnaps Chandini from her hen house where women are prostituted to influential politicians and people in business, where she kills the businessman she was engaged to. He brings her to the location and sets it on fire after rolling the camera. She knocks him out, who falls unconscious after hitting a rock. Archana, Marina, and the producers come to the spot to save him.

Archana shows him the film footage that was shot after revealing that Chandini is a good woman who wanted to bring Soorya back to normal by acting as a ruthless criminal who is destroying many actresses' lives like Archana. The footage shows a naked Chandini dying and revealing the truth. She says that the businessman was a friend of few corrupt politicians who wanted to have sex with her. They killed her father and raped her and her minor sister. The businessman blackmails Chandini with a tape that captured the brutal rape. As per their directions, she had to cheat Soorya. But with the help of Archana, she brings him back to normal and gives ''A'' a perfect ending. Soorya tries to save her by entering the house, but she dies, asking him to live long and make films that expose the demons that haunt society.

==Cast==
* [[Upendra (actor)|Upendra]] as Surya
* Chandini
* [[Archana (Kannada actress)|Archana]]
* [[Marina]]
* [[Kote Prabhakar]] as film producer
* [[Vaijanath Biradar|Biradar]]
* [[Malathi]]
* [[Suchitra]] as Surya's sister
* [[Saroja Srishailan]] as Surya's mother
* [[Michael Madhu]] as Michael
* Mandapanda Aiyappa as Businessman Teja
* Tumkur Mohan
* Suresh Babu
* Gurukiran as actor
* Shankar Bhat
* Sriraj Kothari
* Balu Murugaraj
* M.V.Joshi
* Raghunath
* [[Roopa Iyer]]
* Bhushan Geechi
* Narendra Babu
* Vijaya Sarathi
* Damu
* Puttaraju

==Production==
Upendra and three others B. G. Manjunath, B. Jagannath, and B. V. Ramakrishna, founded the film production company Uppi Entertainers in October 1996, with the equal partnership. After Kannada film distributors refused to purchase the distribution rights following the producers themselves not being confident of the film doing well, it was purchased by a newcomer by the name Yash Raj.<ref name="toi">{{cite news|last1=Prasad S.|first1=Shyam|title=Why is A haunting Upendra 20 years later?|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/kannada/movies/news/Why-is-A-haunting-Upendra-20-years-later/articleshow/54025864.cms|access-date=22 September 2016|work=The Times of India|date=6 September 2016}}</ref> This was Upendra's debut film as a lead actor.

==Release==

The film was given an ''U''(Universal) certification from CBFC
===Box-office response===
''A'' was made at {{INR}}1.25 crore and collected more than {{INR}}20 crore at the box office.<ref name="indiaglitz1"/> The film ran for 25 weeks in [[Karnataka]] and its Telugu version ran for 100 days in [[Andhra Pradesh]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/ag150/SCG12/1A175days_zps1940f7f7.jpg |title=175 days or 25 weeks shield of A }}</ref>

===Critical reception===
It was described by a reviewer as "loud and disjointed, like the ramblings of a delirious mind, but made a lot of sense".<ref name=uppity>Kumar, S. Shiva (11 November 2005) [https://web.archive.org/web/20060918085411/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fr/2005/11/11/stories/2005111104250100.htm Uppi's hardly uppity], [[The Hindu]]</ref> Its design received some praise.<ref>[https://archive.today/20120708184451/http://entertainment.oneindia.in/kannada/top-stories/2008/nagabhushan-nanna-olavina-banna-150408.html Bhushan Geechi to direct]. Entertainment.oneindia.in. Retrieved on 18 August 2015.</ref> It provoked some controversy over anti-women remarks<ref name=uppity/> and may contain some autobiographical elements.<ref name = hi>Subramanya, K.V. (24 July 2006) [http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/triggering-off-a-controversy-once-again/article3109566.ece Triggering off a controversy once again], ''[[The Hindu]]''</ref>

===Influences===

In an interview given to the ''[[Times of India]]'' on 24th May 2020, Malayalam director [[Lijo Jose Pellissery]] who is famous for [[Nonlinear narrative| nonlinear storylines]] and [[Violence in art|aestheticization of violence]] picked this movie as one of the five Indian movies which have managed to influence him at different levels.<ref>https://epaper.timesgroup.com/TOI/TimesOfIndia/index.html?a=c#</ref>

==Soundtrack==
{{Infobox album
| name = A
| type = Soundtrack
| artist = [[Gurukiran]]
| border = yes
| alt =
| caption = Soundtrack cover
| released = 3 February 1998
| recorded =
| venue =
| studio =
| genre = [[Film soundtrack|Feature film soundtrack]]
| length = 24:01
| label = Lahiri Music
| producer =
| prev_title =
| prev_year =
| next_title = [[Upendra (film)|Upendra]]
| next_year = 1999
}}

[[Gurukiran]] composed the music for the film and the soundtracks which marked his debut. The album has five soundtracks.<ref>{{cite web |title= A (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) – EP |url= https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/original-motion-picture-soundtrack/id603029275 |publisher= iTunes |access-date= 21 August 2014}}</ref> The daughter-in-law of Kannada poet G.P. Rajarathnam alleged that a song by the late poet, "Helkollakondooru thalemyagondhsooru," for which she held the copyright, had been used by Upendra in the film without her consent.<ref name = hi/> Deva , the music director of the Tamil version, retained two songs from this movie - "Idhu One Day" was retained as "Idhu One Day" and "Sum Sumne" was retained as "En Anbea".

{{tracklist
| headline = Track listing
| extra_column = Singer(s)
| total_length = 24:01
| title1 = Sum Sumne
| lyrics1 = [[Upendra (actor)|Upendra]]
| extra1 = [[Rajesh Krishnan]]
| length1 = 4:54
| title2 = Chandini
| lyrics2 = Murali Mohan
| extra2 = [[L. N. Shastry]], Prathima Rao
| length2 = 5:03
| title3 = Helkollakonduru
| lyrics3 = [[G. P. Rajarathnam]]
| extra3 = [[L. N. Shastry]]
| length3 = 5:08
| title4 = Idhu One Day Match
| lyrics4 = Murali Mohan
| extra4 = [[L. N. Shastry]]
| length4 = 6:34
| title5 = Maari Kannu
| lyrics5 = Upendra
| extra5 = [[S. P. Balasubrahmanyam]]
| length5 = 4:22
}}

==Awards==
* [[Udaya Film Awards|Udaya Film Award for Best Male Actor]] – [[Upendra (actor)|Upendra]]
* [[Udaya Film Awards|Udaya Film Award for Best Music Director]] – [[Gurukiran]]
* [[Karnataka State Film Award]] – [[Karnataka State Film Award for Best Sound Recording|Best Sound Recording]] – Murali Rayasam
* [[Karnataka State Film Award]] – [[Karnataka State Film Award for Best Editor|Best Editing]] – T. Shashikumar

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|3178292|A}}

{{Upendra}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:A (Kannada Film)}}
[[Category:Films set in Bangalore]]
[[Category:1998 films]]
[[Category:Indian films]]
[[Category:Kannada-language films]]
[[Category:1990s Kannada-language films]]
[[Category:1990s psychological thriller films]]
[[Category:Films about filmmaking]]
[[Category:Films scored by Gurukiran]]
[[Category:Kannada films remade in other languages]]
[[Category:Indian nonlinear narrative films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Upendra]]
[[Category:Indian psychological thriller films]]

A 1998 Kannada film - Revision history

Farhan Rana Rajpoot at 15:45, 14 January 2023