Movie review ‘Bettanagere’: Encountering the raw story

Director: Mohan Gowda

Cast: Sumanth Shailendra, Akshay, Avinash, Shobraj, Vinod Kambli, Naina Sarwar

Rating: 1.5 stars

The director rightly claims it a ‘raw' story! In adjective meaning - inexperienced, as it is evident throughout the movie which opens up with Shiva’s (portrayed by Sumanth Shailendra) version of how he and his cousin brother (Shekara played by Akshay) ended up on the wrong side of the society. With Madhu Gowda being a close relative of Bettanagere Seena and Shankar (notorious rowdies), based on whose real-life incidents the film is made, it seems he has made it with the sole intention of showcasing their goodness rather than doing justice to the ‘raw’ subject.

While Bettanagere Seena is Shiva, and Shankara is Shekara here in the reel Bettanagere, the plot naturally revolves around the two cousin brothers, and how they turned anti-elements. The reality starts biting with utter casting - Sumanth just does not fit the bill to someone as dreaded as a rowdy sheeter who was finally shot dead in an encounter in real life. It is very sloppy which guarantees headache, all due to the raw effect by the director and dismal acting skills makes it more intolerable including the former cricketer Vinod Kambli playing a hopeless character. An uncool tattoo on his shaved head, Vinod struggles on his acting side, which is nothing short of his struggling days as a cricketer. His character too ends like his cricketing career, abruptly!

The best part of it all is the heroine’s role which is limited to two ‘short’ scenes and a song with no sense at all. In a nutshell – two brothers with a happy life of their own, one in brick-making family business and another aspiring to get into military accidentally get into the bloody local politics and soon find themselves in a tricky situation after Shankara murders one of the supporters of a local leader played by Avinash. They seek the help of a MLA played by Shobraj. In turn politics plays on them and soon Shiva makes entry in the local underworld, while he is still on the run. Later, its Shekara’s turn and eventually the brothers are up in arms against each other. The director ends it with an announcement of a sequel to Bettanagere! Now that sounds like a word of caution after witnessing his debut raw story.