His debut movie is memorable for its wacky comedy,double meaning dialogues,and funny man Jaggesh(incidentally it was his first movie as a hero).Recently i watched the movie and laughed,laughed and laughed.But before watching the movie one should keep his brain in the house because there is no much logic in the movie,only magic.It was a box office success.
Then next he made a cult horror movie called Ssshhh!!!.What a movie it was,simply superb.Again a low budget movie with lots of chills and thrills.It was 1992 and Upendra got critical acclaim as well as a super hit movie to his credit.It almost changed this dudes life from a street boy to a most promising directors of Kannada film industry.The movie revolves around a movie crew and a estate called Onti mane Estate which means Single house estate.The movie was made with a debutant actor who also produced the movie.
It was the time when budding journalist Ravi Belegere used to write articles on Bengaluru underworld by meeting rowdies in wee hours.Greatly inspired by that articles,Upendra made a script on an underworld subject based on a real life incident that happened in Bengaluru.He wanted to make the movie with the actor of his previous movie Sshhh but somehow met Parvatamma Rajkumar,the leading lady of Kannada cinema.She liked the script immensley and agreed to produce the movie.Lead actor was her first son most happening actor of that time(still he is) Shivarajkumar and the masterpiece made its way to silver screen.This movie quiet literally caught the attention of the nation(after this movie he got an offer from ABCL which he couldnt complete due to his other commitments).As far as i know it was the first movie which exposed the underworld to movie audience in India.Rgv's Sathya came later,only Nayagan is the notable film which came with an underworld subject but it was completely different.Nayagan is Godfather kind of movie and this movie is Scarface kind of movie.One is political and this one is pakka street.He made real underworld goons to act in the movie and its name is Om..Later remade or inspired kind of movies came in many languages but nothing matched the original.Even after 15 years,the satellite rights of the movie have not been sold.Still people flock to the theaters whenever it releases,it re released almost 8 times!!!and last time with digitally remastered print.
Then he made a forgettable movie called 'Operation Antha' sequel to yesteryear classic 'Antha' which made huge waves in early 80's and made Ambarish a star.It was a good concept but somehow he failed to bring it on screen,i think because of budget constraints.Trust me,Tamil blockbuster Anniyan movie had atleast 3 to 4 scenes which is almost similar to this movie.Both the movie dealt with corruption.
And then he made a huge mistake by acting and directing in a movie called A which became huge hit both in Karnataka and Andhra and he established himself as a lead actor.And he slowly concentrated on acting.There is no doubt that this movie is one of his best but it killed his love towards real cinema.Later in his acting career he almost lost his magic touch and lost his fan following but earned a lot of money.Back to this movie,one of my favourite movies of all time.The movie came with a tag line Only for intellectuals.So the name of the movie is A only for intellectuals.A is the cencor board certificate given in India for R rated movies and he used it in a positive way(yes he is creative and knows how to sell his movies).Screenplay is ultimate,it is like non linear screenplay just like Pulp Fiction yet appealed to mass audience.It was controversial because of anti women remarks.
Then he made Upendra movie,also a controversial and super hit movie but it was almost like a continuation of a character that comes in his previous movie A.This movie got released in dubbed and released in Japan.I heard one Japanese guy watched this movie in Bangalore and impressed by it as he felt story is similar to Buddha who leaves all the worldly pleasures at the end.Again a big hit and in between he made another movie called Swastik but failed.Raghavendra Rajkumar is the lead actor,even this brilliant Upendra couldnt help to relaunch his sinking career.
Then he acted in many crappy movies and wrote stories for some movies but most of them are not worth mentioning.One movie called Hollywood is worth mentioning here.Even it dealt with a human android robot like Endhiran,a hugely successful Tamil movie.Both movies had almost same plot.Somebody else directed it and was a box office bomb but is memorable for sci-fi subject and use of animatronic technology and it was completely shot in Hollywood,California.Anyway Kannada film industry cant afford a huge budget but still it was a very good effort.
Now he is back to direction after a hiatus of 10 years with 'Symbol' or Super,or whatever people call it.The movie has no name but a symbol which is similar to Dhyana Mudra.(Once again he proved he is extremely creative).Heard it is a Psychological thriller(or is it futuristic movie) which is releasing on December 03 which is today.Hope to see something crazy as well as creative.It is a trilingual movie made in Kannada,Telugu and Tamil.Kannada version is releasing first and others follow it later.
For me he is one of the finest directors of India and a great thinker,philosopher(his dialouges used to have philosophical over tones) creative and unique.Its almost impossible to think like him,most of his ideas proved it,especially names and posters of his movies.He is the master of tricks,marketing and gimmicks.Now its a trend to make gimmicks before releasing a movie which he used to do long time back.But now the question is,can we see Upendra Mania once again?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1oisbI5GRA
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