Singaporenalli Raja Kulla

Singaporenalli Raja Kulla
Film poster
Directed by	C. V. Rajendran
Produced by	Dwarakish
Screenplay by	M. D. Sundar
Story by	M. D. Sundar
Starring	Vishnuvardhan Dwarakish Manjula
Music by	Rajan-Nagendra
Cinematography	D. V. Rajaram
Edited by	Yadav Victor
Production company	Dwarakish Chithra
Distributed by	Eshwari Pictures Srinivasa Pictures Khadri Enterprises
Release dates	1978 (1978)
Running time	153 minutes
Country	India
Language	Kannada

Singaporenalli Raja Kulla (Kannada: ಸಿಂಗಾಪೂರ್‌ನಲ್ಲಿ ರಾಜಾ ಕುಳ್ಳ) is a 1978 Indian Kannada language full-scale action-suspense-drama film directed by C. V. Rajendran starring Vishnuvardhan, Manjula, Dwarkish, Lokanath and Thoogudeepa Srinivas in pivotal roles. It was the first Kannada film to be shot outside India.

Plot

A jeweller (Lokanath), who harbours ambitions of a successful life abroad, enters into a partnership with Junie (Thoogudeepa Srinivas) and thus both land in Singapore. The ambition, which has blinded Lokanath, led him to treat his pregnant wife badly and abandon her. Unknown to Lokanath, Junie is into smuggling and various other illegal activities and is wanted by the Indian and Singaporean police. CID detective Gopinath aka Kulla (Dwarakish) is assigned the task of hunting down Junie and bringing him to justice in India. Meanwhile, Lokanath's son Raja (Vishnuvardhan), who is now a singer in a hotel, gets to know Gopinath, though unaware that he is a detective.

Tara (Manjula) is Raja's girlfriend. Her father Gopinath Rao (Shakti Prasad), also involved in shady businesses, promises Raja a good life, if he contract kills an old rival Shivaraj, of his, in Singapore, for ₹ 15 lakh. Initially reluctant, Raja travels to Singapore. Rao, knowing from Venu that Raja is Shivaraj's son, asks Diwakar, his business partner in Singapore, to kill him and hires Venu to contract kill Shivaraj for ₹ 20 lakh. Tara overhears his conversation with Diwakar and immediately flies to Singapore informing Raja. Raja tells her that the trail of events has left him really confused.

Meanwhile, Kulla also lands in Singapore, on his mission. But Raja is also on his cross-hairs. He assumes Raja is in Singapore to kill someone and confronts him repeatedly, with arguments and fist-to-fist fighting as well. Raja meets Shivaraj at a hotel and immediately looks at the photo that his mother (Uma Shivakumar) has given him, of her and Shivaraj in their younger days. Raja introduces himself and says he is from Bangalore. Shivaraj is taken aback, which Raja senses, and asks if he knows anybody there, a question that makes Shivaraj uncomfortable. As Shivaraj turns back and takes a few steps away, Raja drops that photo and calls out to Shivaraj, that he dropped something. Shivaraj picking up the photo is surprised to see that it is of him and his wife.

Later, after a bitter fight between them, Raja and Kulla meet up with Shivaraj, who tells him about his meet up with Junie and how he was duped into the unlawful business. Kulla assures Lokanath that he would help him get out of this situation. After many twists and turns, including many fights, the movie climax ends with Raja, Kulla fighting and chasing Junie. As Junie desperately tries to board a helicopter, Kulla, who is hiding in the helicopter, kicks him out and his associate, a Singapore policeman, shoots Junie and kills him. Raja unites with his father and mother.

Cast

• Vishnuvardhan as Raja
• Dwarakish as Venu alias Kulla
• Manjula as Tara
• Felina as Felina
• Loknath as Shivaraj
• Thoogudeepa Srinivas as Junie
• Shakti Prasad as Gopinath Rao, Tara's father
• Bhadrachalam
• Ananda Mohan
• Uma Shivakumar as Shivaraj's wife
• Peter Jones
• Peter Pong
• Jimmy
• Vijay
• Sahul
• Manmatha Rao
• Thipatur Siddaramaiah
• Kannada Raju
• M. Shivaji Rao
• Police Mahadev

Soundtrack

Singaporenalli Raja Kulla
Soundtrack album by Rajan-Nagendra
Released	1978
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	22:05
Label	Saregama

The duo of Rajan-Nagendra composed the film's background score and music for the soundtracks, with lyrics written by Chi. Udaya Shankar. The album consists of four soundtracks. An extended part of the song "Prema Preethi Nannusiru", shot and picturised in a Singapore hotel where Raja (Vishnuvardhan) confronts Kulla (Dwarakish) in a song, is not available in the audio label. Else it would be five tracks in all.

All the songs were recorded at the England Recording Studio with 2 track stereo split recording. Audio Copyrights given to Coloumbia Records for Gramophone records, and HMV Calcutta for audio cassettes. In the track "Prema Preeti Nannusiru", it could be noticed that "Prema" is heard from in left channel and "Preethi" from the right, giving it a stereophonic effect.

Tracklist
No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Ninne Ninnege"	Chi. Udaya Shankar	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki	5:58
2.	"Prema Preeti Nannusiru"	Chi. Udaya Shankar	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. J. Yesudas	5:51
3.	"Nannantha Gandilla"	Chi. Udaya Shankar	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. J. Yesudas, S. Janaki, P. Susheela	5:41
4.	"Belliya Raja Baaro"	Chi. Udaya Shankar	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki	4:35
Total length:				22:05

External links

• Singaporenalli Raja Kulla at IMDb
• Singaporenalli Raja Kulla - Movie page on KannadaMovie Info