''Appu'' is a 2002 Indian

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

-language romantic

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by

Puri Jagannadh Petla "Puri" Jagannadh (born 28 September 1966) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer, who works primarily in the Telugu film Industry. He made his directorial debut in 2000 with the Telugu film '' Badri'' starring Pawan Kaly ...

and produced by

Parvathamma Rajkumar Parvathamma Rajkumar (6 December 1939 – 31 May 2017) was an Indian film producer and distributor. She was the wife and cousin of veteran Kannada actor Dr. Rajkumar. She produced successful films featuring him and their sons Shiva Rajkumar, Pu ...

under Poornima Enterprises. The film stars debutants

Puneeth Rajkumar Dr. Puneeth Rajkumar (17 March 1975 – 29 October 2021), affectionately known as Appu (by his fans, after his first lead role in the movie Appu (2002 film), ''Appu''), was an Indian actor, playback singer, film producer, television presenter a ...

and

Rakshita Shweta, known by her stage name Rakshita, is an Indian television personality, film producer and former actress known for her work in Kannada cinema, Kannada films, addition to a few Telugu cinema, Telugu and Tamil cinema, Tamil films. Early ...

, alongside

Avinash Avinash may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Avinash'' (film), a 1986 Indian Hindi-language film * Tiger (YRF Spy Universe) (Avinash Singh Rathore), fictional agent in the ''Tiger'' franchise of the YRF Spy Universe People * Avinash Sachde ...

Srinivasa Murthy Jadalathimmanahalli Krishnappa Srinivasa Murthy (born 15 May 1949), known popularly as Srinivasa Murthy, is an Indian actor and television director. He is mostly known for his work as a director having made many television series in Kannada, b ...

and Sumithra. The music was composed by

Gurukiran Gurukiran Shetty, known mononymously as Gurukiran, is an Indian music director of the Kannada film industry in India. He started his career as a music director of the Kannada movie '' A'', directed and acted by Upendra. His music for his next m ...

, while cinematography and editing were composed by K. Datthu and S. Manohar. ''Appu'' was released on 26 April 2002 and completed a 200-day run in theatres. Due to this film, Puneeth Rajkumar came to be known as "Appu" among the masses. The film was remade in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

in 2002 as ''

Idiot An idiot, in modern use, is a stupid or foolish person. "Idiot" was formerly a technical term in legal and psychiatric contexts for some kinds of profound intellectual disability where the mental age is two years or less, and the person cannot ...

'', in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

in 2003 as '' Dum'', in

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

in 2006 as ''

Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...

'', in

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri may refer to: * Bhojpuri language, an Indo-Aryan language of India and Nepal * Bhojpuri grammar, grammatical rules of the language * Bhojpuri nouns, nouns of the language * Bhojpuri people, people who speak the language * Bhojpuri region ...

in 2007 as ''Sasura Bada Seyana'' and in Bangladeshi Bengali in 2008 as '' Priya Amar Priya'' - making it the second Kannada film to be remade in Bengali in both India and Bangladesh after '' Anuraga Aralithu''. It was the third Kannada movie to be remade in four languages after '' School Master'' and '' Anuraga Aralithu''.The film was re released on 14th March 2025 coinciding with Puneeth's birthday and grossed around 2 crores at the box office.

Plot

Appu, a carefree guy, is the son of Venkata Swamy, a head constable. Venkata Swamy wants Appu to clear the IPS exams and become an

Inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia The rank of Inspector is present in all Australian police forces excep ...

. One night, Appu, after playing carrom with his friends, is thrashed by a rival gang, but he is rescued by a girl Suchitra alias "Suchi", who pays his hospital bills and donates her blood. She is gone from the hospital by the time Appu regains consciousness. Appu learns about Suchi from his friends and falls in love with her. Suchi later turns out to be the daughter of Rajashekhar, the city commissioner. Appu meets Suchi in the college and proposes to her. When Suchi does not accept his proposal, Appu teases her which leads Suchi to complain about him to Rajshekhar, who takes Appu to the police station and severely thrashes him before being rescued by Venkata Swamy and SI Sudarshan. Appu becomes more adamant to win over Suchi and proposes to Suchi, who later accepts his feelings. Rajshekhar discovers their relationship and hires goons to thrash Appu. Suchi discovers this and runs to help him, but meets with an accident. Appu and Suchi get admitted to the same hospital, where they unite. Rajshekhar arranges her wedding with another person, to which she openly opposes and attempts suicide. Appu arrives and rescues her, but Rajshekhar still wants to get Suchi married to a man of his own choice, he also engages goons to kill Appu. Appu finally escapes all the troubles and meets the DGP to ask for help to marry Suchi. The DGP finally suspends Rajshekhar and arranges Appu's wedding in the police station. In the aftermath, Appu finally clears the IPS exams with flying colors.

Cast

Production

After the success of ''

Yuvaraja Yuvaraja (), also rendered Yuvraj, is an Indian title for the crown prince, and the heir apparent to the throne of an Indian (notably Hindu) kingdom, empire or (notably in the Mughal Empire or Indian Empire) princely state. It is usually applie ...

'' (2001), Puri Jagannadh was approached by the Rajkumar family to introduce their third son Puneeth Rajkumar to make his onscreen debut as the lead actor. Puri gladly accepted the opportunity. Jagannadh had originally decided to make the film's script into a Telugu film first, but at

Dr. Rajkumar Singanalluru Puttaswamaiah Muthuraj (24 April 1929 – 12 April 2006), better known by his stage name Dr. Rajkumar, was an Indian actor and singer who worked in Kannada cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest and versatile actors in the his ...

's insistence he first made it in Kannada. Rakshitha, daughter of cameraman B.C. Gowrishankar made her acting debut with this film, and she went on to play the same character in its Telugu and Tamil remakes. Shiva Rajkumar named the film ''Appu'', which was Puneeth Rajkumar's pet name.

Soundtrack

composed the film's background score and music for its soundtrack, with the lyrics written by

Upendra Upendra (Devanagari: उपेन्द्र) is an Indian masculine given name. The meaning of the Sanskrit word ' is "younger brother of Indra" and refers to either Krishna or Vishnu, who as a son of Aditi (or in the Vamana avatar) was born subs ...

, Sriranga and

Hamsalekha Gangaraju (born June 23, 1951), professionally known as Hamsalekha, is an Indian film composer and songwriter who works in South Indian cinema, predominantly in the Kannada film industry since the late 1980s. He is also a screenplay writer, d ...

. The soundtrack album consists of six tracks.

Reception

In 2002, before the release of this movie, journalist Ravi Belagere whipped up a storm with his cover-page article in his popular tabloid ''

Hai Bangalore ''Hai Bangalore'' is a mass circulation weekly Kannada language tabloid published in Bangalore. It was founded by Ravi Belagere along with R. T. Vittalamurthy, MaSuri, & Jogi in 1995 which he published from his Padmanabhanagar office in Benga ...

'' writing about the buzz around the film and posed a big question to his readers: ''Can the final horse from the stables of Dr Rajkumar's family win the race?'' A critic from ''Chitraloka'' wrote that "This is a film for all. Buy a ticket and have two and half hours of good summer vacation in Bangalore theatres". According to National Award-winning film critic M K Raghavendra, "Puneeth's characters matched the Kannada sentiments.The rebellious attitude of Appu in the movie represented the locals who felt discriminated by the state during Bengaluru's growth as a cosmopolitan city. The angle of the generation gap in the movie connected well with the youngsters".

References

External links

* {{Puri Jagannadh 2000s Kannada-language films 2000s Indian films 2002 films Indian romantic action films Kannada films remade in other languages Films scored by Gurukiran Films directed by Puri Jagannadh 2002 action comedy films 2002 romantic comedy films Indian action comedy films Indian romantic comedy films Films shot in Bengaluru Films shot in Switzerland 2000s masala films Films set in universities and colleges 2000s romantic action films Films set in Bengaluru Fictional portrayals of the Karnataka Police Indian gangster films