''Chandra'' is a 2013 Indian

romantic drama Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...

film, simultaneously made in

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 ...

and

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 ...

languages. Directed by Roopa Iyer, it stars

Shriya Saran Shriya Saran Bhatnagar ( born 11 September 1982) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Telugu language, Telugu, Tamil language, Tamil and Hindi films. Although Saran aspired to become a dancer, she became an actress and made her film deb ...

and Prem. The film deals with the life of a last generation princess and her love story. The film was released on 27 June 2013 to positive reviews and emerged as a high success at the Kannada Box office. The Tamil version of the film was released on 14 February 2014.

Plot

The story revolves around rajkumari Ammani Chandravathi (

), a princess, and Chandrahasa ( Prem Kumar) a music teacher. The two falls in love with each other. But the princess is engaged to Arya ( Ganesh Venkatraman), settled in the US, against her wishes. She is not at all impressed by the US culture and tries to contact Chandrahasa to express her feelings. In another development, Chandrahasa promises his father that he would forget Chandravathi and allow her to marry Arya. But on the wedding day, the story takes a dramatic turn which ends on a happy note.

Cast

Production

Development

Roopa Iyer has studied the life of quite a few royal families in India to arrive at a subject for her film. The last branches of Royal Families are not in a position to adjust to normal social life. They do not get the right match to lead a royal life that is a gift for them from ancestors. On this basis Roopa Iyer has added the eternal 'Love' and made a meaningful and beautiful love story subject. The royal families taken over by the government facing a perturbed situation is shown in this movie.

Casting

Roopa Iyer had initially considered Ramya for the lead role and even signed her for the lead role. However the actress was dropped from the film later as she was not in good terms with the director and the fact that she skipped

Kalaripayattu Kalaripayattu (), also known simply as Kalari, is an Indian martial art that originated on the southwestern coast of India, in what is now Kerala, during the 3rd century BCE. Etymology Kalaripayattu is a martial art which developed out of co ...

class required for her role to perform stunts. Following that, various actresses such as

Dia Mirza Dia Mirza Rekhi (born Dia Handrich; 9 December 1981) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi films. She won the title of Miss Asia Pacific International in 2000 after being crowned Femina Miss India Asia Pacific 2000. Mirza made her ...

, Amala Paul,

Amrita Rao Amrita Rao (born 7 June 1981) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. Known for her quintessential girl-next-door portrayals, Rao is the recipient of several accolades including an IIFA Awards, IIFA Award and two ...

and

Aindrita Ray Aindrita Ray (born 19 April) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Cinema of Karnataka, Kannada also appeared in Bengali language, Bengali and Bollywood, Hindi films. Ray is a recipient of two South Indian International Movie Awards, alon ...

was considered for the role. Then she finalized

as the leading lady. Saran who earlier made her debut in Kannada cinema through '' Arasu'' opposite

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 ...

in a cameo role immediately accepted the offer after reading the script. Furthermore, actress

Ramya Krishnan Ramya Krishnan (born 15 September 1970), also credited as Ramya Krishna, is an Indian actress predominantly known for her work in Telugu and Tamil films, along with appearances in Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi films. Early life Ramya was born ...

and singer S. P. Balasubrahmanyam were chosen for a cameo appearance. Prem Kumar played the protagonist in the film. P. H. K. Doss took the spot behind the camera. Yesteryear actors

Girish Karnad Girish Karnad (19 May 1938 – 10 June 2019) was an Indian playwright, actor, film director, Kannada writer, and a Jnanpith awardee, who predominantly worked in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi films. His rise as a playwr ...

, Srinath and Sumithra was signed to appear in supporting roles. Ganesh Venkatraman has also been roped in to play the protagonist in this film. Tamil actor Vivek made his Kannada debut.

Filming

Twenty percent of the shooting was held in USA and rest in India. It was 50 plus days schedule Roopa Iyer had planned for her second direction movie. In

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

and

Kodagu Kodagu district () (also known by its former name Coorg) is an administrative List of districts of Karnataka, district in the Karnataka state of India. Before 1956, it was an administratively separate Coorg State at which point it was merged ...

, Roopa Iyer had chalked out shooting schedules with Mumbai-based Media Networks G.

Soundtrack

Kannada

Tamil

Reception

Critical response

A critic from ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' scored the film at 3.5 out of 5 stars and says "Shriya Saran for her excellent portrayal of the princess. She impresses with her expression and dialogue delivery. Prem is superb as a music teacher and has given life to his character. Srinath shines as Shriya’s father. Music by Gowtham Srivathsa is impressive. PKH Das has done an excellent work with his camera". A Sharadhaa from

The New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naidu ...

wrote "Music by debutant Gautam Srivatsa adds a classic touch. Cameraman PHK Doss has managed to capture the beauty of Shriya well. The verdict: Shot in a light-hearted manner, with a bright palette of colours, and aided by good performances by the actors, the movie is appealing". B S Srivani from

Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by businessman K. N. Guruswamy and launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printers Mysore, a privately hel ...

wrote "Prem and Shriya tease and delight the audience with their expressions and body language. Gautam Srivatsa’s music with evocative lyrics heighten the sense of yearning. All in all, Chandra mesmerises like a full moon but the pleasure wanes in the company of avoidable mistakes". A critic from

Bangalore Mirror ''Bangalore Mirror'' is an English-language daily published by The Times Group in Bangalore, India, as a compact newspaper. It is a deputed newspaper and is the second-largest circulating English daily in the city. In 2020, as part of its COVID ...

wrote "The comedy track with two of the best comedians from Kannada and Tamil, Sahdu Kokila and Vivek, falls flat. The slow pace does not help either. The two stars are cinematographer PHK Doss and composer Gautam Srivatsa".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chandra 2013 films 2010s Kannada-language films Indian romantic drama films 2010s Tamil-language films 2010s Indian films Indian multilingual films 2013 multilingual films Films about royalty Indian romantic fantasy films 2010s romantic fantasy films