''Circus'' is a 2009 Kannada-language

comedy thriller film Comedy thrillers are a hybrid genre that draw subject matter generally from comedy and thrillers. Criteria They often include a darker tone, relative to other genres, of humor. List of comedy thriller films * '' The Big Fix'' (1978) * '' Char ...

directed and produced by Dayal Padmanabhan who previously acted with Ganesh in ''

Gaalipata ''Gaalipata'' () is a 2008 Indian romantic comedy drama film written and directed by Yogaraj Bhat. It features an ensemble cast consisting of Ganesh, Anant Nag, Rajesh Krishnan, Diganth, Daisy Bopanna, Neethu and Bhavana Rao. The plot r ...

''. It stars

Ganesh Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is found throughout India. Hindu ...

and Archana Gupta

Emil Mohammed Emil Mohammed also known as Farhan Roshan is an Indian music composer, mixing engineer and sound designer. He is a graduate from SAE School of audio engineering, Chennai. He works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and Kannada cinema Industry ...

composed the songs and background score for the film, where it was released on 15 January 2009 coinciding with

Makara Sankranthi Makar(a) Sankranti (), also referred to as Uttarayana, Maghi, or simply Sankranti, is a Hindu observance and a festival. Usually falling on the date of January 14 annually, this occasion marks the transition of the Sun from the zodiac of Sag ...

Plot

Dhanush is a fun-loving youngster, who along with his friends live in the railway colony and their meeting point is the railway station. They decide to play a prank by sending a letter stating on a particular date a train travelling from

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

will be exploded. However, they realize that one of the friend's address is posted on the letter. In a hurry, they get into the

Railway Mail Service The Railway Mail Service of the United States Post Office Department was a significant mail transportation service in the US from the mid-19th century until the mid-20th century. The RMS, or its successor the Postal Transportation Service (PTS) ...

boggie of the train where they discovers that a real plot has been hatched by the terrorists to blow up the Gandhadagudi express on the same day, where they decide to locate them and foil the plan. During their journey, Dhanush and his friends take a break at one of the houses where Priya and Dhanush fall for each other. After an intense search, Dhanush and his gang identify the terrorists where they manage to kill them with the help of ATS officers.

Cast

Soundtrack

The official soundtrack contains six songs composed by

with lyrics penned by Kaviraj,

Yogaraj Bhat Yogaraj Bhat (born 8 October 1972) is an Indian Kannada film-maker, director, screenwriter, lyricist and producer. He is most known for the 2006 film '' Mungaru Male''. The film recorded the highest box-office collections in the history of Kann ...

and Manjunath Rao. The audio of the film released on 15 December 2008. The opening lines of the song ''Jeeva Hoovagide'' was used from the popular song of same name (''I Love You'') from the 1981 movie ''

Nee Nanna Gellalare ''Nee Nanna Gellalare'' is a 1981 Indian Kannada-language film directed by Vijay and produced by S.A. Srinivas. The film stars Rajkumar and Manjula . Though the movie managed to recover its budget, the movie's performance is considered to be u ...

''.

Reception

Critical response

''Circus'' received mixed to positive reviews from critics and audience. R G Vijayasarathy of '' Rediff.com'' scored the film at 3 out of 5 stars and says "Ganesh has excelled in his role. He has put in a lot of effort in the stunts. He also shows his class as an actor. Newcomer Archana Gupta looks cute on screen, but she is found wanting in the acting department. Mithra, Avinash Bharadwaj, Murali have done well. Sadhu Kokila has done similar type of roles in many films. The gang of baddies also have done a good job. Circus may not be a top class thriller but still has enough entertaining arsenal to please film fans. Watch it if you love thrillers". ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, 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, t ...

'' wrote "The story takes curious turn when one of them is kidnapped by terrorists who wanted to blast the train. The prank turns out to be a serious problem. Ganesh has given an excellent performance. Archana Gupta is a waste. Sadhu Kokila shines". ''

Bangalore Mirror ''Bangalore Mirror'' is a daily English-language newspaper published in Bangalore, India. It is a deputed newspaper and is the second-largest circulating English newspaper in the city ''Vijay Times'' ''Vijay Times'' was an English newspaper s ...

'' wrote "The excessive focus on Ganesh continues while other seasoned actors hardly get to mouth a sentence. The sketchy characters of the terrorists and the lack of momentum pulls down the film. Despite the drawbacks, Circus is worth a watch".

Box office

The film was declared as an average grosser by completing 50 days at the box office.

Home media

The satellite rights of the film were sold to

Star Suvarna Star Suvarna is an Indian Kannada language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. The channel telecasts Kannada language programmes such a ...

and was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

with

5.1 channel 5.1 surround sound ("five-point one") is the common name for surround sound audio systems. 5.1 is the most commonly used layout in home theatres. It uses five full bandwidth channels and one low-frequency effects channel (the "point one"). Dolb ...

surround sound with English subtitles and VCD.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Circus 2009 films 2000s Kannada-language films Films set in Karnataka Films directed by Dayal Padmanabhan