''Cyanide'' is an Indian 2006 Kannada-language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

written and directed by

A. M. R. Ramesh A. M. R. Ramesh is an Indian film director and producer who has directed several Kannada.films. The director rose to fame upon his second venture ''Cyanide''. In 2013, he was in media attention regarding his latest biopic on forest dacoit Veera ...

. The plot of the film set in and around

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 ...

from 1 to 20 August 1991, deals with incidents surrounding the assassins of former Indian Prime Minister

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to bec ...

. It stars Ravi Kale as Sivarasan (One-eyed Jack), the mastermind of the assassination.

Malavika Avinash Malavika Avinash (born 28 January 1976) is an Indian spokesperson, actress, television personality and politician who is the current State spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party of Karnataka. She is known for her work in Kannada and Tamil f ...

, Tara,

Rangayana Raghu Kotturu Chikkarangappa Raghunath (born 17 April 1965), known by his screen name Rangayana Raghu, is an Indian film and stage actor, known for his work in Kannada cinema. Portraying mostly comic and negative-shaded characters, he has appeared ...

in pivotal roles. The supporting cast features

Avinash Avinash Yelandur (born 22 December 1959) is an Indian actor who stars predominantly in South Indian language films, notably in the Kannada and Tamil film industries. He has been in the industry for two decades and has acted in over 200 films. K ...

, Nassar and Suresh Heblikar. The film was partially re-shot/dubbed in Tamil as ''Kuppi''. Upon theatrical release on 7 July 2006, the film received widespread critical acclaim. Critics acclaimed the film's narration, the acting performances of Ravi Kale, Rangayana Raghu, Tara and Malavika Avinash, and the camerawork and editing of the film. At the 2006–07

Karnataka State Film Awards Karnataka State Film Awards are the most notable and prestigious film awards given for Kannada film industry in Karnataka, India. These are considered the highest awards for Kannada language films. They are given annually by the Government ...

the film won two awards – Third Best Film and

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress awar ...

(Tara). For his portrayal of Ranganath, who sheltered the assassins, Raghu was awarded the Best Supporting Actor at the 54th

Filmfare Awards South Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassin ...

. The film is seen by some critics as one of the finest films ever made in

Kannada cinema Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. The 1934 film ''Sati Sulochana'' direct ...

Cast

Critical reception

Reviewing the film, R. G. Vijayasarathy of ''

Rediff.com Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

'' said it "shocks and surprises", and wrote, " tsdialogues are crisp, narration has good pace, camera angles and lighting match the mood and the background score fits perfectly." He added, "It is an outstanding effort that needs appreciation and applause." The reviewer of ''Viggy.com'' felt the film's USPs were "its gripped narration, simplistic presentation" and "the style of picturising a dynamic story in an entertaining way". He concluded praising the performance of all the lead characters in the film. ''Sify.com'' commended the performance of the cast and added, "The camera work of Ratnavelu on the proceedings of 20 days of life of Shivarasan & gang is very effectively shown on screen, while Sandeep Chowta?s background score is awesome." The reviewer of ''Nowrunning.com'' called it a "perfect ten film" and wrote, ""Cyanide" is fantastically packaged with the finest technical values and some great acting performances." ''Indiaglitz.com'' wrote, "Thara the national award winning actress as timid and chicken hearted Mridula has given a splendid performance. Avinash as DCP Kempaiah, Rangayana Raghu as Ranganath and Ravi Kaale as Shivarasan are apt."

Accolades

; 2006–07 Karnataka State Film Awards * Third Best Film *

– Tara ; 54th Filmfare Awards South * Best Supporting Actor – Kannada –

References

External links

* {{A. M. R. Ramesh 2000s Kannada-language films 2006 films Works about the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi Films scored by Sandeep Chowta Indian multilingual films Films directed by A. M. R. Ramesh Indian Peace Keeping Force