Kurukshetra (2019 Film)

''Kurukshetra'' () is a 2019 Kannada-language mythological war film written by J. K. Bharavi and directed by Naganna. The story is based on the Indian epic ''Mahabharata'', inspired by the epic poem ''Gadhayuddha'' by Ranna, The story is centred on Duryodhana, Kaurava king. The film was produced by Munirathna.

The film features an ensemble cast of Darshan, Ambareesh, V. Ravichandran, Arjun Sarja,
Nikhil Kumar, Aditi Arya, Meghana Raj, Haripriya, Sneha, Sonu Sood, Danish Akhtar Saifi, P. Ravishankar and Shashikumar portraying characters from ''Mahabharata''. The score and soundtrack were composed by V. Harikrishna, while the cinematography and editing were handled by Jayanan Vincent and
Jo Ni Harsha.

The film was released on 9 August 2019 across more than 1000 screens, making it the widest release for any Kannada film alongside the dubbed Telugu version. On 15 August, the Tamil version was released. The Malayalam-language version was released on 18 October in Kerala. It was the

highest-grossing Kannada film of 2019.

Premise

The story is a reinterpretation of the war described in the ''Mahabharata'' Sanskrit epic from Duryodhana's viewpoint. After losing to the Kauravas in a gamble, the Pandavas go into exile and endure hardship for a number of years. Upon their return, conflict arises over the dynastic succession leading to a Kurukshetra war.

Cast

Production

The official launch of the film was held on 6 August 2017 with filming beginning on the same day. A major portion of the film was shot at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad. The film was shot twice, first in 2D format and then in 3D, with shooting completed after more than 230 days. A few scenes and dialogues were reported to have been inspired by the 1977 Telugu movie ''Daana Veera Soora Karna''.

Soundtrack

Music director V. Harikrishna was commissioned to compose the film's score. Lahari Music, which bagged the film's audio rights for 1.5 crore, launched the soundtrack on 7 July 2019. The first song, "Saahore Saaho", was released on 5 July 2019.

;Kannada Tracklist

;Hindi Tracklist

;Telugu Tracklist

;Tamil Tracklist

;Malayalam Tracklist

Release

Home media

The satellite rights for the Kannada and Hindi versions of the film were bought by two different companies for 9 crore and 9.5 crore, respectively.

Release date allocation

A news report in late 2018 speculated that the film would be released in February 2019. But a delay caused the release date to be pushed to 5 April, targeting an Ugadi release. After actor Nikhil Kumar announced his participation in the 2019 Indian general elections, and the release date was further postponed as promotion of a candidate is prohibited during the elections. Producer Munirathna remarked, "The film is made in both 2D and 3D and it has got delayed due to the extensive graphics. Now, we are ready with the product and as planned, I am very keen to release this in April first week. But since Nikhil is part of our film, if I want to go ahead with the planned release date, I will have to lose out the entire Mysuru region." The film was later slated to be released on 9 August but pulled forward by a week in order to avoid a clash in screen allotment with another multi-language release ''Saaho''. Later, it was rescheduled to 9 August to coincide with the festival of Varamahalakshmi Vrata.

The film was planned to be simultaneously released in four languages, apart from Kannada. It was released on 9 August 2019 in both 2D and 3D formats in two languages – Kannada and Telugu. On 15 August 2019, the Tamil version was released. Due to floods in Kerala, the Malayalam version was released on 18 October 2019
in Kerala.

On 5 September 2019, the film was released in the Middle East countries of United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, and Qatar.

Reception

Kurukshetra received positive to mixed reviews from critics.

A. Sharadhaa of ''The New Indian Express'' rated the film 4/5 stars and wrote, "Narration is simple and helps even those who know nothing of the epic understand the story. It looks like the team has tediously managed to keep the story in a format that is likely to be widely accepted." A critic from ''The Times of India'' gave the film 3.5/5 stars and wrote, "While the story manages to hold the interest of the viewers through most of its run time, the screenplay basically plays to the gallery. ..This one is for those who miss the good old mythological cinema and of course, for Darshan’s fans, who can watch their superstar playing the character of his lifetime and excelling in it."

Manoj Kumar R. of ''The Indian Express'' gave it 3/5 stars and wrote, "The first half of ''Kurukshetra'' suffers from uneven pacing. However, the second half holds well, thanks to a series of action set pieces." Aravind Shwetha of ''The News Minute'' wrote, "Darshan is the heart and soul of the film, but the dialogues and direction could have been better." Shashiprasad S. M. of ''Deccan Chronicle'' wrote, "There are quite a few epic mistakes when it comes to dialogues but it is the effort and the honest making despite the technical disappointments, Munirathna's ''Kurukshetra'' deserve applause for pulling out a decent entertainment". M. K. Raghavendra of ''Firstpost'' gave it 1/2 stars and wrote, "the biggest problem with the film is perhaps that it does not maintain the respectful distance required from its epic characters."

Box office

Domestic

The film collected on its opening day which is recorded as one of the biggest openings in Kannada cinema.
The first week collection of the film was reported to be around ₹30 crore
to ₹35 crore.
The film completed 100 days in few centers and emerged as commercially successful film at the box office.

References

External links

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{{Works based on the Mahabharata, state=collapsed

2019 films
Films based on the Mahabharata
Indian epic films
Films scored by V. Harikrishna
Indian biographical films
Hindu mythological films
2010s Kannada-language films
Films shot at Ramoji Film City
Indian historical action films
Hindu devotional films
Indian 3D films
2019 3D films
Rockline Entertainments films
2010s biographical films
Films directed by Naganna