''Nalla'' is a 2004

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 romance-drama film directed by V. Nagendra Prasad in his directorial debut featuring

Sudeep Sudeep Sanjeev (born 2 September 1971), also known as Kichcha Sudeepa, is an Indian actor, director, producer, screenwriter, singer and television presenter, who primarily works in Kannada cinema. He has also worked in Hindi cinema, Hindi, Te ...

and

Sangeetha Sangeeta may refer to: Song and music * Sangita or Sangeeta, music-related performance arts in the ancient and medieval era Indian texts * '' Sangita Makarandha'', an ancient work on Indian classical music Sangeet Sangeeta *Sangeeta Bijlani ( ...

in the lead roles. The film features background score and soundtrack composed by Venkat Narayan. The film released on 12 November 2004. This movie was dubbed in Hindi as ''Aur Ek Diljala''. The core plot of the movie is loosely based on the 1982 Tamil movie '' Moondram Pirai'' which itself was heavily inspired by

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

's ''

City Lights ''City Lights'' is a 1931 American synchronized sound film, sound romance film, romantic comedy drama, comedy-drama film written, produced, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a ...

''.

Plot

Pachchi alias Prashant (Sudeep) finds a girl, Preethi (Sangeetha), who has lost her memory, in a car. Prashant falls in love with her. He takes care of her and admits her to a hospital. When in the hospital, her father finds her and takes her home. He thanks him and gives a driver's job. Preethi regains her memory and starts looking for Prashant. One day Preethi meets with an accident and is taken to the hospital. Prashant reveals himself and saves her.

Cast

as Prashanth "Pachhi" *

as Preethi / Chinnu *

Mumtaj Mumtaj (born 5 July 1980) is an Indian former actress of Tamil cinema. She entered the film industry through the Tamil film ''Monisha En Monalisa'' (1999) by T. Rajender and subsequently garnered popularity appearing in glamorous roles in f ...

as Madhu * Srinath as Preethi's father *

Naveen Mayur Naveen Mayur (25 November 1978 – 3 October 2010) was an Indian actor who was known for his work in Kannada cinema. He appeared in more than 30 films starting 2000 before he died of jaundice in 2010. Early life Mayur was born on 25 November 1 ...

as Srikanth *

Bullet Prakash Bullet Prakash (2 April 1976 – 6 April 2020) was an Indian actor who worked in Kannada cinema. Known for portraying comic roles, Prakash appeared in over 325 films. He earned the nickname "Bullet" because he used to ride the motorbike, Roy ...

as Paachi's friend * Dharma as gangster * Harish Rai as gangster * Lakshman as Police Inspector * Ramesh Pandith as Police Inspector *

Bank Janardhan Janardhan Rao Chauhan (2 March 1949 – 13 April 2025), known by his stage name Bank Janardhan, was an Indian actor in the Kannada film industry. He was well-known for his comedy and drama roles in various Kannada films and television series. ...

as Madhu's father * Apoorva *

Chitra Shenoy Chitra Shenoy is an Indian actress and producer in South Indian movies and television series. She has acted in more than 600 films predominately in Kannada and Malayalam. She is known as the 'young mother' in the Kannada film industry having po ...

* Tara as Dr Sarala Desai

Production

The film is produced by producer KCN Gowda's three grandchildren. The film was shot for fifteen days in Chennai, including the climax scene shot at

AVM Studios AVM Productions is an Indian film production studio founded by A. V. Meiyappa Chettiar. It is the oldest film studio in India. The filming studios are located in Vadapalani, Chennai. It has produced over 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, ...

, and Bangalore.

Soundtrack

The film features background score and soundtrack composed by Venkat Narayan and lyrics by V. Nagendra Prasad.

Reception

A critic from ''

Sify Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology (ICT) company providing telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation integration services, and ...

'' wrote that "This is a well made film to suit the image of Sudeep". Film critic R. G. Vijayasarathy of ''

IANS Indo-Asian News Service or IANS is a private Indian news agency. It was founded in 1986 by Indian American publisher Gopal Raju as the "India Abroad News Service" and later renamed. In December 2023, Adani Group, Adani group, known for its clos ...

'' wrote that "''Nalla'' is a welcome relief for filmgoers looking for clean films". SND of ''

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 "The story reminds us of Moonram Pirai and other successful Tamil films. The new formula for Kannada film makers seem to be: Take ideas from some successful films, remix them, write your own story, and make it appear new".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 2959626, Nalla 2004 films 2000s Kannada-language films Kannada remakes of Tamil films Films directed by V. Nagendra Prasad