''Natasaarvabhowma'' ( ''Emperor of Actors'') is a 2019 Indian

Kannada-language 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 s ...

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Psychological horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Christmas horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Analog horror, a subgenre of horror fiction * ...

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by

Pavan Wadeyar Pavan Wadeyar (born 10 December 1987) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, lyricist, actor and producer best known for his work in Kannada cinema. He is known for writing and directing ''Govindaya Namaha'' (2012), for which he won the SI ...

and produced by

Rockline Venkatesh Thirupathi Narasimhalunaidu Venkatesh (born 24 March 1963), better known by his stage name Rockline Venkatesh, is an Indian actor and film producer known for his works in Kannada cinema, Kannada, Tamil and Bollywood, Hindi cinemas. He is the fo ...

. The film stars

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 ...

Anupama Parameswaran Anupama Parameswaran (born 18 February 1996) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil films. Anupama made her debut with the successful Malayalam film ''Premam'' (2015) and is known for her work in ''Kodi'' (2016 ...

(in her

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 ...

debut) and

Rachita Ram Rachita Ram (born Bindhya Ram; 3 October), is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Kannada films, Kannada films. Considered among the leading Kannada actresses, Rachita is a recipient of various accolades including one Filmfare Awards ...

, alongside

P. Ravi Shankar Pudipeddi Ravi Shankar (born 28 November 1966), also known as Sai Ravi, is an Indian actor, dubbing artist, director and a writer. As an actor, he predominantly appears in Kannada films, in addition to Telugu and Tamil films. As a dubbing a ...

, Prabhakar,

Prakash Belawadi Prakash Belawadi is an Indian actor, director and screenwriter, who works predominately in English, Kannada and Hindi theatre, films and television. He is also a theatre teacher, activist and a journalist. He hails from Bengaluru. He has parti ...

Chikkanna Chikkanna (born 22 June 1984), is an Indian Comedy actor who works in Kannada cinema and appears primarily in comic roles. He made his debut in films with '' Kirataka'' (2011), following which he was recognized for his performances in '' Raja ...

Sadhu Kokila Sahaya Sheelan Shadrach, (born 24 March 1966) known by his Stage name Sadhu Kokila, is an Indian comedian, musician, actor, film director, producer, occasional screenwriter and lyricist who works in Kannada cinema. He began his career as a com ...

Achyuth Kumar Achyuth Kumar is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Kannada cinema, alongside a few Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. He is known for his performances in the ''KGF'', '' Kantara'', '' Sidlingu'', and '' Lucia''. He is the recipient ...

and

Avinash Avinash may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Avinash'' (film), a 1986 Indian Hindi-language film * Tiger (YRF Spy Universe) (Avinash Singh Rathore), fictional agent in the ''Tiger'' franchise of the YRF Spy Universe People * Avinash Sachde ...

, with

B. Saroja Devi Bangalore Saroja Devi (born 7 January 1938) is an Indian actress who has acted in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi films. She acted in around 200 films over seven decades. She is known by the epithets "''Abhinaya Saraswathi''" ( Saraswathi of ...

in a guest appearance. The music was composed by

D. Imman Immanuel Vasanth Dinakaran (born 24 January 1983), better known as D. Imman, is an Indian film music composer and singer, predominantly working in Tamil cinema. His first film as music director was ''Thamizhan'' in 2002. Since then he has comp ...

, while cinematography and editing were handled by

Vaidy S Vaidy Somasundaram, also known as Vaidy S., is an Indian cinematographer, who primarily works in the Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam film industries. Early life and career After graduating with a gold medal in film technology and cinematography f ...

and Mahesh S. Reddy. ''Natasaarvabhowma'' was released on 7 February 2019 to mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and became a commercial success at the box office.

Plot

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 ...

, Central Minister Ghanshyam Yadav is intercepted by some goons but is rescued by Gagan Dixit, a

news reporter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

returning from

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. Gagan investigates the attack and realizes that the fight was a staged act by Yadav to gain sympathy votes in the

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

. Gagan reports to Avinash, the

newspaper editor An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held account ...

, and publishes this story anonymously, leaving Yadav infuriated. Gagan meets up with his best friend Keshava and decides to rent a haunted house owned by Namadev, despite Keshav's objections. Gagan convinces Keshav that since he has a sacred thread on his right wrist, they will be fine. Gagan unsuccessfully tries to call the phone number of someone, and they leave for the

mobile network A cellular network or mobile network is a telecommunications network where the link to and from end nodes is wireless and the network is distributed over land areas called ''cells'', each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver (suc ...

's office to obtain the location of the number. They meet with Sakshi, the manager, who refuses to give it. After the story about the fake fight is published, the newspaper loses many

ads" \n\nads.txt (Authorized Digital Sellers) is an initiative from IAB Technology Laboratory. It specifies a text file that companies can host on their web servers, listing the other companies authorized to sell their products or services. This is des ...

and Avinash sends Gagan to do a special write-up on Yadav by interviewing him in his

private jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people, typically business executives and high-ranking associates. Business jets are generally designed for faster air travel and more personal ...

. After a fairly tense interview, the jet lands in

Bellary Ballari (formerly Bellary) is a city in the Ballari district in state of Karnataka, India. Ballari houses many steel plants such as JSW Vijayanagar, one of the largest in Asia. Ballari district is also known as the ‘Steel city of South Ind ...

and Yadav is ambushed. Gagan initially believes it to be another fake fight for sympathy votes, but realizes that Yadav is bleeding unlike in the last fight. Gagan saves Yadav, putting himself in Yadav's good graces. Gagan had previously rescued Sakshi from goons in her office and she had agreed to share the location. When Gagan visits her, she refuses again as Namadev has told her that it was a setup by Gagan and Keshava to get the location of the number. Gagan goes to Sakshi's office again but learns that her father suffered from a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

, causing Sakshi to faint. Gagan and Yadav manage to rescue Sakshi and her father just in time. Due to this, Sakshi falls in love with Gagan and agrees to give details about the phone number. After various paranormal activities in the house, Keshav quarrels with Namadev. Gagan tries to break up the fight and consequently loses his sacred thread. Gagan starts experiencing supernatural activities in the house, where he finds some spectacles in a drawer and wears them and his behaviour changes. Gagan goes to interview the famous veteran actress

at a country club, where he notices his vision blurring and wears the spectacles to regain focus. Gagan shifts his focus to Prabhakar Reddy, a lawyer, in the pool and relentlessly thrashes Prabhakar, occasionally asking him "Why did you kill me?". Prabhakar escapes and Gagan loses consciousness. Gagan and Keshav attend Yadav's birthday bash, where they get drunk. Yadav embraces him and Gagan wears the spectacles to regain focus. Gagan proceeds to thrash Yadav mercilessly. Yadav survives and Gagan wakes up in prison, with no idea about the happenings. Gagan gets bail on the case of mental illness and the media quickly picks up Gagan's story, focusing that he lives in a supposedly haunted house. An observer explains the suicide of his niece Shruthi, which occurred in that house. Sakshi reveals to Gagan that the location of the number is the same house. Gagan is shocked and reveals the person to be his girlfriend Shruthi. Past: Shruthi, who works under Prabhakar as a junior lawyer, arrives in Kolkata and befriends Gagan after reading the article, he wrote on disabled persons. They both prepared articles to file a case against Yadav, who was supplying duplicate products to disabled persons. Gagan proposes to Shruthi and asks her to call him after she reaches Bangalore for her answer, but he does not receive a call from Shruthi and Gagan arrives in Bangalore to find Shruti. Present: Gagan is taken to the

ashram An ashram (, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions, not including Buddhism. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (< MPD. The court orders Gagan to be sent to a

mental asylum The lunatic asylum, insane asylum or mental asylum was an institution where people with mental illness were confined. It was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. Modern psychiatric hospitals evolved from and eventually replace ...

. Flashback: In the ashram, Gagan kills Shruthi's uncle before violently killing Yadav. Gagan reveals to Guruji that he was never possessed by anyone and reveals that he planned to avenge Shruti's death. Gagan reveals that he had a

video chat Videotelephony (also known as videoconferencing or video calling) is the use of audio and video for simultaneous two-way communication. Today, videotelephony is widespread. There are many terms to refer to videotelephony. ''Videophones'' are ...

with Shruthi and had witnessed Yadav, Reddy and her uncle killing Shruti and making it look like a suicide. Gagan explains that he would be proven spiritually and scientifically innocent and forces Guruji to lie in front of the media. Present: Gagan is in a mental asylum van and sees Guruji in a car. Guruji looks at him without blinking his eyes. When Guruji leaves, Gagan smiles.

Cast

as Gagan Dixit *

as Shruti, a junior lawyer *

as Sakshi *

as Central Minister Ghanashyam Yadhav *

as Keshava, Gagan's friend *

as Namadev, Gagan and Keshava's house owner *

as Shruthi's uncle *

as Yadhav's ''Guruji'' *

Srinivasa Murthy Jadalathimmanahalli Krishnappa Srinivasa Murthy (born 15 May 1949), known popularly as Srinivasa Murthy, is an Indian actor and television director. He is mostly known for his work as a director having made many television series in Kannada, b ...

as Dixit, Gagan's father *

as Avinash, Gagan's boss * Prabhakar as Prabhakar, a lawyer *Pradeep Doddaiah as a news anchor

Cameo appearance

Jani Master Shaik Jani Basha (born 2 July 1982), known professionally as Jani Master, is an Indian dance choreographer who predominantly works in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi films. He choreographs in various dance styles, with a focus on Western and fo ...

in the song "Open the Bottle" *

in the song "Natasaarvabhouma" *Bhushan in the song "Natasaarvabhouma" *

Avika Gor Avika Gor (born 30 June 1997) is an Indian actress who works primarily in Hindi and Telugu films and television. She is famously known for playing the role of Anandi in '' Balika Vadhu'', for which she won Rajiv Gandhi Award in 2009 in the cate ...

in the song "Taaja Samachara"

Production

Filming

The main scenes between

and Anupama Parameshwaran were shot in

, along with a romantic song "Tajaa Samachara". The shooting schedule in Kolkata was wrapped up in September 2018.

Music

The soundtrack was composed by

and the audio launch was held on 12 January 2019 in

Hubli Hubli (officially Hubballi) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. The twin cities Hubli–Dharwad form the second largest city in the state by area and population and the largest city in North Karnataka. Hubli is in Dharwad district of ...

. Following Puneeth Rajkumar's death in 2021, a tribute track penned by

Pawan Wadeyar Pavan Wadeyar (born 10 December 1987) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, lyricist, actor and film producer, producer best known for his work in Cinema of Karnataka, Kannada cinema. He is known for writing and directing ''Govindaya Namaha ...

, which was the original concept for the introduction song for ''Natasaarvabhowma'', was added to the soundtrack on 17 March 2022.

Release

The film was released on 7 February 2019.

Home media

The digital streaming rights was sold to

ZEE5 ZEE5 or Z5 is an Indian subscription video on demand and over-the-top streaming service, owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was launched in India on 14 February 2018 with content in 12 languages. The ZEE5 mobile app is available on We ...

Reception

''Natasaarvabhowma'' received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics.

Critical response

Aravind Shwetha of ''

The News Minute ''The News Minute'' is an Indian digital news platform based in Bangalore, Karnataka. It was founded by Vignesh Vellore who is also the current CEO in 2014. Apart from Karnataka, it also has bureaus in the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, ...

'' gave 4/5 stars and wrote "A movie tailor-made for Puneeth’s fans and is paisa-vasool throughout!." A. Sharaadha of ''

Cinema Express ''Cinema Express'' was an Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language entertainment fortnightly magazine published from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was a part of The New Indian Express, The New Indian Express Group, which also publishes ''Samakalika Mal ...

'' gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Natasaarvabhowma is Puneeth's show out-and-out. He not only gets out of his regular formulaic characters with this film, but also makes sure he provides all the entertainment his die-hard fans usually look forward to from him." Sunayana Suresh of ''

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 ...

'' gave 3/5 stars and wrote "Watch this film if you want a film that has the commercial elements in place, but also has a little twist. Whether the twist is edgy and risque enough, that is another debate." Manoj Kumar R of ''

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 ...

'' gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Pawan Wadeyar has mashed the themes of horror-comedy, revenge and a few dance numbers to serve a

masala film Masala films of Indian cinema are those that blend multiple genres into one work. Masala films emerged in the 1970s and are still being created as of the 2020s. Typically these films freely blend action, comedy, romance, and drama, or melod ...

that offers nothing new."

Box office

''Natasaarvabhowma'' had a record 1,394 shows on the first day in

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

Accolades

References

External links

* {{Pavan Wadeyar 2019 action films 2010s Kannada-language films 2010s Indian films 2019 films Films about journalists Films directed by Pavan Wadeyar Films scored by D. Imman Films set in Bengaluru Films set in Kolkata Films set in prison Films set in psychiatric hospitals Films shot in Bengaluru Films shot in Kolkata Indian action horror films Indian courtroom films Indian films about revenge Indian haunted house films Indian nonlinear narrative films 2019 masala films Rockline Entertainments films