''Popcorn Monkey Tiger'' is a 2020 Indian

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

action crime 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

Duniya Soori Duniya Suri, credited onscreen as Suri, is an Indian movie director. He became known as Duniya Suri in the wake of the success of his debut movie '' Duniya'', for which he won the 2006–2007 Karnataka State Film Awards in the Best Screenpl ...

and produced by K. M. Sudhir. It serves as a sequel to the 2015 film ''

Kendasampige ''Kendasampige'' () is a 2015 Indian Kannada-language crime thriller film directed by Duniya Soori from a story written by Surendranath and produced by Parimala Film Factory. The film stars Vikky Varun and Manvita Kamath, Rajesh Nataranga, ...

''. The film features Dhananjaya,

Amrutha Iyengar Amrutha Iyengar (born 26 July 1996) is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Kannada films. Iyengar is a recipient of a Filmfare Award South and two South Indian International Movie Awards. She made her acting debut in 2017, with ''Sim ...

Nivedhitha Niveditha, formerly known and credited as Smitha, is an Indian actress, who predominantly appears in Kannada films. She attracted notable attention with her performance in the film '' Avva'' (2008) that fetched her the Karnataka State Film Awar ...

, Sapthami Gowda, Sparsha Rekha, and

Prashanth Siddi Prashanth Siddi is an Indian actor who works in Kannada-language films. As of August 2020, he has appeared in seventy films. Career Coming from a lower income background, Prashanth Siddi was selected by Chidambar Rao Jambe to work in the thea ...

. The soundtrack and background score were composed by

Charan Raj Charan Rajkumar is an Indian actor, director, film producer, and writer who works in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Odia and Hindi films. Career Charan Raj is a versatile actor who is popular for his villainy and character roles in South ...

while the cinematography and editing were handled by Shekhar S. and Deepu. S. Kumar. A sequel titled ''Kaage Bangara'' and the third film in the trilogy was supposed to enter production in 2020. ''Popcorn Monkey Tiger'' was released on 22 February 2020 to positive reviews from critics, but underperformed at the box office.

Plot

The plot unfolds in a reverse-chronological fashion. It focuses on the life of the protagonist, Seena, and the evolution of his character due to external forces that sway him in different directions. Women/lovers involved in Seena's life contribute to these forces that trigger the

Metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth transformation or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and different ...

of his character. He goes from being a garage mechanic to a prominent leader in the underworld mafia. "Popcorn" Devi, one of the lovers, has a profound impact on Seena's life. The back story on how "Popcorn" Devi got involved with the underworld unfolds parallelly alongside Seena's story.

Cast

Soundtrack

scored the background music and soundtrack for the film. The audio rights were bought by PRK Audio in December 2019.

Reception

''Popcorn Monkey Tiger'' received positive reviews from critics.

Critical response

Sunayna 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 3.5/5 and wrote "While fans of crime and gore will enjoy this, ''Popcorn Monkey Tiger'' is a film that unintentionally glorifies the underworld in more ways than one." A. Sharadhaa 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 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Popcorn Monkey Tiger is original and has Suri's signature all over it. This is a film for all the lovers of the director's work, as well as for the fans of Dhananjay, and for those who adore the mafia-based films." Y. Maheshwara Reddy of ''

Bangalore Mirror ''Bangalore Mirror'' is an English-language daily published by The Times Group in Bangalore, India, as a compact newspaper. It is a deputed newspaper and is the second-largest circulating English daily in the city. In 2020, as part of its COVID ...

'' gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "It is worth watching if you want to see Dhananjaya in a different avatar and also ready to cope with sound pollution caused by indecent dialogues." 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, ...

'' praised the film's reverse chronological screenwriting and wrote "Popcorn Monkey Tiger is raw, rugged and realistic, and a must-watch for mass movie lovers."

References

External links

* {{Pushkar Films Indian crime action films 2020s Kannada-language films Indian gangster films Films directed by Duniya Soori 2020 crime action films Indian nonlinear narrative films