James (2022 film): Difference between revisions

{{Infobox film | name = James | image = James (2022 film) poster.png | caption = Theatrical Release Poster(Telugu) | director = Chethan Kumar | producer = Kishore Pathikonda | writer = Chethan Kumar | screenplay = | story = | based_on =

| starring =

| narrator = | music = Songs:
Charan Raj
Score:
V. Harikrishna | cinematography = Swamy J. Gowda | editing = Deepu S. Kumar | studio = Kishore Productions | distributor =

| released =

| runtime = 149 minutes | country = India | language = Kannada | budget = ₹50-70 crores^[1] | gross = est. ₹ 173.4 crores

James ^[2] is a 2022 Indian Kannada-language action thriller film written and directed by Chethan Kumar.^[3] It stars Puneeth Rajkumar and Priya Anand. This is Puneeth's posthumous appearance following his death on 29 October 2021.^[4] The film marked the second collaboration between Puneeth, Priya and Sarathkumar after Raajakumara (2017).^[5][6] The film score and soundtrack are composed by V. Harikrishna and Charan Raj, respectively.^[7] The film had a theatrical release on 17 March 2022 on the occasion of Puneeth Rajkumar's birthday.^[8]

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics and audience ^[9] praising the visuals, stylish execution, action sequences, production values and the performance of Puneeth Rajkumar.^[10] The audience considered it as a fitting tribute to Puneeth.^[11] It became a huge success at the box office and broke the record for the biggest opening day collections for any Kannada film by grossing around ₹28 crores^[12] to ₹32 crores on the first day.^[13] The film grossed ₹100 crores within 4 days of release ^[14] and became the second highest-grossing Kannada film at that time ^[15] whilst also becoming the fastest Kannada film to gross ₹100 crores at the box office.^[16]

The crime syndicate which is operating in Bangalore is divided between two groups namely Golden Horse syndicate owned by Joseph Anthony, which is operating from Europe and Gayakwad Syndicate operating locally. Gayakwad Syndicate’s owner, Vijay Gayakwad is embroiled into a life-threatening situation when his father, Jayadev Gayakwad is murdered by unknown assailants. After realizing that his family is also in danger, he appoints Santhosh Kumar, who is the manager in J-Wings security agency, as his bodyguard due to his skills and tactics in handling his assignments. Santhosh helps Vijay in his business dealings, while also having Joseph's aide Rathanlal killed, when he tries to steal Gayakwad's market shares. He also protects Vijay's family from all sort of dangers. Vijay then requests Santhosh to protect his sister Nisha Gayakwad, who has returned to India after completing her medical studies from Singapore. After an attack, Santhosh and Nisha escape to a village in Madikeri, where Nisha falls in love with Santhosh. She requests her brother to accept their relationship. Vijay reluctantly accepts. At a party where Vijay announces his decision to handover his business dealings to Nisha, Vijay also introduces Santhosh to everyone. At this point of time, Santhosh asks Vijay whether he fears anything in his life, only to start a shootout where he kills his other bodyguards and reveals that he was the one who had Jayadev assassinated so that Vijay could hire him. At the same time, Joseph's hitmen barge into the party and are shocked to find Santhosh, who they recognize as JAMES, their nemesis who was presumed dead. One of them informs this to Joseph, before getting beheaded by Santhosh.

Santhosh kidnaps Vijay along with Nisha and brings them to the security agency's interrogation room. Rakesh Kumar Pirangi, who is the Santhosh's collague in J-Wings agency reveals Santhosh's past to Nisha. Santhosh was an army soldier in Kashmir, who arrived to Pondicherry for his IAS officer friend, Ekanth's wedding. Another flashback reveals that Jagan, Amar, Madan, Ekanth and Santhosh (JAMES) were friends from their childhood at Nammane Shakthidhaama orphanage and were working in various Government departments in later stage of their life. Two days before the wedding, Jagan reveals that when he took charge as ATS officer, he had arrested John, Robin and Peter for drugs and arms smuggling led by the Golden Horse Syndicate. Santhosh too reveals that Golden Horse was also operating in Kashmir when they were in a mission to rescue their colonel from terrorists. It is revealed that John, Peter, and Robin were actually Joseph's brothers and were also associated with Gayakwad Syndicate for the operation. During Ekanth's wedding in Pondicherry, Joseph's brothers barge in and kill everyone present at the wedding. Santhosh, who survives due to Rakesh's help, leaves for Europe as James and destroys the syndicate by killing John, Peter and Robin after which he returns to India seeking his higher official's permission to destroy the syndicate, to which they agree and he starts the mission - MISSION ROCK. In the present, Santhosh, with Nisha's help lures Joseph, Vijay and his gang into a trap where he, along with his squad officers, arrest the syndicate members. After their arrest, the film ends with Santhosh saluting the Indian flag with the satisfaction of having accomplished his friend's mission.

Additionally, Charanraj , Chandan Shetty,^[20] Rachita Ram,^[20] Ashika Ranganath^[20] and Sreeleela^[20] appears as themselves in a cameo appearance in the Trademark song.

Prior to his demise, Puneeth had finished most part of the shoot except one song and voice dubbing. The movie team tried it's best to retain Puneeth's voice captured during shoot but when it seemed difficult, Shiva Rajkumar, the eldest brother of Puneeth, dubbed for his brother's character in the Kannada version.^[21]

Priya Anand was signed for the female lead role.^[22][23][24] The makers also announced that Srikanth, Hareesh Peradi, Mukesh Rishi and Anu Prabhakar would be seen in prominent roles.^[25][26][27] In 2021, R. Sarathkumar,^[28] Tilak Shekar, Shine Shetty, Chikkanna joined the film's cast.^[29]

The film is produced by Kishore Pathikonda under the banner Kishore Productions.^[5] The first schedule of the shoot started from 19 January 2020 in Bengaluru.^[30] The second schedule of the film started from 14 October 2020 in Hampi.^[31] A quick schedule was also wrapped in February 2021 in Kashmir featuring important action sequences of Puneeth Rajkumar.^[32] After returning from Kashmir, Puneeth became busy in the promotional activities of his other film, Yuvarathnaa which released on 1 April amidst the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The James team resumed shoot once again from 5 July at a brisk pace after the Government of Karnataka gave nod to restart filming activities.^[33]

Charan Raj composed the music for the film. The theme music, "Bolo Bolo James", was composed by Vijeth Krishna.^[3]

The film released in theatres on 17 March 2022 in Kannada alongside dubbed versions in Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu.^[17] It released in 4000 screens on the first day including 400 single screen theaters in Karnataka alone ^[1] and 900 shows in multiplexes ^[34] making it the biggest release at that time in Karnataka.^[35][36] The Telugu film RRR had postponed its release by one week due to release of this film.^[37][38]

The movie is set to release on SonyLIV on 14 April 2022 in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi.^[39]

The movie was estimated to have grossed ₹27 to ₹30 crores on its first day which was the highest opening day domestic box office collections for a Kannada film at that time.^[40][41] It was reported to have grossed ₹6 crores from Bengaluru alone - marking it the first time a movie has grossed above ₹4 crores in the city on its opening day.^[42] The net collections at the end of the first day was reported to be around ₹18 crores ^[43] to ₹22.5 crores.^[44]

It was reported to have grossed ₹10 crores on the second day ^[45] with the total gross around ₹37 crores to ₹45 crores in 2 days.^[46][47][48] It was speculated that the gross theatrical collections for 3 days to be around ₹54 crores^[49] to ₹57 crores^[50] with a net collections of ₹38 crores for the same period.^[51] The net collections for 4 days was reported to be around ₹50 crores.^[52] Multiple media outlets reported that the movie had grossed ₹100 crores within 4 days^[53][54][15] based on the official announcement by the makers on the twitter page of the movie.^[55][56] The movie grossed more than ₹125 crores at the box office within 6 days of its release.^[57] The theatrical collections of the movie crossed ₹150 crores in 13 days.^[58]

Times Of India gave the movie 4/5 rating and praised the movie for its stylish presentation.^[59] Deccan Herald praised the movie for its high octane slick action sequences.^[60] Firstpost said the movie is "impressively shot and edited" and praised the production values and noted that the sets are "classy and pristine".^[61] The News Minute praised the "visual effects and smart camera angles".^[62] India Today gave the film a rating of 3/5 and praised Puneeth's performance "from enacting emotional sequences to nailing difficult dance steps ".^[63] The Hans India wrote "Puneeth takes the film on his shoulder. He made the action blocks more interesting" and called the background music as "top-notch".^[64] The Indian Express noted that "one cannot escape the strong sense of melancholy that comes with the knowledge of the fact that it will be the last time one would see Puneeth on-screen".^[65]

• List of highest-grossing Kannada films

• James at IMDb