Dr. Rajkumar to Malashree -A brief history of the Sandalwood cop

The cop archetype in cinema has been faring quite successfully for decades. In the Indian context especially, the role has launched many careers, including that of Amitabh Bachchan who put an end to his box-office miseries with Prakash Mehra's 'Zanjeer' in 1973. Similarly, Tamil superstar Rajinikanth would star as DSP Alex Pandian in 'Moondru Mugam' and carve out his own niche in the post-Sivaji Ganesan era. In Kannada Cinema, each superstar over the decades has an instrumental cop role in their careers which has not only fetched great results at the box-office but also added versatility to their filmographies. So, let's take the opportunity to take a look at the brief history of the cop movie in Kannada and how each superstar boasts of at least one landmark success in the genre.

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Interestingly, Dr. Raj's encounter with the cop role came much later on in his career through films like 'Aakasmika' and 'Shabdavedhi'. He had featured as the famous secret agent in the hugely successful 'CID 999' series and also as the honest forest officer in the 1973 film ''Gandhada Gudi' but it wasn't till 1993 that he would feature in a prominent "cop" role (in T. Nagabharana's 'Aakasmika'). His other very popular film 'Shabdavedhi' too saw him essay the role of a police officer to great success - the film was a huge commercial hit and recorded 25 weeks at the box office.

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Dr. Vishnuvardhan has flirted with the role of a cop time and again in his career, and interestingly, each iteration had a different tone and flavour attached to it. With films like 'Kartavya', 'Vishnu Vijaya', 'Police matthu Daada', and others, the Sahasasimha displayed a lot of variety through the roles.

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As the second trilogy of Kannada cinema, the 'Sangliyana' series took Shankar Nag's fame to newer and more astonishing heights. It introduced the "biopic" concept at a mainstream level and took the "honest" cop routine much more seriously than other films. What Shankar Nag's cop offers is more grit and realism towards the job - albeit in the commercial space - which can be seen as a template to many follow-up films in the '90s.

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The 1989 film 'Inspector Vikram' can be regarded as the first cop-comedy of Kannada cinema, and by that virtue, Dr. Shiva Rajkumar's tryst with the uniform couldn't have begun on a better note. The film and the role hold immense significance in his career and it also left an indelible mark among the people who wished to see him essay a police officer more often. While they had to wait a considerable time to see him again in the role, Dr. Shiva Rajkumar's follow-up came in 2018 with 'Tagaru' wherein he played a bad-ass cop once more, albeit Duniya Soori style.

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Perhaps very few actors in the Kannada industry have had such diverse shades associated with them. Malashree began her career on a rather conventional note, albeit successfully, and mostly played the "demure" woman in her earliest roles. But there was a spark shown every now and then, especially with film 'Rani Maharani' wherein she would display a different side to her. However, it's the phase-2 of her career that really comes out as a case study in which she rebranded her image as the "angry cop" through films like 'Kiran Bedi', 'Gharshane', and others. This came off as a successful but complete twist to how she was perceived during the '90s, and thanks to her conviction and panache, she fared just the same again.

P.S.: Ragini Dwivedi too can be included in the category for her successful outing with 'Ragini IPS' and the sequel in the making.

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