From 'Nagarahavu' to 'Kasturi Nivasa', Best 20th century Kannada films that have been remade in other languages

The trend of remaking a film is not new in the Indian film industry. Recently, 'Lucia', 'U-turn' and many other Kannada films were remade in other languages. Other industry directors are taking this effort by showcasing Kannada movies to other language audience by remaking them. Many movies from the 20th century Kannada films have been remade in other language industries. Let's take a look at the best Kannada movies which were remade -

'Nagarahavu' was one of the best movies of Dr. Vishnuvardhan. The story of the film was based on three novel Sarpa Mathsara, Ondu Gandu Eradu Hennu, and Nagarahavu written by T.R Subba Rao. The film was directed by the famous director Puttanna Kanagal. 'Nagarahavu' was the debut movie as a hero for Vishnuvardhan. Vishnuvardhan played the role of an arrogant person who is not on good terms with anyone in the movies but his teacher is always there to save him from the troubles. He falls in love with a girl and sacrifices her for his teacher and again falls in love with another girl and when the teacher asks to forget that girl he mistakenly kills his teacher and commits suicide. Nagarahavu was re-released many times and became successful everytime it released. The movie was remade in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi after its release.

'Shankar Guru' is a 1978 movie starring Dr. Rajkumar in duel roles of Kanchana, Jayamala and Padmapriya. This movie was very well received in Kannada. The song ‘The Love me or hate me’ became a super hit and had created a huge trend in the industry back then. The movie is about a man who gets separated from his family and dreamed him in a criminal case. Just like in Kannada, the film was a super hit in Hindi and Tamil. Amitabh Bachchan acted in the Hindi remake and Sivaji Ganesan played the role of Dr. Rajkumar in Tamil.

This was one of the best films in Dr. Rajkumar’s career. This movie was directed by two directors B. Dorairaj and S. K. Bhagavan. 'Kasturi Nivasa' is a sentimental film which was remade in Hindi and Tamil. Rajkumar has given in best acting performance in this movie, who plays the character of a generous and unselfish person and donates all of his wealth and losses everything. Rajkumar made everyone teary-eyed with his acting in the movie. ‘Aadisu nodu bilisi nodu’ is one of the best song even now remembered by everyone. This movie was remade in Hindi and Tamil and went on to become superhit movies.

'Antha' is one of the career turning film for Ambareesh. Ambareesh played the duel character for the first time in this movie. This film was directed by S. V. Rajendra Singh Babu, starring Lakshmi as the female lead. The movie is about a sincere police cop, who is on special duty to find the secret plan of villains to distract the country. In the process, he loses his wife and mother. When his higher officials cheated on him, he takes revenge by killing everyone. Antha was a super hit film because Ambareesh played both the roles of hero and villain in the same movie. His dialogues and acting impressed everyone. ‘Operation Antha’ was the sequel to the film which released in 1995. The movie was remade in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi after its release.

'Premaloka' was one the biggest hit in the career of Ravichandran. The film is a multilingual romantic musical genre. Ravichandran made his directorial debut from this film. This movie was starred with great actors like Ravichandran, Juhi Chawla, Leelavathi, and Lokesh. Hamsalekha composed music for this film. Songs like ‘Geleyare Nanna Gelathiyare- Hogona Collajige’, ‘Yarivanu’ ‘Premalokadinda’ created a huge sensation across India. This movie is also considered as the biggest musical hit in the history of Kannada film industry. However, the film was initially a flop, but it went on to become one of the highest box-office hits and it was Kannada's first biggest budget movie with Rs. 1.7 crores in 1987. This movie was also remade in Tamil and Telugu.