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Premada Kanike
Poster
Directed by	V. Somashekhar
Screenplay by	Chi. Udaya Shankar
Story by	Salim–Javed
Produced by	Jayadevi
Starring	Rajkumar Aarathi Jayamala
Cinematography	D. V. Rajaram
Edited by	P. Bhakthavathsalam
Music by	Upendra Kumar
Production company	Jayadevi Films
Release date	1976 (1976)
Running time	151 minutes
Country	India
Language	Kannada

Premada Kanike (transl. A Token of Love) is a 1976 Indian Kannada-language crime thriller film directed by V. Somashekhar and written by the duo Salim–Javed. It was produced by Jayadevi under the banner of Jayadevi films. The film starred Rajkumar, Aarathi and Jayamala in lead roles with Vajramuni and Rajashankar in supporting roles. The plot follows a teacher hired by rich man to home-school his daughter. En route, she witnesses a murder and discovers that the murderer is the father of her student.

The story of the film was written by the acclaimed duo Salim–Javed who made their debut in South Indian cinema as original story writers for which they rehashed the story of the 1969 film Do Bhai, by retaining only the core plotline which was originally credited only to Salim Khan under the name of Prince Salim. This was Salim–Javed's first release after Sholay. The film also marked the onscreen debuts of Rajkumar's children — Lohith and Poornima Rajkumar. It was remade in Tamil in 1980 as Polladhavan and in Hindi in 1981 as Raaz.

Premada Kanike saw a theatrical run of 25 weeks upon release and was declared a blockbuster at the box-office. The film has since attained cult status for redefining the thriller genre in Kannada cinema. The songs composed by Upendra Kumar were received extremely well and considered evergreen hits. The film went on to win multiple awards and accolades including the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Film.

Plot

Seetha, a young woman, is travelling via train with her nephew Raju to attend a job interview as a nanny to the estate merchant Manohar's daughter, Shobha. Her co-passenger is shot dead by unidentified man. Seetha sees the murderer and clearly remembers his face and reports the murder to police inspector Ashok. She is appointed Shobha's nanny and the two grow fond of each other even before Manohar, who has gone off on a trip, has returned to his mansion. Upon seeing him, Seetha realizes that he is the murderer she saw on the train. Manohar threatens Seetha not to tell anyone and makes sure to prevent her from leaving his estate as she is keen on reporting him to the police.

Seetha tries many times to escape but is always caught. She does not even tell the police when she meets them as Manohar threatens to kill Raju if she did. Later, Seetha somehow sees beneath the rough and mean Manohar and grows fond of him, but is confused why such a nice man would behave in an arrogant manner. In flashbacks, Manohar and Kumudha fell in love and married, shortly thereafter their daughter Shobha was born. Kumudha's uncle Chandru, who was eager to marry Kumudha was sent to jail by Manohar as he tried to kill both Manohar and Kumudha. He was released from jail as his term had finished. When Manohar was out of house, Kumudha is killed by Chandru, she commits suicide and Manohar wants to die with her but she makes him vow that he will get revenge on Chandru for separating them and to take care of Shoba well. Manohar also reveals that the man killed on the train was Chandru.

Seetha now understands his acts and vows not to tell anyone. Moorthy's colleague is curious about Seetha; she said that she remembered the face and was eager to find the murderer, but now she had told him she has forgotten the face, hence he suspects Seetha to be the murderer, and Moorthy agrees with his belief. On Shoba's birthday, Manohar is to announce that he is to hand over all his wealth to Seetha and surrender to the police, but before this the police arrive and try to arrest Seetha. Manohar saves her by confessing to the murder and went to trail explained his actions but a crippled assassin arrives at the court and tells the truth about Chandru's death and reveals himself as Kumudha's brother. He says goodbye to Shobha and Manohar as Seetha and Manohar lived together as family, along with Shobha and Raju

Cast

• Dr. Rajkumar as Manohar
• Aarathi as Seetha
• Jayamala as Kumudha
• Puneeth Rajkumar (credited as Master Lohith)
• Baby Poornima Rajkumar as Shobha
• Vajramuni as Chandru
• Rajashankar as Kumudha's brother
• Balakrishna as Madhavayya
• Sampath
• Thoogudeepa Srinivas as Inspector
• Rajanand as superintendent of police
• Shani Mahadevappa
• Honnavalli Krishna
• B. Jaya as Gajalakshmi
• B. Ramadevi as Madhavayya's wife
• Bhatti Mahadevappa
• Joker Shyam as Shyam
• Mallesh
• Shivaji Rao
• Venkataraju
• G. Shivanand
• Baby Rajeshwari
• Baby Jaishanthi
• Rathnamala
• Jayamma
• Pushpa (Pramila Joshoi)
• Rajani

Production

Large portions of the film were extensively shot in the Kashmir valley. This was rare for a Kannada film of 1970s due to the elevation of production costs which such a location could have caused then.

Soundtrack

Upendra Kumar composed the music for the soundtracks and lyrics were penned by Chi. Udaya Shankar and Vijaya Narasimha.

Awards

1975–76 Karnataka State Film Awards

• Best Film
• Best Dialogue writer — Chi. Udaya Shankar
• Best Editing — P. Bhaktavatsalam
• Best Child Actress — Poornima Rajkumar

References

1. "Best Kannada Thrillers From Different Eras Now Available On OTT". Film Companion. 24 September 2020. Archived from the original on 13 October 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
2. "ಆ ಬೀದಿ ಸೂ...ನಾ ಹುಡುಕಿದ್ದೇಕೆ ಶಿವ? ಪ್ರೇಮದ ಕಾಣಿಕೆಗೆ ಚಿತ್ರದ ಕತೆಗೆ ಕೊಟ್ಟ ಹಣವೆಷ್ಠು? Shivakumar 4". YouTube. 26 October 2023. Archived from the original on 17 December 2023. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
3. "10 things you may not know about Javed Akhtar". Mid-Day. 17 January 2020. Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
4. "Destiny's children". DNA India. 11 April 2010. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
5. ^ "Did you know Puneeth Rajkumar was a part of Rajkumar's 'Premada Kanike'?". Deccan Herald. 10 June 2020. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
6. "Sandalwoodking.rocks - sandalwoodking Resources and Information". Archived from the original on 11 November 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
7. Khajane, Muralidhara (18 September 2019). "With Article 370 revoked, the Kannada film industry looks at shooting in Kashmir again". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 17 December 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2023.

External links

• Premada Kanike at IMDb

• 1976 films
• 1970s crime thriller films
• 1970s Indian films
• 1970s Kannada-language films
• Films directed by V. Somashekhar
• Films scored by Upendra Kumar
• Films with screenplays by Salim–Javed
• Indian crime thriller films
• Indian films about revenge
• Indian rape and revenge films
• Kannada films remade in other languages