Dhandupalya and Hai Krishna' for friday

Dhandupalya and Hai Krishna' for friday

SGM

A PIL filed before the Karnataka high court seeking for change of name of Kannada movie titled Dandupalya has been withdrawn.The movie is set for release on Friday.The PIL was filed by residents of Dandupalya a village on the outskirts of Bangalore city. They claim that since the name Dandupalya is associated with the a notorious gang of robbers, the screening of the film in the same name will further defame their village and residents.

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Why Kannada actress Pooja Gandhi was shaken

Source : DNA

The notorious Dandupalya gang is not something that people in Karnataka and its neighbouring states will forget.

Acts of murder, rape and burglary put them on the most wanted list of the State police. Both men and women were part of this gang and actor Pooja Gandhi will be seen essaying the role of Lakshmi, one such woman who was crucial to the operations of this gang, in the Kannada film Dandupalya, that is set for release this Friday.

The film being directed by Srinivasa Raju, sparked a series of controversies including the one where residents of Dandupalya village demanded that the title be changed as they felt it “defamed” them and their village. But the film made it to primetime news and front pages of newspapers only after Pooja Gandhi’s bare-back photographs from a scene were released. We kick start our conversation with the actor on this very issue…

Do you think too much fuss was made over your movie stills?
Tell me what isn’t made into an issue these days? And I really did not have to wait to do this film to expose myself! People have to understand that I play the role of Lakshmi, a thick skinned woman. She belongs to a gang of criminals and is fearless. Even when the police arrest her, she keeps her cool and refuses to reveal anything about her gang. This is when the cops get down to torturing her and the stills you have seen depict one such 15-second shot. When you see the movie, you will realise why it has been picturised that way. And you’ll also feel that actually it is the dialogues and expressions that intensify that scene.

Tell us more about Lakshmi…
She is brilliant, street smart, scary and fearless. Despite being uneducated, she is someone who understands law like a lawyer would! In fact a dialogue in the film even suggests how she can defend her own case when produced in court! She has a lot of fire in her. It is this character that brought out the performer in me. I took three months to say yes to this project. But now, I am proud that I did. I did not know I had an actor of this calibre in me. In fact, my performance scared me! Playing Lakshmi has given me a lot of confidence.

Ranganayaki promises to be one such...
Ranganayaki tells a beautiful story. It is about love and betrayal. I play a classical dancer in the film. Hoovi is the other film I am looking forward to. It is the story of a village girl who comes to the city to attend a political rally. I will start shooting for it in July in North Karnataka.

Dirty Picture was also offered to you…
I have nothing to do with that film and it’s a petty issue that I choose not to comment on.

Tell us about the Malayalam film you are doing…
It is simple and beautiful. I play a tomboy in this flick and even got to ride a Bullet. You will see me in a comical avatar here.

Do you think these films are good enough to silence your critics who feel you are not much in demand?
A star can only ensure a good opening. The rest depends on the content. I have filmmakers approaching me and this means people love my performances. And I don’t want eight releases in a year anymore. I feel I am evolving as an actor and am cautious about the films I sign.

You recently joined a political party, what’s happening on that front?
I am committed to the empowerment of women. I am currently working for the welfare of sex workers. Next, I will be touring North Karnataka to create awareness regarding child labour.

Court nod for release of ‘Dandupalya’

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Residents of Dandupalya village in Hoskote taluk near Bangalore on Thursday withdrew their public interest litigation plea in which they had sought direction for changing the name of Kannada movie Dandupalya to be released in theatres on Friday, after the court was not convinced with their plea.

The petitioners, M. Munivenkatappa and others, had claimed that though the movie portrays the notorious Dandupalya gang, the title of the movie impacts the image of their village. They had pointed out that the ordinary residents of this village were suffering due to involvement of a few persons of some families from their village in criminal activities like dacoity and murders. These people, who were involved in criminal activities, had been identified as Dandupalya gang.

The petitioners also said that it has become difficult for the residents to get married due to the notoriety of the gang identified with the name of their village.

“Why can’t you change the name of your village as Florida,” a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice B.V. Nagarathna observed in a lighter vein when the petitioner’s counsel explained how the name of the village has been tarnished due to activities of the gang.

As the Bench indicated that it was not convinced with petitioners’ plea, the counsel withdrew the petition.

Censor certification

The High Court on Monday permitted the producer of the Kannada movie Sathyananda , to screen the film for censor certification, but refused to lift the ban on screening of the film for public viewing as directed by the city civil court.

Justice H.G. Ramesh passed the interim order on the petition filed by Madan Patel, producer and director of the film, challenging city civil court’s order. Meanwhile, the High Court permitted the representatives of Nithyananda of Nithyananda Dhyana Peetam to view the film and raise objection, if any, before the Censor Board.

ಹೀಗೆ ಪೂಜಾ ಗಾಂಧಿ ಆರಕ್ಕೇರದೆ ಮೂರಕ್ಕಿಳಿಯದೇ ನಿಂತಲ್ಲೇ ನಿಂತಿದ್ದಾಗ ಅವರಿಗೆ ಸಿಕ್ಕ ಅವಕಾಶವೇ ಈ ಚಿತ್ರ ಡಂಡುಪಾಳ್ಯ. "ಈ ಚಿತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಹಿಂದೆಂದೂ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿರದ ಪಾತ್ರ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿದೆ. ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ ದಂಡುಪಾಳ್ಯ ಗ್ಯಾಂಗಿನ ಕರ್ಮಕಾಂಡಕ್ಕೆ ಸಾಕ್ಷಿಯಾದ ಹೆಂಗಸಿನ ಪಾತ್ರಕ್ಕೆ ನ್ಯಾಯ ಸಲ್ಲಿಸಿದ್ದೇನೆ. ಖಂಡಿತ ಪ್ರೇಕ್ಷಕರು ಈ ನನ್ನ ಹೊಸ ಪ್ರಯೋಗವನ್ನು ಮೆಚ್ಚಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಾರೆ" ಎಂದಿದ್ದಾರೆ ಪೂಜಾ ಗಾಂಧಿ.

ಕೇವಲ ತಮ್ಮ ಬೆತ್ತಲೆ ಬೆನ್ನನ್ನು ಪ್ರದರ್ಶನ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದಷ್ಟೇ ಅಲ್ಲ, ಘಾಟಿ ಹೆಂಗಸಿನ ಮ್ಯಾನರಿಸಂ, ಕುಡಿತ, ಕುಣಿತಗಳು, ಹಾವ-ಭಾವ ಇತ್ಯಾದಿ ಸೇರಿದಂತೆ ಎಲ್ಲ ವಿಚಾರಗಳಲ್ಲೂ ಪೂಜಾ ಆ ಹೆಂಗಸಿನ ಪಾತ್ರಕ್ಕೆ ಜೀವ ತುಂಬಿದ್ದಾರೆ ಎನ್ನಲಾಗಿದೆ. ಅದು ನಿಜವೇ ಆಗಿದ್ದರೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ಸ್ಯಾಂಡಲ್ ವುಡ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ 'ಪೂಜಾ ಯುಗ' ಪ್ರಾರಂಭವಾಗುವುದು ಖಂಡಿತ ಎನ್ನಲಾಗುತ್ತಿದೆ.

ಈ ಚಿತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಪೂಜಾ ಅಭಿನಯಿಸಿದ ನಂತರವೇ ಆವರಿಗೆ ಮಲಯಾಳಂನಲ್ಲಿ 'ಮ್ಯಾಡ್ ಡ್ಯಾಡ್' ಚಿತ್ರದಂತಹ ನಟನೆಗೆ ಸ್ಕೋಪ್ ಇರುವ ಪಾತ್ರ ಹುಡುಕಿಕೊಂಡು ಬಂದಿದೆ. ಇನ್ನು ಈ ಚಿತ್ರ ಯಶಸ್ವಿಯಾದರೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ಪೂಜಾಗೆ ಅವಕಾಶ ಸಿಗುವುದರಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾಕೆ ಯಾರಿಗೆ ಸಂಶಯ? ಸ್ವತಃ ಪೂಜಾ ಗಾಂಧಿಗೂ ಈ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಆತ್ಮವಿಶ್ವಾಸವಿದೆ. ಅದು ಸಹಜವೂ ಆಗಿದೆ.

ಈ ಮೊದಲು ದಂಡುಪಾಳ್ಯ ಚಿತ್ರಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಪೂಜಾ ಗಾಂಧಿ ಬೆತ್ತಲೆ ಬೆನ್ನು ತೋರಿಸಿದ್ದಕ್ಕೆ ಬಹಳಷ್ಟು ಗಲಾಟೆಯಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಹಲವು ಮಹಿಳಾ ಸಂಘಟನೆಗಳು ಪೂಜಾ ವಿರುದ್ಧ ಕೆಂಡಾಮಂಡಲವಾಗಿ ಪ್ರತಿಭಟನೆ ನಡೆಸಿದ್ದವು. ಪೂಜಾ ಹೋದಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲ ಕಪ್ಪು ಬಾವುಟ ಪ್ರದರ್ಶನ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದವು. ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಚಲನಚಿತ್ರ ವಾಣಿಜ್ಯ ಮಂಡಳಿಗೂ ದೂರು ಹೋಗಿತ್ತು.

ದಂಡುಪಾಳ್ಯ ಗ್ರಾಮದವರೂ ಚಿತ್ರದ ವಿರುದ್ಧ ಪ್ರತಿಭಟನೆ ನಡೆಸಿದ್ದರು. ಕೆಲವರು ಸೆನ್ಸಾರ್ ಮಂಡಳಿ ಮೆಟ್ಟಿಲೇರಿದ್ದರು. ಚಿತ್ರವನ್ನು ನಿಷೇಧಿಸುವಂತೆ, ಪ್ರಮಾಣ ಪತ್ರ ನೀಡದಂತೆ ಒತ್ತಾಯ ತರಲಾಯಿತಾದರೂ ಅವೆಲ್ಲಾ ಗಾಳಿಪಟವಾಗಿ ಹಾರಿಹೋಯ್ತು. ಚಿತ್ರಕ್ಕೆ ಯಾರಿಂದಲೂ ಯಾವ ತೊಂದರೆಯನ್ನೂ ಮಾಡಲಾಗಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಬಿಡುಗಡೆಯವರೆಗೂ ಎಲ್ಲವೂ ಕ್ಷೇಮ.

ನೋಡಿದರೆ ಕಣ್ಣು ಮುಚ್ಚಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವಂತಹ ಕ್ರೂರ ದೃಶ್ಯಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿರುವ ಚಿತ್ರದ ಟ್ರೈಲರ್ ಹಾಗೂ ಪತ್ರಿಕಾ ಜಾಹೀರಾತುಗಳ ವಿರುದ್ಧ ಕೂಡ ಬಹಳಷ್ಟು ಕೂಗು ಕೇಳಿಬಂತು. ಆದರೆ ಪ್ರತಿಭಟನಾಕಾರರಿಗೆ ಎಲ್ಲೂ ಜಯ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿಲ್ಲ. ಸೆನ್ಸಾರ್ ಮಂಡಳಿಯಿಂದ ಪ್ರಮಾಣ ಪತ್ರ ಕೂಡ ಬಂದು ಇದೀಗ ಬಿಡುಗಡೆ ಭಾಗ್ಯದ ಹತ್ತಿರಕ್ಕೂ ಬಂದು ನಿಂತಿದೆ.

ಪೂಜಾ ಗಾಂಧಿ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಪಾತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿರುವ ದಂಡುಪಾಳ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಮರಾಠಿ, ರಂಗಭೂಮಿ ಹಾಗೂ ಬಾಲಿವುಡ್ಡಿನಲ್ಲೂ ಸಾಕಷ್ಟು ಹೆಸರು ಮಾಡಿರುವ ನಟ ಮಕರಂದ್ ದೇಶಪಾಂಡೆ ನಟಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಗ್ಲಾಮರ್ ಡಾಲ್ ನಿಶಾ ಕೊಠಾರಿ, ರಘು ಮುಖರ್ಜಿ, ಸುಧಾರಾಣಿ, ಭವ್ಯಾ, ದೊಡ್ಡಣ್ಣ, ರಮೇಶ್ ಭಟ್, ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸಮೂರ್ತಿ, ಹರೀಶ್ ರೈ, ರವಿ ಕಾಳೆ, ಬುಲ್ಲೆಟ್ ಪ್ರಕಾಶ್ ಮುಂತಾದವರಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

ಅಂದಹಾಗೆ ಈ ಚಿತ್ರವನ್ನು ನಿರ್ಮಿಸಿದವರು ಗಿರೀಶ್ ಮತ್ತು ಪ್ರಶಾಂತ್. ಅರ್ಜುನ್ ಜನ್ಯಾ ಈ ಚಿತ್ರಕ್ಕೆ ಸಂಗೀತ ನೀಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಒಟ್ಟಿನಲ್ಲಿ, ಚಿತ್ರ ಬಿಡುಗಡೆಗೆ ಕ್ಷಣಗಣನೆ ಆರಂಭವಾಗಿದೆ, ಚಿತ್ರತಂಡದ ಎದೆಬಡಿತ ಜೋರಾಗಿದೆಯೆಂಬ ಸುದ್ದಿ ಬಂದಿದೆ. ಪೂಜಾ ಗಾಂಧಿಯ ಬೆತ್ತಲೆ ಬೆನ್ನಿನ ಪ್ರದರ್ಶನವನ್ನು ತೆರೆಯ ಮೇಲೆ ನೋಡಲು ಜನರು ಕಾತರಗೊಂಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ನೈಜ ಘಟನೆಯ ಚಿತ್ರವೊಂದು ತೆರೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಮೂಡಿಬರಲಿದೆ. (ಒನ್ ಇಂಡಿಯಾ ಕನ್ನಡ)

Dandupalya hitting screens this Friday

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Pooja Gandhi‘s crime-drama Dandupalya has been in the news from the day one for one or the other reason. The story of the film and the controversial bold scenes of the actress have successfully managed to draw the audience attention. As a result, when many movies are being released and disappearing without getting noticed, this film has made the masses to wait for its release on their toes. Well, it is ready to release this Friday (June 29).

The movie has got good number of screens for its release considering the fact that Dandupalya does not have an A-list actor, claims a trader. It is releasing in above 100 screens in all over Karnataka and in 15 theatres in Bangalore alone on June 29. The makers of the film have started the movie promotions from today by giving ads on paper and soon the television ads will be also aired. The pre-talk is said to be good and the movie is expected to get a great opening at the Box Office, concludes the trader.

Dandupalya, which has bagged ‘A’ certificate from the Regional Censor Board, is based on the real life incidents of notorious gang named Dandupalya – a name of a village situated on the Bangalore-Chennai National Highway four. They were feared for spreading terror in and around Bangalore by slitting the throats of women and the aged before robbing them.

It features charming Raghu Mukherjee, dazzling Priyanka Kothari, Makarand Deshpande, Sudharani, Bhavya, Doddanna, Ramesh Bhat, Srinivasa Murthy, Harish Rai, Ravi Kale and others in the cast.

I was expecting an A-certificate’

Prathibha Joy, TNN Jun 22, 2012, 12.00AM IST

Tags:the dirty picture|Srinivasa Raju|Pooja Gandhi|K Nagaraj|Dandupalya(Srinivasa Raju )... for Dandupalya, says director Srinivasa Raju. But he is not happy with all the censor cuts

When director Srinivasa Raju set out to make a film on the infamous Dandupalya gang, he knew that it would not be certified for family viewing. "Everyone knows the gruesome acts that the gang committed in Bangalore and when bringing that to the big screen, I was expecting an A certificate. But I don't agree with all the cuts that had to be made," says Srinivasa.

The film has been cleared for release after 13 cuts and Srinivas is OK with all but two. "There are a couple of scenes which are integral to the story. For instance, the gang did not confess to their crimes even after being subjected to third degree interrogation methods. But they finally cracked when a special instrument was used on them. That scene has been cut. And I feel that deletion may interrupt the flow of the story. Otherwise, I've been careful about the editing process to incorporate the cuts," says the filmmaker.

Despite his reservations, Srinivasa is not taking the decision to a review committee, as he wants to release his film next month. "Before we took the film to be censored, the Censor Board had received several letters from organizations and people asking them to not certify the film. These may have influenced the Board members and I believe that they may have been overcautious while watching the film and making their suggestions," he adds.
Censor Board chief K Nagaraj, though, says that Dandupalya is the only film in recent times that had to have so many cuts. "Even for a film that can be granted an A certification, there are certain limits that have to be adhered to, to make it suitable for public viewing. If not, such material could make people develop non-empathy towards violence, etc. We had no objections to the storyline. It is, after all, in the public sphere. We asked for cuts wherever the filmmakers exceeded those limits. For instance, there is a manner in which rape can be picturized, by which the act can be inferred and doesn't have to be seen," says Nagaraj.

Meanwhile, Pooja Gandhi, who stars in the film and is believed to have semi-nude scenes in it, is OK with the cuts. "The Censor Board has done its job and we have done ours. Now it is up to the people to decide if they want to see our film or not. Even a film like The Dirty Picture had an A rating, yet almost everyone has seen it. So let's wait and watch," she says.

Dandupalya-A name that stuck

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For over a decade, the village of Dandupalya has been subjected to a terrible calumny. Located off Old Madras Road in Hoskote taluk, an hour’s drive from Bangalore, the settlement of about 400 families became Karnataka’s cradle of infamy at the turn of the century when over a dozen members of an extended family, some of them settled in the village and hence known as the Dandupalya gang, began killing and looting at will. The gang, descendants of migrants from Andhra Pradesh who came to the village in the 1930s or ’40s, is believed to have killed over 80 people across south India in a span of three-to-four years. Most active between 1996 and 2001, the gang comprised about 30 people, both men and women

Dandupalya was never the dacoits’ hive of operation—they would carefully target women who were alone at their homes in Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli or Mangalore—but their connection to the village was enough to set off a media frenzy that consumed its reputation and destroyed any hope of a normal life. Sixteen death sentences have since been awarded to 11 members of the gang, four have received life sentences, a dozen have been sentenced to several years in prison. The last of the judgments came from a special sessions court in January this year, sentencing five to the gallows for a double murder in Mangalore in 1997.

The 4,000-plus residents of Dandupalya, most of them of the Kuruva (cattle-rearers) caste and other scheduled castes, still cannot dissociate themselves enough from the trail of blood or convince the world of their innocence. They have since become wary of outsiders, as outsiders have become of them. In the face of obvious affronts—buses to Dandupalya, for instance, do not bear its name for fear of alarming passengers—they have led a lonely struggle.

A Kannada film titled Dandupalya starring actor Pooja Gandhi in various states of undress has angered villagers and added new fuel to an old fire. “Why is the film named after the village? It may be about the gang, but it wasn’t shot here. Moreover, the poster shows a half-naked woman. This will further tarnish the reputation of the village. The villagers are suffering for no fault of theirs,” says D K Nagaraj, councillor of Ward No. 23 in Hoskote taluk. The village, easily accessible from National Highway 4, has a history of shutting out anyone who comes asking questions. Locals have thrown cowdung at a TV crew in the past and refused to talk to so-called sympathisers. A bylane from the highway leads through the campus of MVJ Medical College and Teaching Hospital and into the heart of the village. Brick-coloured sand is everywhere, casting a red haze over the sunny morning.

Dandupalya is almost entirely bereft of green cover and crisscrossed by open drains and electricity wires. About 10 small kirana stores, a government middle school, several water pumps, an anganwadi centre, a tailor’s shed, and half-a-dozen temples service the village. For everything else, the town of Hoskote is just five km away. Young men on motorbikes honk their way past Munikrishnappa’s shop, one of a handful of meeting places in the village. The fact that there are no gang members in the village now, he says, isn’t enough to win outsiders’ approval. “When I go out, I tell people I am from Hoskote,” he says, refusing to accept money in return for a couple of bananas. “This is not a city. We don’t charge our guests for food,” he says


We are proud of our village,” says Sriram, whose grandfather was a panchayat head in his time. It is at his home, where he lives with his brother, councillor Nagaraj, and his family, that we hear the first stories about the migrant miscreants. “They came in the 1940s and were given a patch of waste land to build themselves a home,” says Nagaraj’s wife Chandrakala.

According to villagers, the newcomers’ crookedness was revealed in time and the panchayat leaders slashed the ankle tendons of the head of the family hoping that would slow him down. In today’s Dandupalya, the misdeeds of the gang’s forebears have become the stuff of legend, but talk of its recent murderous ways is taboo.

The gang did commit unspeakable crimes. “They are the most barbaric people I have come across in my career,” says N Chalapathi, deputy superintendent of police, CID, at his office in Bangalore. Chalapathi is single-handedly responsible for netting the core members of the gang and extracting confessions that have held in court and led to their conviction. “It was a gang of about 30, all part of one big extended family. Only a few are from Dandupalya, notably the head of the gang Dandupalya Krishna, his second-in-command Dodda Hanuma and the latter’s wife Lakshmi; the rest did not live in the village, they would only visit from time to time,” says Chalapathi, whose first contact with the gang was in 1999 in Bangalore, where they attempted to plunder a temple. He has since braved several threats and went on to arrest and interrogate the dacoits for some of the most lurid crimes Karnataka has witnessed in recent times. Some 15 members of the group are still at large, he says, but they have been more or less inactive for several years now. Those who are behind bars have hired eminent legal counsel and are preparing to appeal in higher courts, he says.

The gang had a beguilingly simple approach: the women gang members would look for houses with elderly or lone women, approach them on the pretext of asking for water and engage with them every day over the next few days. Then, one day, the unsuspecting women would step out of their doors and into the arms of death. The dacoits would take their turns raping them, slit their throats and rob money and jewellery from the house. They also allegedly took on hit jobs now and then, and, according to Chalapathi, amassed great wealth. Chalapathi has chilling tales to tell from his interactions with the murderers: their choice of terminal technique, the slitting of throats, he says, came from a morbid fascination with the whistling sound made by the torn windpipe. Indeed, in videotaped interviews organised neatly into folders on his laptop, the murderers calmly recall in Kannada every detail of their crimes: from the colours of their victims’ saris to the escape routes they took after committing the murders.




What’s in a name, one might ask. Everything, for those born in Dandupalya. B N Bache Gowda, MLA from Hoskote and Karnataka labour minister, says villagers have approached him in the past requesting a change of the village name. “They asked me to change the name in the revenue records, but this is not easy. We have, however, removed the signboard bearing the name from the highway,” he says.

Srinivas Raju, director of Dandupalya, has his own reasons for not changing the name of his film. “My film is a 90 per cent true representation of facts about the gang. The gang has always been known as the Dandupalya gang and I can’t change that. What I can do is incorporate voice-overs by villagers and some footage of the village if they wish to talk about their problems,” he says.


The name Dandupalya roughly translates into ‘cantonment’. Villagers say British soldiers often pitched tents here for days on end. Today, the name is tainted beyond recovery. Ask Shantabai, a 50-year-old who cannot find brides for her two sons, both workers in a brick kiln behind the fields bordering the village. Shantabai explains that about 50 young men and women in the village are single because no one would marry into the village.

“I have had to get my two daughters married to distant cousins because no one else would marry them. And now, for more than two years, I have been looking in Bangalore and Bangarpet for brides for my sons, but which girl would want to come to a village of thieves?” she says. Shantabai owns five buffaloes and makes enough money letting out a few rooms to nurses from Kerala who work in the neighbouring hospital, but no amount of fortune, it seems, can revoke the curse that has befallen the village. “All I can say is that I sleep with my front door open and there hasn’t been a robbery in my house,” she says.

“This is a peaceful place,” assures Manjula, who lives in Hoskote and teaches social science and English at the government middle school in Dandupalya. “All six teachers in this school come from outside the village. I have been teaching here for 16 years and I have never come across violence,” she says.

Education could have been cathartic in this village, a college degree a way out of the hardscrabble life. Yet, many children drop out of high school, possibly because of the stigma surrounding their village.


But Dandupalya is by no means a village in decline. Bicycles have given way to motorbikes and seven cars; a new borewell has ensured consistent water supply in the summer months; a dozen tractors work the fields; a bus stand and a community centre are set to come up. Thanks to the proximity to Bangalore, an acre here is worth about Rs 2 crore, which, for many farmers, is temptation enough to sell and move to the city. Not for D K Sriram, who has held on to his family’s five-acre plot, where he cultivates millets, potatoes and grapes for wine. “This is the Bangalore Blue variety,” he says, inspecting unripe grapes from one of the vineyards. “A kilo sells for Rs 10-20 and I sell about 10 tonnes every six months,” says Sriram, one of the few landed farmers in the village. Most villagers work as agricultural labourers for Rs 200-300 a day and make extra cash by selling milk: Dandupalya is known for its dairy, which supplies over 1,000 litres of milk every day to Hoskote and Bangalore.


***

In Gandhinagar, an area at a far end of Dandupalya, Gangamma, over 60 years of age and mother of the feared Dandupalya Krishna, stands with her hands on her hips, presiding over the construction of her new home. “The old house was so leaky it was impossible to live there. I applied for a loan from the municipality to build a new house,” she says. Workers dart around, mixing cement, carrying stones and casting sly glances at the imposing figure.

Gangamma has something of a reputation: many say she managed the activities of the gang from behind the scenes, plotting its moves and training the men for the worst. In a pink sari and white blouse, she insists she did not do any wrong. Furious about the charges against her son and other relatives, she curses and gestures heavenward. “My family has been framed for murders they did not commit. Only two of the people charged with all those crimes are from Dandupalya. Lord Rama knows the truth,” she says. Her granddaughter, Radha, brings her a jug of water. “One of my daughters committed suicide by consuming pesticide five or six years ago. My son Krishna’s wife died because she couldn’t stand all the torture. I am alone now, with my two grandchildren. I have gone to Sonia Gandhi twice to ask for support, but nothing has come. I will commit suicide too,” she says, in an impassioned voice.

Gangamma visits her family, lodged in a jail in Belgaum, once a month. The villagers have been nice to her, she says. “They wanted to tear my house down a few years ago, but I requested them not to and they agreed,” she says. There is no room for resentment in a small village, and even those who wouldn’t talk about the gang’s activities stand around watching, as Gangamma gesticulates wildly. “Write only what you see, what is the truth,” she warns us.


THE GANG

Most active between 1996 and 2001, the gang had about 30 people, both men and women. Led by Dandupalya Krishna and Dodda Hanuma—both were sentenced to death by a special sessions court for multiple murders—they are said to have killed over 80 people in south India. The female gang members were the scouts: they would befriend the woman of the house that was to be their target and gain access, while the men would rape and kill the woman, usually slitting her throat, before looting valuables. According to N Chalapathi, deputy superintendent of police, CID, Bangalore, who cracked the case after first chancing upon a temple robbery by the gang in 1999, the men would often rape their victim in front of their wives, who were also part of the gang. (Dodda Hanuma’s wife Lakshmi is among those sentenced to death.) Chalapathi produced before the court extensive videotaped interviews with 15 gang members, of whom 12—one of them died in prison—were found deserving of the death penalty. Three were released and 15 other gang members are still at large, but are not active in a big way, says Chalapathi.

'Dandupalya’ hits the screens tomorrow

Pooja Gandhi-starrer Dandupalya , which has courted controversy from day one for various reasons, will hit the screens on Friday.

The film, directed by Srinivasaraju, is based on real-life incidents of notorious criminals from Dandupalya village, located on the Bangalore-Chennai National Highway, who created a fear psychosis in the nineties. The dreaded gang used to mercilessly kill innocent people for small gains.

‘A’ certificate

The Regional Censor Board, which has suggested 13 cuts in the film, has given it ‘A’ certificate.

Dandupalya faced the first hurdle over some scenes involving Pooja. The Mungauru Male girl stirred up a hornet’s nest for doing the “boldest role” in her career in Dandupalya in which she is donning the role of Lakshmi, one of the dacoit gang members.

Pooja has, however, defended the scenes, stating that they were a “recreation of an interrogation that Lakshmi was subjected to”.

Later, some people raised objections to the film’s title, claiming that the interests of the Dandupalya village residents would be harmed.

The film got embroiled in another controversy after a journalist claimed his rights over the story. However, refuting the claim, Mr. Srinivasaraju said the story was based on the account of people, police, gang members and newspaper clippings.

Nevertheless, the controversies helped the film, which was completed in six months, to remain in news.

Mr. Srinivasaraju told The Hindu that he would not like to make tall claims about the film, including that it was made to send a message to people or create awareness among people about criminals.

It was a plain attempt to tell a crime story, he said.

He said he had researched on the subject for nearly three months. Meeting the gang members in the prison helped him ensure that the actors portrayed them realistically. He said police officers also gave him valuable insights. “The gang members are not repenting their crime. Even now, they claim that they are innocent and the police had fixed them,” Mr. Srinivasaraju said.

On whether he expected the ‘A’ certificate, he said he was not surprised. “Even my previous film Kote faced similar problem. But I am not happy with the cuts suggested by the board (in Dandupalya ), as a couple of scenes are important for the narration,” he said.


The film also stars Makarand Deshpande, Nisha Kothari, Ravi Kale, Ravishankar, Srinivasamurthy and Doddanna.

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