Gurudev Hoysala: Here’s what audiences are loving about Daali Dhananjaya’s milestone 25th film

Gurudev Hoysala is Daali Dhananjaya’s milestone 25thfilm. His first release for the year, the film had a lot riding on it, not only because it was #Daali25, but also because it comes after a relatively lacklustre 2022 for the actor. On his part, Dhananjaya, has been saying that the makers of all of his six films last year recovered costs with non-theatrical sales, etc., but audience reception had been lukewarm, prompting him to switch to a more commercially viable genre – action entertainers for family audiences. Gurudev Hoysala was the first project he did since taking this decision. The film, which saw him reunite with Rathnan Prapancha producers Karthik Gowda and Yogi G Raj of KRG Studios, released in theatres on March 30, a day on which other biggies like Nani’s Dasara, Simbu’s Pathu Thala and Ajay Devgn’s Bholaa also came out. While Vijay Sethupathi’s Viduthalai Part 1 is set to join this box office tussle today, the day 1 response to Dhananjaya’s film has been encouraging, with audiences liking most aspects of it.

Here's a look at what has appealed to audiences….

Natarakshasa on fire

Gurudev Hoysala is a start-to-finish Dhananjaya vehile and the actor does not disappoint. His powerful performance and action sequences are among the major highlights of the film

Naveen Shankar as Bali steals the show

Gultoo fame Naveen Shankar is the main antagonist in the tale and the common consensus is that Gurudev Hoysala will propel him as the next big thing in Kannada cinema

Great writing and direction

In the run-up to the film’s release, netizens were worried about the lack of buzz for it and reckoned that it was because director Vijay’s earlier film was Geetha, which did not work at the box office. However, he has now proved them all wrong and presented a story that tackles not one, but two sensitive subjects – caste discrimination and state border issues - effectively.

Fantastic dialogues

Maasthi Uparahalli, who is currently one of the most popular dialogue writers in Kannada cinema, has done the honours for Gurudev Hoysala too and the firecracker lines he has written for the cast are all the rage.

Music that sets the tone of the film

When Gurudev Hoysala was first announced, it was meant to be an S Thaman musical. But somewhere down the line, Ajaneesh Lokanath came into the picture and he made sure that no one gets to say anything negative about his compositions, whether it is the songs or the background score. Ajaneesh absolutely nailed it.