Tarka (film)

Not to be confused with Tarka the Otter (film).

Tarka
Film poster
Kannadaತರ್ಕ
Directed bySunil Kumar Desai[1]
Screenplay bySunil Kumar Desai
Based onThe Unexpected Guest
by Agatha Christie
Produced bySunil Kumar Desai
StarringShankar Nag
Devaraj
Vanitha Vasu
CinematographyP. Rajan
Edited byA. Subramanyam
Music byGuna Singh
Production
company
Rachana
Distributed bySri Bharat Films
Release date
  • 1989 (1989)
Running time
132 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageKannada

Tarka (, English: Logic) is a 1989 Indian Kannada-language mystery-thriller film, produced by Praveen and directed and written by Sunil Kumar Desai based on Agatha Christie's 1958 play The Unexpected Guest.[2] It is the first film noir in Kannada cinema, and the first Kannada film to be made without songs, dance, or stunt sequences.[3] The film stars Shankar Nag, Devaraj and Vanitha Vasu in lead roles along with Avinash, Shivaraj and Praveen Nayak in supporting roles.[4] The film revolves around an escaped convict who finds the body of a man in his childhood friend's house.

Inspired by B. R. Chopra's thrillers, Desai started working on a script in the late 80's. After completing the script he tried to find a producer who could produce the project, but in vain. Producers rejected the film due to its unconventional script and complete lack of commercial elements. However, eventually his friend, Praveen agreed to produce the film under the banner of Rachana. Due to financial constraints filming and post-production took almost 1.5 years to complete. The filming was handled by P. Rajan, and the background score was composed by Guna Singh. The editing of the film was done by A. Subramanyam.

Tarka was released on 1 January 1989, on New Year's Day; it received critical acclaim, primarily for Devaraj's and Vasu's performance, and was awarded two Karnataka State Film Awards for Best Screenplay and Best Sound Record. It was a commercial success, running for more than 100 days in theatres.[5] Desai won the Filmfare Award for Best Director at the 36th Filmfare Awards South.[2] It was remade in Tamil in 1990 as Puriyaadha Pudhir and in Hindi in 1997 as Chupp.[6] A Malayalam remake titled Chodhyam was made in 1990 with Mohanlal in the lead role but was never released.[3]

  1. ^ R, Shilpa Sebastian (21 October 2019). "The long road before 'Tarka' happened". Archived from the original on 8 November 2023 – via www.thehindu.com.
  2. ^ a b "'Tarka' returns after 30 years". Bangalore Mirror.
  3. ^ a b "The Alfred Hitchcock of Kannada Cinema…". viewfinderscenes.wordpress.com. 29 December 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  4. ^ "Sunil Kumar Desai returns to suspense thrillers genre". Bangalore Mirror.
  5. ^ Tarka (31 October 2014). Weekend With Ramesh – Episode 15 – September 20, 2014. India: Zee Kannada.
  6. ^ "'Tarka' returns after 30 years". Bangalore Mirror.