James (2022 film)

James is a 2022 Indian Kannada-language action drama film directed by Chethan Kumar and produced by Kishore Pathikonda under Kishore Productions. It stars Puneeth Rajkumar in the titlular role, along with an ensemble cast of R. Sarathkumar, Srikanth, Priya Anand, Anu Prabhakar, Madhusudhan Rao, Mukesh Rishi, Adithya Menon, Avinash, Sadhu Kokila, Chikkanna and John Kokken. The film marks Puneeth Rajkumar's posthumous appearance following his death on 29 October 2021 and also marked the second collaboration between Puneeth Rajkumar, Priya Anand and Sarathkumar after Raajakumara (2017). The score and soundtrack were composed by V. Harikrishna and Charan Raj, while the cinematography and editing were handled by Swamy. J. Gowda and Deepu. S. Kumar.

James was theatrically released on 17 March 2022 on the occasion of Puneeth Rajkumar's birthday. The film was considered it as a fitting tribute to Puneeth Rajkumar.

It broke the record for the biggest opening day collections for any Kannada film by grossing around ₹28 crore to ₹32 crore on the first day. On the 4th day of its release, it also recorded the highest single day footfalls for a Kannada movie. The film grossed ₹100 crore within 4 days of release and became the second highest-grossing Kannada film at the time of release, whilst also becoming the fastest Kannada film to gross ₹100 crores at the box office at that time only to be surpassed by K.G.F: Chapter 2 in less than a month. It was also the second Kannada film to gross ₹100 crore in Karnataka with the first being K.G.F: Chapter 1.

Plot
The crime syndicate which is operating in Bangalore is divided into three groups: the Golden Horse syndicate owned by Joseph Anthony, who is driving from Miami; the Scorpion syndicate owned by Rathanlal, operating from West Bengal; and Gayakwad syndicate, owned by Jayadev Gayakwad, Jayadev's son Vijay Gayakwad and Vijay's right-hand man Pratap Aras, operating in Bangalore. Vijay is embroiled in a life-threatening situation when unknown assailants sent by Joseph murdered Jayadev. Joseph had learned from an informer that Vijay was the one who killed his brothers John, Peter, and Robin and also sent his son Vicky into a coma.

After realizing that his family is also in danger, Vijay and Pratap appoints Santhosh Kumar, who is the manager of J-Wings security agency, as his bodyguard due to his skills and tactics in handling his assignments. Santhosh helps Vijay in his business dealings, while also having Rathanlal killed when he tries to conquer the Gayakwad Syndicate. Vijay then requests Santhosh to protect his sister Nisha Gayakwad, who has returned to India after completing her medical studies from Singapore. After an attack, Santhosh and Nisha escape to a village in Madikeri, where Nisha falls for Santhosh. She requests Vijay to accept their relationship, Though reluctant at first, Vijay accepts. At the party, Vijay announces his decision to hand over his business dealings to Nisha, who also introduces Santhosh.

At this point, Santhosh asks Vijay whether he fears anything in his life, only to start a shootout where he kills his other bodyguards and reveals that he was the one who had Jayadev assassinated so that Vijay could hire him. At the same time, Joseph's hitmen barge into the party and are shocked to find Santhosh, who they recognize as "James", their nemesis who was presumed dead. One of them informs this Joseph, before getting beheaded by Santhosh. Joseph learns that the informer had lied to Vijay about his brother's death and kills him (as the informer wants to seek vengeance on Joseph for killing his friends earlier). Santhosh brings Vijay and Nisha to the security agency's interrogation room. When Nisha insults Santhosh, Santhosh's colleague Rakesh Kumar Pirangi reveals Santhosh's past.

Past: 10 months ago, Santhosh is an Indian Army Major in Kashmir, who arrives at Pondicherry with Rakesh for his IAS officer friend Ekanth's wedding, and they meet Santhosh's friends Jagan, Amar, and Madan, who are also working in various government departments. At the wedding, Jagan reveals to Santhosh that when he took charge as NCB officer, he had arrested John, Robin, and Peter for smuggling, led by the Golden Horse Syndicate. Under Vijay, Pratap and Joseph's advice, John, Peter, and Robin barge in and kill everyone present at the wedding. Santhosh, who survives due to Rakesh's help, leaves for Miami as James.

Santhosh drags Robin from his birthday party and kills him. Later, he tracks Peter at his Miami island where he decapitates him and lures John into his drug lab, and brutally finishes him. Santhosh returns to India by faking his death and is detained by his higher officer, but Santhosh seeks his higher official's approval to destroy the syndicates, to which they agree and their secret mission – "MISSION NORC" is launched where he arrives at Bangalore and started planning to bring down the syndicate with the help of his squad officers by opening J-Wings agency.

Present: Vijay escapes from the agency with Joseph and Pratap's help. Santhosh, with Nisha's help, lures Joseph, Vijay, Pratap and their gang into Sangihe Islands where the squad officers arrest the syndicate members. The film ends with Santhosh saluting the Indian flag with the satisfaction of having accomplished his friend's mission.

Cast

 * Puneeth Rajkumar as Santhosh Kumar/James (Voice by Shiva Rajkumar)
 * R. Sarathkumar as Joseph Antony
 * Srikanth as Vijay Gayakwad
 * Priya Anand as Nisha Gayakwad
 * Anu Prabhakar as Vijay's wife
 * Mukesh Rishi as Rathanlal
 * Madhusudhan Rao as Jayadev Gakaywad, Vijay's father
 * Adithya Menon as Prathap Aras, Vijay's right hand man
 * Rangayana Raghu as Rakesh Kumar Pirangi, Santhosh's colleague
 * Avinash as Santosh's higher Army officer
 * Sadhu Kokila as Santhosh's assistant
 * Chikkanna as Madan, chief editor of Janadani newspaper
 * Tilak Shekar as Jagan, ATS officer
 * Shine Shetty as Ekanth, IAS officer
 * Gajapade Harsha as ACP Amar
 * Sameeksha as Jessie, Ekanth's fiancée
 * Suchendra Prasad as Jessie's father
 * Padmaja Rao as Mary, Jessie's mother
 * John Kokken as John, Joseph's brother
 * Tarak Ponnappa as Peter, Joseph's brother
 * Yash Shetty as Robin, Joseph's brother
 * Ketan Karande as gang member of Joseph Antony's mafia syndicate
 * Vajrang Shetty as Prathap Aras's son
 * Mohan Juneja as a rich person in hospital
 * Girish as a fake rich person
 * Prasanna Baagin as Rathanlal's son
 * Vajragiri as Rathanlal's son
 * Kavya Shastry as Jagan's wife
 * Hamsa as Amar's wife
 * Nayana Gowda as Madan's wife
 * Shivamani as Joseph's associate
 * Anil as Vijay Gaikwad's associate
 * Krishna Hebbale as a police officer
 * K S Shreedhar as orphanage head
 * Amit as Santhosh's associate in the agency
 * Baby Aradhya Chandra as Amar's daughter
 * Master Anoop as Jagan's son
 * Govindegowda as marriage broker
 * Swapna as Dechamma
 * Sillilalli Anand as the guy at ashram
 * All Ok as the rich kid at the bar
 * Dattanna as Chowdhury (cameo)
 * Shiva Rajkumar in a cameo appearance as Anandraj, a soldier
 * Raghavendra Rajkumar in a cameo appearance as Santhosh's orphanage head

Additionally, Charanraj, Chandan Shetty, Rachita Ram, Ashika Ranganath and Sreeleela appear as themselves in a cameo appearance in the Trademark song.

Production
Prior to his demise, Puneeth had finished most part of the shoot except one song and voice dubbing. The movie team tried its best to retain Puneeth's voice captured during shoot but when it seemed difficult, Shiva Rajkumar, the eldest brother of Puneeth, dubbed for his brother's character in the Kannada version.

Casting
Priya Anand was signed for the female lead role. The makers also announced that Srikanth, Hareesh Peradi, Mukesh Rishi and Anu Prabhakar would be seen in prominent roles. In 2021, R. Sarathkumar, Tilak Shekar, Shine Shetty, Chikkanna joined the film's cast.

Filming
The film is produced by Kishore Pathikonda under the banner Kishore Productions. The first schedule of the shoot started from 19 January 2020 in Bengaluru. The second schedule of the film started from 14 October 2020 in Hampi. A quick schedule was also wrapped in February 2021 in Kashmir featuring important action sequences of Puneeth Rajkumar. After returning from Kashmir, Puneeth became busy in the promotional activities of his other film, Yuvarathnaa which released on 1 April amidst the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The James team resumed shoot once again from 5 July at a brisk pace after the Government of Karnataka gave nod to restart filming activities.

Music
Charan Raj composed the music for the film. Vijeth Krishna composed "Bolo Bolo James".

Theatrical
The film released in theatres on 17 March 2022 in Kannada alongside dubbed versions in Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu. It released in 4000 screens on the first day including 400 single screen theaters in Karnataka alone and 900 shows in multiplexes making it the biggest release at that time in Karnataka. The Telugu film RRR had postponed its release by one week due to release of this film.

Re-release
On 18 April 2022, Chethan Kumar announced that a Hyderabad-based team was able to recreate Puneeth's voice using Shivrajkumar's modulation and Puneeth's voice samples from his previous films and hosting endeavors. Kumar announced that consequently James would be re-released in theaters with the new voice on 22 April 2022.

Home media
The film was released on SonyLIV on 14 April 2022 in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi and the satellite rights of the Kannada version were sold to Star Suvarna.

Box office
James was estimated to have grossed ₹28 to ₹32 crore on its first day which was the highest opening day domestic box office collections for a Kannada film at that time. It was reported to have grossed ₹6 crore from Bangalore alone – marking it the first time a film has grossed above ₹4 crore in the city on its opening day. The net collections at the end of the first day was reported to be around ₹ 18 crore to ₹22.5 crore.

It was reported to have grossed ₹10 crore on the second day with the total gross around ₹37 crore to ₹45 crore in 2 days. It was speculated that the gross theatrical collections for 3 days to be around ₹54 crore with a net collections of ₹ 38 crore for the same period. The net collections for 4 days was reported to be around ₹50 crore. Multiple media outlets reported that the film had grossed ₹100 crore within 4 days The film grossed more than ₹125 crore within 6 days of its release. The film grossed ₹151 crore at the box office.

Critical response
James received positive reviews from critics and audience.

The Times of India gave the movie 4 out of 5 rating and praised the movie for its stylish presentation. Deccan Herald praised the movie for its high octane slick action sequences. Firstpost said the movie is "impressively shot and edited" and praised the production values and noted that the sets are "classy and pristine". The News Minute praised the "visual effects and smart camera angles". India Today gave the film a rating of 3 out of 5 and praised Puneeth's performance "from enacting emotional sequences to nailing difficult dance steps ". The Hans India noted that gave a rating of 2.5 out of 5 "Director Chetan Kumar has done a passable job with the film. Though he chooses a routine story, he packed it with good mass elements and showcased Puneeth Raj Kumar in the best way possible. Music by Charan Raj is very good but his BGM was even more effective. The production values are top-notch and the rich visuals impress. The action part needs a special mention as all the fights are done superbly". The Indian Express noted that "one cannot escape the strong sense of melancholy that comes with the knowledge of the fact that it will be the last time one would see Puneeth on-screen".