Pre-monsoon rain) is a 2006 Indian Kannada-language romantic drama film co-written and directed by Yogaraj Bhat, and produced by E. Krishnappa.
The film is believed to have shaped and strengthened the careers of Ganesh, Pooja Gandhi, Yograj Bhat, lyricist Jayant Kaikini, choreographers A. Harsha and Imran Sardaria and composer Mano Murthy, and made Bollywood playback singers Sonu Nigam, Kunal Ganjawala and Udit Narayan popular in Karnataka.
[16][1] It was remade in 2008 in Telugu as Vaana,[17] in 2008 in Bengali as Premer Kahini,[18] in 2009 in Odia as Romeo - The Lover Boy [19] and in 2017 in Marathi as Premay Namaha.
[20] Preetham is on a visit to Eva Mall in Bangalore; amidst heavy winds, he spots a pretty girl, Nandini.
In the meantime, Preetham discovers that his nearly-deaf host in Madikeri, Col. Subbaiah, is Nandini's father and that her wedding is only a week away.
Preetham, still not sure about expressing his love to Nandini, grabs a couple of toddy bottles, goes out in the rain and starts drinking.
But Col. Subbaiah, a heart patient, tells Preetham that he is expected to die anytime and his only desire is to get Nandini married to Gautam, an army officer who saved his life during a war.
Gautam asks the bar-owner for directions to Col. Subbaiah's home because of the heavy rains and badly-maintained interior roads of Coorg.
Resignedly, Preetham watches the arch proclaiming "Gautham weds Nandini" and the marriage taking place in Kodava style.
Director Yograj Bhat, who had earlier dabbled in advertising and corporate films, began working on the script of Mungaru Male.
[1][25] Shooting locations included major part in[25] Sakaleshpura, Madikeri,[25] Jog Falls Sagara,[25] and Gadag.
[26][27] Mano Murthy scored the film's background music and its soundtrack, lyrics for which was penned by Jayant Kaikini, Yogaraj Bhat, Kaviraj and Hrudaya Shiva.
[30] Upon the album's release, it topped the charts with the song "Anisuthide" receiving significant radio and TV air time.
[32] Hindustan Times reported, "The film has just completed seven weeks, but audio sales have broken all earlier records.
"[33] The success of the film's soundtrack, especially the track "Anisutide", further propelled Nigam's playback singing career in Kannada cinema.
[34] Rediff.com's critic awarded it a three-star rating and praised its cinematography, technical values, and the acting of Ganesh and Anant Nag.
[1][44][13] Mungaru Male was released to 10 countries including the United States, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, UK, Hong Kong and Dubai.
[49] The success of Mungaru Male turned Ganesh and Pooja Gandhi into most sought-after actors in Kannada cinema.
[55] Gandhi also delivered back-to-back commercially superhit films such as Milana (2007), Krishna (2007), Taj Mahal (2008) and Budhivanta (2008).
[13] Bhat wrote about the making of Mungaru Male in the book Haage Summane, which was released on day of the silver jubilee celebration for the movie.
[58] The movie was remade in Telugu in 2008 as Vaana,[17] in Bengali in 2008 as Premer Kahini, in Odia in 2009 as Romeo - The Lover Boy [19] and in Marathi in 2017 as Premay Namaha.