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Movie Name: 777 Charlie
Directed by: Kiranraj K
Starring: Rakshit Shetty, Sangeetha Sringeri, Raj B. Shetty, Danish Sait, Bobby Simha
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Release Date: 10 June, 2022
Language: Kannada
Running Time: 164 Minutes
Rating:
The protagonist is stuck in a rut with his negative and lonely lifestyle and spends each day in the comfort of his loneliness. A pup named Charlie who enters his life and gives him a new perspective towards it.
777 Charlie is an upcoming Indian Kannada-language adventure comedy-drama film directed by Kiranraj K. It features Rakshit Shetty, Sangeetha Sringeri and Raj B. Shetty in prominent roles. The film is produced by Rakshit Shetty and GS Gupta under the banner of Paramvah Studios.
In September 2017, Rakshit Shetty announced his next film under the production banner Paramvah Studios titled as 777 Charlie. Kiranraj K, who had assisted Rishab Shetty in Ricky and Kirik Party, was brought on board for the project, which marked his directorial debut. Shetty agreed to produce the film as the script was considered to be “first-of-its-kind” in Kannada cinema. Kiranraj also revealed that some sequences in the film were inspired from his real-life incidents. Before the film’s production in June 2018, dog trainer BC Pramod trained three Labrador Retrievers to play the role of Charlie in the film for three weeks, as the bonding between the dog and the lead actor was to be real and convincing.
The score and soundtrack of 777 Charlie is composed and produced by Nobin Paul.
The teaser of the film was released on 6 June 2021 on the account of Rakshit Shetty’s birthday. The trailer of the film was released on 16 May 2022 in Kannada and dubbed versions of Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam languages.
777 Charlie: Movie Trailer
Movie Review:
A heartfelt take on a charming friendship
The film could well be described as the “relationship between a man and a dog” but director Kiranraj ensures that he packs in emotion and light-heartedness in equal measure that we are engaged all the time
Can a dog change your life?
The makers of recent film 777 Charlie certainly think so. And their latest work is a deeply heartfelt cinematic presentation of that fact.
Dharma (Rakshit Shetty) is a loner who feels that what he does is always correct. “How others view me isn’t right,” he says, in a voiceover early in the film. You can’t find fault with the others; after all, he rarely bothers about the colony he lives in or his neighbours and is mostly grumpy and unkempt. His house is always in a mess, with cigarette butts and liquor bottles strewn around. At the factory he works in, he is one of the best workers — he doesn’t take a single day of leave — and prefers to keep to himself, thus earning the ire of most of his colleagues.
Simply put, he’s a loner without any friends, family or bonds.
Until a Labrador pup, which he later names Charlie due to his love for Charlie Chaplin, comes into his life. And then, life, for Dharma, becomes topsy turvy.
This is predominantly a man-animal relationship film, but it is also a travel film and a musical. When director Kiranraj isn’t showing you pictureseque locales (cinematography by Arvind S Kashyap) during Dharma’s life-changing road trip, he’s making you invested in the story thanks also to its music (by Nobin Paul), with wonderful little songs peppered in the screenplay, like the occasional barks that Charlie lets out.
This writer watched the dubbed Tamil version of the film (which is a primarily a Kannada film, with many well-known faces from the Kannada film industry), but the makers seem to have ensured that it feels very original. The sign boards are all from Chennai — the colony the protagonist lives in is in Ambattur — and the actors do a commendable job with the lip sync.
Languages aren’t a barrier in this film, as the subject is all heart. In a line, the film could well be described as the “relationship between a man and a dog” but director Kiranraj ensures that he packs in emotion and light-heartedness in equal measure that we are engaged all the time. English film The Dog Problem (2006) tried something on similar lines, but 777 Charlie scores much higher on the emotional quotient.
If the first half focusses on the build-up to the relationship, the second half has several heartfelt moments that hit you hard. There’s a wonderfully written and conceived sequence here set in the backdrop of a dog show that’s the equivalent of a last ball six in a cricket match – director Kiranraj scores high, tugging at the heartstrings.
That he has an apt cast bringing to life his idea is a big bonus. Rakshit Shetty is perfect as the protagonist and gets in all the right expressions, be it when he’s frustrated due to an intrusion in life, and later, when his outlook towards life changes. Charlie, the subject the film revolves around, is a delight to watch on the big screen. A small girl named Adrika (played by Sharvari) gets a neatly-written role. Even the characters that get lesser screen time — be it Raj B Shetty as the vet, Sangeetha Sringeri as a champion of animal rights, Bobby Simha as a dog-lover and Danish Sait as a reporter — make an impact on the on-screen proceedings.
The only grouse was the tad long runtime (packed with far too many songs) and the film’s humour, which thankfully isn’t a lot. For a cinematic work that celebrates animals, placing “dog jokes” (Sample: a mother tells her daughter: “unakku nai venuma? Veetuku va, appa irukanga) sticks out. Barring that, there’s a lot to love about this film.
