'SP Sangliyana Part 2': Memories of a super cop

SP Sangliyana’ is a name which evokes varied emotions in the minds of Kannada film audiences. One of the most enigmatic actors and directors of the industry, Shankar Nag, who played the titular role in the first two films, died only months after the sequel, ‘SP Sangliyana Bhaga 2’, released. Named after a real-life cop; HT Sangliyana, who became a living legend after the success of the film, the film also marked an important phase in the way cops were portrayed in Kannada films.

‘SP Sangliyana Bhaga 2’ is considered one of the best sequels ever in Kannada. Though an out-and-out commercial potboiler, which took creative liberty with the life of HT Sangliyana and how the system worked, the film continues to be a good template for cop sagas. The film re-releases in theatres this week, 32 years after it first released on March 19, 1990.

The film impacted not only the film industry, but also the relationship between real-life cops and the film industry. However, ‘Sangliyana’ was only the culmination of a decade-long process of the evolving ‘honest cop’ stories in movies.

The precursor of all such ‘honest cop taking on dishonest politicians’ films was ‘Antha’. The film, directed by Rajendra Singh Babu and starring Ambareesh as the quintessential honest cop, was based on a novel by HK Ananta Rao and released in 1981. It became a trend setter not only in Kannada but across India. It was remade in Hindi as ‘Meri Awaz Suno’ starring Jeetendra and produced by Telugu star Krishna. It was also remade in Tamil and Telugu.

‘Antha’ was the first film in which politicians were also villains. Until this point of time, films paid reverence while depicting characters of chief Ministers and prime Ministers by only showing the hands of the characters playing them and not their faces. After ‘Antha’, things would never be the same again. Within two years of Antha, Ambareesh, playing an honest cop again, was to gun down the entire cabinet of the state in ‘Chakravyuha’ (Amitabh Bachchan starred in its Hindi remake ‘Inquilab’).

Kannada films therefore provided the template for the ‘honest cop’ sagas of the 1980s. Towards the end of this decade, P Nanjundappa, an assistant and associate director for over decade made ‘Sangliyana’ (1988). HT Sangliyana, a Mizoram origin, Karnataka-cadre IPS officer, was already in the news for his supposed heroics. Nobody knew for sure if the stories of his exploits were true but he was already entering popular discourse.

The film, which blended the myths with cinematic essence, became a big hit. Shankar Nag’s charisma, the audiences’ appetite for such cop sagas built over the decade, Hamsalekha’s new trendy music and Nanjundappa’s reading of the audience’s mind made it a cult classic. He followed it up with ‘CBI Shankar’, another cop-saga, once again with Shankar Nag, in 1989.

A sequel to Sangliyana was begging to be made. Nanjundappa delivered a bigger hit than the original with the sequel in 1990. Sadly, he had died a couple of months before the film was released. His brief cameo in a song in the film became a talking point as a premonition of his own death as he is seen waving goodbye to Shankar Nag. His three films as a director remain as a reminder of what possibilities lay ahead if he lived to direct more films.

The biggest beneficiary of these films in later years was HT Sangliyana himself. After his retirement in 2003, he contested on a BJP ticket and won from the Bangalore North Lok Sabha constituency to become a Member of Parliament.

Even before that, the two ‘Sangliyana’ films impacted the police and bureaucratic establishment too. ‘Kempaiah IPS’, a 1993 film, tried to create a similar image for another IPS officer. Police officer BC Patil, produced and acted in films like ‘Niskarsha’ and ‘Kourava’ and is currently a Minister. IAS officer K Shivaram took to acting in commercial films. These developments forced the State Government to ban serving officers from acting in films. The name of Sangliyana was unofficially barred from being used for films after one more film, ‘Sangliyana Part 3’, was made in 1997.

From the hapless police officer turning into a savage avenger which marked films of Ambareesh as a cop, the 80s ended with Shankar Nag’s smart, almost-James Bond like cop portrayals. But essentially, both held a mirror to the corruption in high places. This was the closest commercial cinema in Kannada ever came to depicting political corruption. But it was a story cut short. The 90s was a completely different story with the ultra-angry maniacal cops portrayed by Sai Kumar. ‘Sangliyana Bhaga 2’, therefore remains, despite all its pulp-fiction qualities, an essential case study in Kannada films.