Bell Bottom

Detective Divakar (Rishab Shetty) is a constable by profession but a detective at heart. He grows up watching James Bond themed films like Goa Dalli CID 999 and reading detective novels, and dreams about becoming one himself. But immense pressure from his father Annappa (Achyut Kumar), forces him to become a police constable. Within a month, he solves a murder mystery, with ease. This makes him popular and he gets to solve the next big robbery happening in the police station in the neighbourhood. The case, however, opens a Pandora’s box and brings out the real detective in him. While solving the case, he also finds true love in Kusuma (Haripriya), a bootlegger who sells hooch in the area. How Divakar deals with all the quirky criminals to solve the case is indeed a fun-filled rollercoaster ride captured in a retro frame.

• Rishab Shetty as Detective Diwakara
• Hariprriya as Kusuma
• Achyuth Kumar as Annappa
• Yogaraj Bhat as Marakutuka
• Pramod Shetty as Inspector Sahadeva
• Sujay Shastry as Sagani Pinto
• Pranay Ranjan as Police Officer
• Shivamani as Mantravaadi Modi Nanjappa[6]
• Dinesh Mangalore as Chamanlal Seth
• P. D. Sathish as Photographer Gurupada
• Prakash Thuminad as Police Constable Qureshi
• Renuka as Lalitha
• Girikrishna as Inspector
• Naveen D Padil as Goobe Rama
• Arun prakash shetty as Police Inspector Sunil, Cousin of Detective Diwakara
• Santhosh kumar as Superintendent of police (special appearance)

B. Ajaneesh Loknath has scored the soundtrack and score for the film. A total of three songs were composed by him. The audio was launched under Rishab audio label.[7] The songs are written by Yogaraj Bhat and Raghu Niduvalli.

Unlike the usual marketing strategies including poster release, teaser and trailer releases, the film team approached a different strategy by releasing the audio trailer of the film. With this, the film became the first ever in the world to have an audio trailer.[8] The audio trailer clocked 2 minutes 57 seconds and was released on a popular radio channel in Bengaluru. Later, a video trailer was released and was narrated in a Harikatha style.

The film got a good response at the box office. The movie became one of the biggest films in 2019. It became the first Kannada film of 2019 to complete 100 days. Seeing the success of the film the makers announced a sequel titled Bell Bottom 2 in January 2021.[9]

The critic of The News Minute wrote that Dayananda’s story makes so much sense because it takes place in the 80s. Director Jayatheertha has managed to stitch a beautiful tale together and he knows how to draw an audience to theatres. Arvind Kashyap proves his prowess with the camera. The '80s tone is perfectly captured and his sense of framing is brilliant. He takes us on a nostalgic journey to the '80s just with his camera. The movie rides high on comedy and emotions and also has the undertones of a crime thriller. The music, cinematography and dialogues make Bell Bottom one of the best movies of the year so far. Ajneesh Loknath’s background music and songs lift the mood and give the right '80s feel. The pun-filled dialogues are entertaining and make us laugh hard.[10]

The critic of Times of India paper wrote Bell Bottom is one of the finer films to have hit the screens lately. The film is entertaining, no doubt. But what is more commendable is the fact that it has those little nuances that ensure the imagery to the time that the film is set in remain intact. Bell Bottom is worth that weekend trip to the cinema halls for its laughs and clever writing.[11]

The critic of The New Indian Express wrote Bell Bottom made under Golden Horse Cinema is worth a watch as it marks the beginning of a summer thrill.[12]

The film is being remade in Tamil by Sathyasiva with the same title.[6] Initially, the Hindi movie of the same name starring Akshay Kumar was speculated to be a remake of this movie.[17] However, Akshay Kumar later denied the same saying his movie was based on an original screenplay.[18]

• Bell Bottom at IMDb
• Bell Bottom (2018)