'‘’Kempu Surya''' (Red Sun) is a 1990 Carnatic language action adventure film with some fantasy elements, starring Sandalwood actor turned politicians Ambareesh and MP Shankar, Susan Ranganath and Sudheer. It is a Sandalwood remake of the 1984 film Romancing the Stone starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.
Triveni, an author has chosen the name of her next novel - Kempu Surya. One day, she receives a letter from her sister, after which a thug in a red trench coat breaks into her house and ransacks it, looking for a map. Later, Triveni receives a call from her sister, pleading her to bring the map in her letter to a remote hilly wilderness region.
Triveni gets to the general area by bus, but has to walk the rest of the way. The red trench coat guy catches up to her, attacks her and tries to relieve her of the map. But a mysterious guy called Suresh rescues her and volunteers to escort her the rest of the way. Problem is, the army is hunting him.
As they go deeper in, they have to fight off thugs, evade soldiers in pursuit, wildlife and unfriendly tribals. And it becomes apparent that Suresh has a hidden agenda of his own.
Tropes identified here are
- Blatant Lies: Triveni asks Suresh if the map she is carrying, is somehow related to his situation. He denies it, but hen steals it from her that night to follow it.
- Clear My Name: Suresh is on the run, trying to clear his name of the murder of a scientist and his Colonel.
- Conspicuous Trenchcoat: A thug sent to eliminate Triveni and get the map wears a bright red one, and a fedora. And Sinister Shades. If that alone doesn’t scream “villain”, I don’t know what does.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: When the army recapture Suresh, they break bone after bone in his body to get him to confess. He doesn’t, so when they run out of bones to break, the army has no choice but to put him in a full body cast in a hospital.
- Damsel in Distress: The shady guy in the red trench coat and fedora, catches up to Triveni and is about to attack her. Luckily, Suresh finds them just in time to rescue her.
- Dangerous Deserter: Suresh is on the run from the Indian Army, trying to clear his name.
- Death Faked for You: Colonel Vishwas fakes his own death, so he can find the gem.
- Denied Food as Punishment: When good old bone breaking doesn’t get Suresh to ‘fess up, the army ties him to a post near the enlisted men’s mess - and never feed him. They hope that the hunger pangs caused by seeing other soldiers eat, will get him to break.
- Disney Villain Death: Red trench coat guy is shoved off a cliff and plunges to his death.
- Driven to Suicide: Suresh’s father could not bear the shame of his son’s Court Martial and conviction, so he murders his other family members and then shoots himself.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Suresh polishes off an entire bottle of rum, reminiscing about his now dead family.
- The Engineer: Suresh was a combat engineer before his Court Martial. His knowledge of demolitions was used against him in his trial, and towards the middle of the movie, he digs a tunnel underneath a military camp to bypass it.
- Frame-Up: Suresh’s Colonel murdered a scientist he was tasked to assist, faked his own death and planted evidence framing Suresh.
- Healing Factor: Suresh uses his new powers to instantly heal himself of all the fractures he has sustained.
- We Have Your Sister: A mysterious gang has kidnapped Triveni’s sister Champa and instruct the former to bring a map to their hideout.
- Mind over Matter: Suresh gains the ability to move objects with his mind. When Denied Food as Punishment, he waits till no one’s looking, then just levitates some food over to his mouth and eats.
- Teleportation: Suresh teleports from the Army base where he is being held captive, to the villain’s lair.
