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Saarathi
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Wikipedia article
'Saarathi' is a 2011 Indian Kannada-language romantic action film written and directed by Dinakar Thoogudeep. It stars Darshan and debutante Deepa Sannidhi in the lead roles. V. Harikrishna scored for the film's background and its soundtrack, lyrics for which was penned by V. Nagendra Prasad.
The film released theatrically on 30 September 2011 when the Darshan was under judicial custody for alleged domestic violence against his wife, Vijayalakshmi. It received three awards at the 2011 Karnataka State Film Awards, including the Best Entertaining Movie. The core plot of the movie was reported to be based on the 1994 animated movie 'The Lion King'.
Synopsis
'Raja' (Darshan), an auto-rickshaw driver, who falls in love with 'Rukmini' (Deepa Sannidhi). But she has an enemy in 'Pratap' (Ajay), a relative who wants to marry her, and takes her to his hometown - Durgakote. Raja follows her to the place and finds that she hails from the family of 'palegars' who rule the place. The story takes a turn when Raja finds that Rukmini is the daughter of his father's sister.
Cast
* Darshan as Raja / Krishna
* Deepa Sannidhi as Rukmini
* R. Sarathkumar as Suryanarayana
* Seetha as Raja's mother
* Rangayana Raghu as Raja's adoptive father
* Sharath Lohitashwa as Nagappa, Suryanarayana's brother
* Ajay as Pratap, Nagappa's son
* Bullet Prakash as Raja's friend
* Viswa
* Dileep
* Kote Prabhakar as Pratap's henchman
* Muni as Pratap's henchman
* Lokesh Kademani
Production
Saarathi was initially under the production of Kannada cinema veteran KCN Chandrashekhar, but was later taken up by K. V. Satya Prakash as his first film venture. As a result of which, the film has been in the making for over 2 years including 90 days for the shooting and later the film release got delayed owing to actor Darshan's arrest by the police following a complaint of domestic violence by his wife Vijayalakshmi. It was filmed at major South Indian tourist places like Chitradurga, Pondicherry, Chalakudy (in Kerala) and Hyderabad, the film ran 100days in around 50 theaters.
Music
The music and Background score was composed by V. Harikrishna and lyrics for songs were penned by Nagendra Prasad
Release
The film released in 147 theatres across Karnataka on 30 September 2011, including over 30 in the city of Bangalore, and an additional 20 screens were put up due to its commercial success in the opening weekend.
Reception
Critical response
Upon release, it received good reviews from film critics chiefly for its narration, tight screenplay, art work and technicalities like the use of computer graphics for stunts and song picturisation. Darshan's acting performance in this film has been praised by the reviewers, calling it even as his best movie till date. Ravi Varma's stunts sequences and Eshwari Kumar's art work - who has assembled a 30 ft. statue of Goddess Chamundeshwari in water falls is also a noted aspect of the film.
Bangalore Mirror rated it 4/5 stars and the entertainment website Supergoodmovies also rated it with 4/5 stars. While other newspapers like The Times of India and DNA India rated it at 4.5/5. Bangalore Mirror summarised it by saying that "the real hero of the film is director Dinakar and it is a film to enjoy, being one of the biggest entertainers of the year."
Accolades
;2011 Karnataka State Film Awards
* Best Entertaining Movie
* Best Art Director Eshwari Kumar
* Special Jury Award (Special effects) Rajan
;1st South Indian International Movie Awards
* Best Film
References
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