Saarathi

Saarathee
Saarathi theatrical release poster
Directed by	Dinakar Tugudeep
Produced by	K. V. Satya Prakash
Written by	Dinakar Tugudeep Chinthan
Starring	Darshan Deepa Sannidhi Sharath Kumar
Music by	V. Harikrishna
Cinematography	K. Krishna Kumar
Release dates	30 September 2011 (2011-09-30)
Running time	200days
Country	India
Language	Kannada
Budget	10 Crores[1]
Box office	75+ crores[2]

Saarathi (English: Charioteer) is a 2011 romantic action Kannada film starring actor Darshan. .^[3] It was directed by his brother Dinakar Tugudeep and produced by K. V. Satya Prakash. It is the début film of Deepa Sannidhi who plays the female lead actress.^[4] V. Harikrishna composed the music for the film and lyricist Nagendra Prasad penned the songs.

Saarathi was released on 30 September 2011 when the actor Darshan was under judicial custody for alleged domestic violence against his wife, Vijayalakshmi.^[1] The film was screened in over 157 theatres across Karnataka, 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.^[1] Finally, Darshan has admitted that the film Sarathi is the Kannada version of The Lion King.^[3]

Plot

The story revolves around Raja (Darshan), an auto-rickshaw driver, who falls in love with Rukmini (Deepa Sannidhi). But she has an enemy in Pratap (played by 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. The movie ends with action sequences.

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.^[5] As a result of which, the film has been in the making for over 2 years^[6] 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.^[7] It was filmed at major South Indian tourist places like Chitradurga, Pondicherry, Chalakudy (in Kerala) and Hyderabad, the film ran 100days in around 16 theaters

Reception

The film received good reviews from film critics^[8] chiefly for its narration, tight screenplay, art work and technicalities like the use of computer graphics for stunts and song picturisation.^[9] Darshan's acting performance in this film has been praised by the reviewers,^[10] calling it even as his best movie till date.^[8] 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.^[11]

Bangalore Mirror rated it 4/5 stars^[9] and the entertainment website Supergoodmovies also rated it with 4/5 stars.^[11] While other newspapers like The Times of India and DNA India rated it at 4.5/5.^[10] 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."^[9]

The movie completed 50 consecutive days in 93 theatres,totally it completed 100days in 16 theaters. The Movie Released in 147 Theatres.

Cast

• Darshan as Raja, and later, Krishna
• Deepa Sannidhi as "Rukmini"
• Sarathkumar as Suryanarayana
• Rangayana Raghu
• Sharath Lohitashwa
• Ajay as "Pratap"
• Bullet Prakash
• Dileep
• Kote Prabhakar
• Lokesh Kademani (BGM)

Sound Track

The music and Background score was composed by V. Ramakrishna and lyrics for songs were penned by Nagendra Prasad

Awards and nominations

block buster

References

External links

• Saarathi Songs
• Saarathi Pre-release Promo on YouTube