Saarathi is a 2011 Indian Kannada-language romantic action film writtenand 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. After initial denial, the makers admitted in February 2012 that the movie was based on the 1994 animated movie The Lion King. It received three awards at the 2011 Karnataka State Film Awards, including the Best Entertaining Movie.
Plot
The story revolves around Raja, an auto-rickshaw driver, who falls in love with Rukmini. But she has an enemy in Pratap, 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. This movie is based on the theme of Lion king which was released in 1994.
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 and Hyderabad, the film ran 100days in around 50 theaters.
Soundtrack
The music and Background score was composed by V. Harikrishna and lyrics for songs were penned by Nagendra Prasad
Release and reception
The film released in 147 theatres across Karnataka on 30 September 2011, including over 30 in the city ofBangalore, and an additional 20 screens were put up due to its commercial success in the opening weekend. 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."
