''Arakshaka'' is a 2012 Indian

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

-language

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' *Mystery, a seahorse that SpongeBob SquarePants adopts in the episode " My Pre ...

film starring

Upendra Upendra (Devanagari: उपेन्द्र) is an Indian masculine given name. The meaning of the Sanskrit word ' is "younger brother of Indra" and refers to either Krishna or Vishnu, who as a son of Aditi (or in the Vamana avatar) was born subs ...

Sadha Sadaf Mohammed Sayed, known professionally as Sadha, is an Indian actress known for her work in Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada cinema, as well as Telugu television. She made her film debut with the Telugu film ''Jayam'' (2002), directed by Teja ...

and

Ragini Dwivedi Ragini Dwivedi (born 24 May 1990) is an Indian actress and model who works primarily in Kannada films. She made her debut with '' Ee Shathamaanada Veera Madakari'' (2009). She is a recipient of a SIIMA Award and an Udaya Film Award. Dwivedi ...

in the lead roles. The film is directed by

P. Vasu Vasudevan Peethambaram (born 15 September 1955), known professionally as P. Vasu, is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor who works predominantly in Tamil and Kannada films, apart from a few Telugu, Hindi, and Malayalam language fi ...

. Krishna Prajwal has produced the film under Udaya Ravi Films.

Gurukiran Gurukiran Shetty, known mononymously as Gurukiran, is an Indian music director of the Kannada film industry in India. He started his career as a music director of the Kannada movie '' A'', directed and acted by Upendra. His music for his next m ...

is the music director of the film.

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

's former CM and State Janata Dal President,

H. D. Kumaraswamy Haradanahalli Devegowda Kumaraswamy (born 16 December 1959) is an Indian politician and film producer who is serving as the Ministry of Heavy Industries, Minister of Heavy Industries and Ministry of Steel, Steel of India since 10 June 2024. He ...

released the audio of the film. The film is loosely inspired by the 2010 Hollywood film '' Shutter Island''. Upendra has played a psychological role after a brief gap. He had last played such type of roles in his earlier psychological films like '' A'' (1998), ''

'' (1999) which were directed by himself, and ''

Preethse ''Preethse'' () is a 2000 Indian Kannada-language psychological thriller film starring Shiva Rajkumar, Upendra and Sonali Bendre. The film was directed by D Rajendra Babu and produced by Rockline Venkatesh. A major part of the film was shot in ...

'' (2000). The film was released on 26 January 2012 and opened to positive reviews.

Cast

Soundtrack

has composed 5 songs set to the lyrics of

Kaviraj Kaviraj (or Rajkavi, Kaviraja) is a title of honor, which was given to poets and litterateurs attached to royal courts in medieval India. Eminent Charans who were inducted into the royal courts due to their literary merit as royal poets and his ...

and

Hamsalekha Gangaraju (born June 23, 1951), professionally known as Hamsalekha, is an Indian film composer and songwriter who works in South Indian cinema, predominantly in the Kannada film industry since the late 1980s. He is also a screenplay writer, d ...

Reception

Critical response

A critic from ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' scored the film at 3 out of 5 stars and says "While Upendra is super as a police officer, it's Ragini who steals the show with her brilliant emoting and body language. Sharana's comedy track is silly. Music by Gurukiran is okay. Cinematography by P K H Das is the highlight of the movie". A critic from

The New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naidu ...

wrote "Gurukiran has done a neat job. The songs are melodious. VERDICT: Watch the movie, if you are ready to watch it twice. Else, it will be difficult for you to follow the plot line". Srikanth Srinivasa from

Rediff.com Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...

scored the film at 3 out of 5 stars and says "Gurukiran's music is nothing to write about. But the songs are choreographed well with Upendra doing some unusual dance steps. There is a song in praise of Anna Hazare. P K H Dass has captured the locales of Kannur in all its glory. The film has been shot in Thailand as well". Shruti Gautham from

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

wrote "Vasu this time even seems to have run out of the luck that the letter ‘Aa’ had brought him in the case of Aapthamitra and Aaptharakshaka. Aarakshaka is not a film that is beyond your imagination more so if you have watched Shutter Island! ". A critic from

Bangalore Mirror ''Bangalore Mirror'' is an English-language daily published by The Times Group in Bangalore, India, as a compact newspaper. It is a deputed newspaper and is the second-largest circulating English daily in the city. In 2020, as part of its COVID ...

wrote "Upendra gets a flattering makeover, resembling the composer. P Vasu, who has been busy with various versions of Manichitrathazhu in the last few years, has not come out of that hangover yet. By choosing a somewhat similar 'mental disease' to cure, he has only fed the audience too much of a problem". B S Srivani from

Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by businessman K. N. Guruswamy and launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printers Mysore, a privately hel ...

wrote "The climax drags a bit but panders to the hero’s image. According to Upendra, even the intelligent will require repeated viewing to understand the entire film. But then, the viewer is not a fool either".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arakshaka 2012 films 2010s Kannada-language films 2010s Indian films Films directed by P. Vasu Indian psychological thriller films Films set in psychiatric hospitals