''Shastri'' (also known as ''Darshan Shastri'') is a 2005

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

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

written and directed by P. N. Sathya and produced by Anaji Nagaraj for Namana films. The film stars

Darshan Darshan, a Sanskrit word meaning "sight" or "viewing", may refer to: Ceremony and religion * Darshan (Indian religions), the auspicious sight of a divine image or holy person; also a school of Hindu philosophy * Darshan (Judaism), a Scriptural ...

and Manya. The musical score is by

Sadhu Kokila Sahaya Sheelan Shadrach, (born 24 March 1966) known by his Stage name Sadhu Kokila, is an Indian comedian, musician, actor, film director, producer, occasional screenwriter and lyricist who works in Kannada cinema. He began his career as a com ...

Synopsis

''Shastri'' tells of the downfall of impulsive medical student Shastri. After facing betrayal in love he journeys through crime after convincing his family that he is dead. He becomes a victim of circumstances and joins the underworld. However, he is a Good Samaritan don who helps the poor and depressed. In the bargain, he antagonizes many cruel dons who have scores to settle with him. He meets Manya, an arrogant rich girl who he first spurns. Manya takes revenge on Shastri and is indirectly responsible for his entry into the underworld. Shastri tries to turn a new leaf, but is not successful. Finally, he is stabbed by an adversary in a fight, but he survives and is later reunited with his lover.

Cast

as Rama Shastri (''Shastri'') * Manya as Kanakambari (''Kanaka'') *

Chitra Shenoy Chitra Shenoy is an Indian actress and producer in South Indian movies and television series. She has acted in more than 600 films predominately in Kannada and Malayalam. She is known as the 'young mother' in the Kannada film industry having po ...

as Kanaka's mother *

Bullet Prakash Bullet Prakash (2 April 1976 – 6 April 2020) was an Indian actor who worked in Kannada cinema. Known for portraying comic roles, Prakash appeared in over 325 films. He earned the nickname "Bullet" because he used to ride the motorbike, Roy ...

as Shastri's friend *Hanumanthe Gowda as Kanaka's father * G. K. Govinda Rao as Shastri's father * Sathyajith as mobster

Soundtrack

Soundtrack was composed by Sadhu Kokila. The song "Sumne Sumne" was loosely based on the Malay song "Hati Kama" by Pak Ngah. *"Sumne Sumne" -

Udit Narayan Udit Narayan Jha (born 1 December 1955) is an Nepali and Indian playback singer whose songs have been featured mainly in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. He has also sung in various other languages including Telugu language, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil ...

, Madhuvati *"Style Varevaa" - Tippu,

Anuradha Sriram Anuradha Sriram (' Mohan; born 9 July 1970) is an Indian carnatic and playback singer and child actress who hails from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. She has sung more than 3500 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Sinhala, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali ...

*"O hrudaya" -

Hemanth Kumar Hemanth Subramanya known by his stage name as Hemanth, is a playback singer in Kannada cinema. Early life Hemanth was born in a family of musicians at Bangalore, India. His mother Rathna Sastry is a classical singer and his father Subramanya ...

Release

The movie was inspired by the 1995 classic '' Om''. ''Shastri'' premiered on

Udaya TV Udaya TV is an Indian Kannada language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Sun TV Network. Udaya TV is telecast in several nations like India, some Gulf countries and the United States. Udaya TV was launched on 1 June 1994. ...

Channel. The film was dubbed in Hindi as ''Main Hoon Yoddha.'' The digital version was released in June 2017.

Critical reception

The film received extremely negative reviews. ''Indiaglitz'' wrote "''Shastri'' is a badly made, poorly directed film. Its music by Sadhu Kokila is also poor and even the photography can not be spoken about in an appreciating measure. Vigilant fans will find the film just a hotch potch of many non Kannada films." ''Rediff'' called it "badly made and poorly directed".

References

Indian crime action films 2000s crime action films Films about organised crime in India Indian gangster films 2000s masala films 2000s Kannada-language films {{2000s-Kannada-film-stub