''Atithi'' ( kn, ಅತಿಥಿ, ''The Guest'') is a 2002 Indian

Kannada language Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native sp ...

film directed by P. Sheshadri. The film deals with terrorism and the psychology of the

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

. The

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

US tragedy and a car blast in Bangalore inspired the director Sheshadri to make a film about the psychology of terrorism.

Plot

The film opens with a minister inaugurating a new flyover. The flyover is then bombed by a man along with his associates resulting in many deaths. The film moves to a village, where a well revered doctor lives. He lives alone with his wife while his son lives in some other city. The terrorist gets wounded while making a bomb. His associates are then forced to take him to the doctor's clinic where they kidnap his wife. They threaten to kill her if the doctor calls the police or tells anyone. During the days the terrorist is healing, there are many close calls. He meets and becomes friends with a girl who regularly visits the doctor. He and the doctor have chats about his objectives. He and his associates plan to bomb a dam being visited by the chief minister. Some school children will also go there. He hurts the little girl, his friend who was also supposed to go there in order to save her. The doctor confronts him and tries to persuade him not to do this task. However, the terrorist does not listen. On the day of the bombing, the terrorists return the doctor's wife and head to the dam. The doctor tries one last time to stop the terrorist by threatening to shoot him. However, the terrorist calls his bluff. While heading to the dam, the terrorists run into some school children, when the terrorist see the girl who he made friends with. He asks his associates to go another road as he wants to think. The films then ends, not revealing whether the terrorists carried out their attack or not.

Cast

Prakash Rai Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Tamil language, Tamil, Telugu language, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam-language films ...

as Unnamed Terrorist *

H. G. Dattatreya Wing Commander Harihar Gundurao Dattatreya AE(L) (Retd.) (born 1942), popularly known as Dattanna, is an Indian actor who has appeared in more than 204 films and several plays. Alongside his career as an actor, he served in the Indian Air Force ...

as Doctor *

Lakshmi Chandrashekar Lakshmi Chandrashekar is an Indian actress in the Kannada film industry, and a theatre artist in Karnataka, India. Some of the notable films of Lakshmi Chandrashekar as an actress include '' Atithi'' (2002), '' Avasthe'' (1987), '' S. P. Sangliy ...

as Doctor's Wife * Baby Raksha as Putti * C. R. Shashikumar as

Police Inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...

* Dinesh Mangalore as Terrorist 1 * Ramesh Pandit as Terrorist 2 * Kalpana Naganath as Putti's Mother

Production

reportedly charged just one rupee to act in this film.

Critical reception

The film was well received by the critics. Critics were particularly unequivocal in their praise of the approach to a complex subject such as terrorism. Though the film had terrorism as the theme, there was no throttling noise of blasts and guns.

Awards and screening

*2002 The film was selected for

Indian Panorama The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. Held annually, currently in the state of Goa, on the western coast of the country, the festival aims at providing a common pla ...

International Film Festival of India The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. Held annually, currently in the state of Goa, on the western coast of the country, the festival aims at providing a common pla ...

, Goa *2003 Screened at Cairo International Film Festival * 2001:

49th National Film Awards The 49th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 2001. Awards were announced by t ...

: Best Film in Kannada

References

External links

* {{National Film Award Best Feature Film Kannada 2002 films 2000s Kannada-language films Films about terrorism in India Best Kannada Feature Film National Film Award winners Films directed by P. Sheshadri