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

Kannada 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 s ...

-language

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

gangster film A gangster film or gangster movie is a film belonging to a genre that focuses on gangs and organized crime. It is a subgenre of crime film, that may involve large criminal organizations, or small gangs formed to perform a certain illegal act. The ...

written and directed by P. N. Sathya and produced by Anaji Nagaraj in the banner of Namana films. The film stars Darshan and Manya in lead roles. The film has a musical score by

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

. The film portrays the downfall of an impulsive youngster after facing betrayal in love and his further journey through crime after making his family believe that he is dead. The core storyline of the movie was heavily inspired by the 1995 classic '' Om''. ''Shastri'' was premiered on

Udaya TV Udaya may refer to * Udaya Pictures, a movie company in Kerala. * Udaya TV, a Kannada-language television channel * Udaya Manikya, a 16th-century king of Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest sta ...

Channel. The film was dubbed in Hindi as ''Main Hoon Yoddha'' .

Plot

''Shastri'' tells the story of a medical student Shastri who becomes a victim of circumstances and is led to a life in the underworld. But he is a Good Samaritan Don who helps out the poor and depressed. In the bargain, he antagonizes many cruel dons who wants to settle scores with him. Added to this issue, there is a love angle added with Manya playing an arrogant rich girl who is spurned by Shastri earlier. But Manya takes revenge on Shastri and is indirectly responsible for his entry into the underworld. Shastri tries to turn a new leaf into his life, but it is not possible. Finally, he is stabbed by one of his adversaries in a fight, but he survives and is later reunited with his lover.

Cast

* Darshan 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 in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Tulu, and Hindi. She is known as the 'young mother' in the Kannada film ind ...

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, Royal ...

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. *"Sumne Sumne" -

Udit Narayan Udit is an Indian masculine given name that may refer to: *Udit Narayan, Bollywood playback singer *Udit Narayan (politician) (born 1960), Fijian politician of Indian descent *Udit Narayan Singh (1770–1835), Indian monarch *Udit Patel (born 1984 ...

, Madhuvati *"Style Varevaa" - Tippu,

Anuradha Sriram Anuradha Sriram (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 700 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Sinhala, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Hindi f ...

*"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 film will be re-released in the digital version 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