''Aathanka'' () is a 1993 Indian

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 ...

drama thriller film directed by

Sai Prakash Enreddy Prakash Reddy a.k.a. Om Sai Prakash is a Telugu and Kannada film director and producer. Born in Phirangipuram in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, he started as an assistant to Kodi Ramakrishna and then charted his own course in dire ...

, and stars

Anant Nag Dr Anant Nagarkatte (born 4 September 1948) is an Indian actor whose predominant contribution has been in Kannada cinema. He has acted in over 300 films which include over 200 Kannada films as well as Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, Malayalam and En ...

and

Vinaya Prasad Vinaya Prakash ( Bhat), also credited as Vinaya Prasad, is an Indian actress who has primarily featured in Kannada, and Malayalam films and TV series besides acting in Telugu language films. She has won the State Best Actress Award for her pe ...

in the lead roles. The supporting cast features Anjana,

Mukhyamantri Chandru Honnasandra Narasimhaiah Chandrashekar (born 28 August 1953), known popularly as Mukhyamantri Chandru, is an Indian actor and politician. As an actor, he is known for his work in Kannada theatre and cinema. The sobriquet ''Mukhyamantri'' (Chief ...

and Sarika. The film depicts the marital life of a woman being disturbed by another woman suffering from paranoid personality disorder, who develops hatred towards men after being subjected to

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for '' intimate partn ...

by her husband. Upon theatrical release on 22 January 1993, the film won critical praise. At the 1992–93

Karnataka State Film Awards Karnataka State Film Awards are the most notable and prestigious film awards given for Kannada film industry in Karnataka, India. These are considered the highest awards for Kannada language films. They are given annually by the Government ...

, the film won six awards — Second Best Film,

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

(Vinaya Prasad),

Best Story Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation, ...

and

Best Screenplay Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation, ...

(S. Surendranath), Best Cinematographer (Johny Lal) and Best Editor (K. Narasaiah).

Plot

Raghu (

) is a serious man without visible emotions and lives life hiding some kind of deep pain inside him. However, this changes when he meets Vani (

) at a marriage party of their common friend. Both fall in love and as their love blossoms, Raghu visibly is now full of life and happy. They decide to get married. They are living a happy married life until one day Abhilasha shows up at their door step while Raghu is not at home and explains to Vani that Raghu is a very dangerous man and that Vani's life is in danger. Vani discredits this, but as days go by she gets suspicious of Raghu's behaviour and starts wondering why Raghu does not talk about his past. Some accidental events like Raghu forgetting to switch off the kitchen gas stove, makes Vani even more suspicious and she comes to a conclusion that Raghu is indeed attempting to murder her and make it look like an accident. Vani meets Abhilasha in secret, where Abhilasha explains that Raghu was married earlier to a woman named Geetha (Anjana). Raghu murdered his wife Geetha and made it look like an accident. And just a few days earlier had taken out a large Life Insurance in the name of Geetha. Vani is now convinced that Raghu murdered his first wife Geetha to cash the Insurance money. Vani moves out of Raghu's home, despite Raghu pleading to her that Abhilasha is mentally ill and has made all this stuff up. Vani seeks refuge in Abhilasha's house. In the dead of the night, Vani is awakened by strange sounds coming from the other end of the house. She decides to investigate and goes into Abhilasha's room, but she is not to be found. She goes around the house which is a very big mansion. She enters into a secret door leading to dirty and unkempt rooms filled with dust and cobwebs and looking like it has not been used for many years. She goes deep into the mansions' maze of rooms and discovers Abhilasha throwing red paint on a drawing large canvas and stabbing the canvas with a knife like a demented person. Abhilasha spots Vani sneaking around and comes after her with the knife to kill her. In the meanwhile, Raghu doubts that Abhilasha might have tricked Vani into going to her house and knowing Abhilasha's mental condition, he goes to her house and saves Vani before Abhilasha stabs her. In the fight, Abhilasha dies and Vani is saved. In the end it is revealed that Raghu who was married to his first wife Geetha used to be a tenant in one of the out houses owned by Abhilasha's father. Abhilasha being mentally ill used to make up stories that Raghu beats Geetha even though they both are leading a happy life. The accident which occurred was indeed an accident and Raghu had nothing to with it. The accident was caused by a faulty gas stove which exploded that ended Geetha's life. Vani is now aware of the truth, she goes back to Raghu's home and they live a happy life.

Cast

as Raghu *

as Vani * Anjana as Geetha *

as Kanthi * Sarika as Revathi * Abhilasha *

Mandeep Roy Mandeep Rai is an Indian actor in the Kannada film industry. Some of the notable films of Mandeep Rai as an actor include '' ...Re'' (2016), '' Aaptha Rakshaka'' (2010), '' Amrithadhare'' (2005), ''Kurigalu Saar Kurigalu'' (2001). Career Mand ...

as Vishwanath * Nanjundaiah as landlord * Krishne Gowda as Revathi's husband * Prathap

Soundtrack

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

composed the film background score and its soundtrack, the lyrics for which was written by

K. S. Narasimhaswamy Kikkeri Subbarao Narasimhaswamy (26 January 1915 – 27 December 2003) commonly known as K. S. Narasimhaswamy, was an Indian poet who wrote in Kannada language. His most popular collection of poems, '' Mysooru Mallige'', has seen more than thi ...

and Doddarange Gowda. The soundtrack album consists of five tracks.

Awards

;

Karnataka State Film Awards 1992-93 Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karna ...

* Second Best Film *

—

— S. Surendranath *

— S. Surendranath * Best Cinematographer — Johny Lal * Best Editor — K. Narasaiah

References

External links