Saarathi
Saarathi () is a 2011 Indian Kannada-language romantic action film written and directed by Dinakar Thoogudeep. It stars Darshan and debutante Deepa Sannidhi in the lead roles. V. Harikrishna scored for the film's background and its soundtrack, while the lyrics were penned by V. Nagendra Prasad. The film released theatrically on 30 September 2011  when the Darshan was under judicial custody for alleged domestic violence against his wife, Vijayalakshmi. It received three awards at the 2011 Karnataka State Film Awards, including the Best Entertaining Movie. The core plot of the movie was reported to be based on the 1994 animated movie The Lion King. Plot
Raja is an auto driver, who meets and falls in love with Rukmini. However, Rukmini is taken to her hometown Durgakote by her relative Pratap, who wants to marry her. Along with his adopted father and friends, Raja follows Rukmini to Durgakote and finds that she hails from the family of palegars  (village chieftan) who rule the place. When Raja visits a temple of Durga, the priest of the temple reveals Raja's past. Past: Raja is actually Krishna, who is the son of Suryanarayana, the chieftan of the village and Rukmini's mother's brother. One day, Krishna falls into a gorge and is chased by a pack of bulls, but Suryanarayana while trying to save him, falls into the gorge and is killed. With this, Nagappa, Suryanarayana's brother tells Krishna to secretly escape from the village. Present: Prathap and his father Nagappa also learns about Raja/Krishna's identity from Rukmini, where he kidnaps Raja/Krishna and throws him at the same gorge. Nagappa also reveals that he was the mastermind behind Suryanarayana's death as he wanted to be the village's chieftan and had hired the tribals (who were exiled by Suryanarayana for planning to rob the temple's jewellary) to finish him. Raja/Krishna is chased by the pack of bulls, but is timely saved by the horse, which was gifted by Suryanarayana on his birthday. Raja/Krishna confronts the tribals and manages to defeat them. Raja/Krishna reaches the Durga temple where he finally exposes Nagappa's involvement in Suryanarayana's death. A fight ensues where Raja/Krishna manages to finish Nagappa and Prathap with the help of villagers. Raja/Krishna and Rukmini finally get married and Raja/Krishna takes over his father's position as the next chieftan. 