Darshan: Fallen Star

KANNADA SUPERSTAR Darshan Thoogudeepa Srinivas’ story has taken a villainous turn after his arrest on June 11 for his alleged involvement in the murder of 33-year-old Renukaswamy, a pharmacist from Chitradurga. The victim was a fan of the actor and reportedly sent obscene and abusive messages on social media to Darshan’s associate and rumoured girlfriend Pavithra Gowda. He was reportedly upset over allegations of an extramarital relationship tarnishing the actor’s image. Gowda, an actor, is one of 13 people apprehended by the police in the case that has rocked the film industry in Bengaluru. Born Hemanth Kumar in 1977 to actor Thoogudeepa Srinivas who played negative roles in Kannada films, Darshan worked his way up in the industry, working as a light boy and snagging small parts in films and television before his breaking into the scene with Majestic, his 2001 debut in a lead role. Known as ‘Challenging Star’, ‘Box Office Sultan’ and ‘D-Boss’,

Darshan has established himself as a bankable actor and all-rounder, tackling romance, mythology, history, action and comedy with equal ease.

This is not Darshan’s first brush with the law. In 2011, he was in jail for hitting his wife Vijayalakshmi—with whom he has a son—and threatening to shoot her. Charged with assault and attempted murder, Darshan later claimed to be drunk and unaware of his actions. The film fraternity convinced Vijayalakshmi to drop the charges and settle it out of court. His fans, too, sided with him, making Saarathi, a film that released when he was in judicial custody, a hit. There was hardly a dent in his image as he went on to star in Kranthiveera Sangolli Rayanna in 2012, winning a Filmfare award for best actor. The film, with its lavish sets and fight scenes involving hundreds of actors, cost `30 crore—the most expensive Kannada film then— and brought a forgotten low-caste martyr’s life into focus. Darshan’s career graph shot up, as his fans swooned over how he saved an elderly actor from a fall from horseback on the film sets. It did not seem to matter that Vijayalakshmi again accused him of abusive behaviour, or that he reportedly assaulted a waiter in Mysuru in 2021. When the police picked him up from a Mysuru gym and brought him to Bengaluru for his alleged role in Renukaswamy’s murder, Darshan’s fans thronged the police station demanding his release.

The victim’s body was found in a drain on the outskirts of Bengaluru and his wife, three months pregnant, has demanded justice. Bengaluru City Police Commissioner B Dayananda said the investigation suggests that Darshan was upset at Renukaswamy for targeting Pavithra Gowda on Instagram. Gowda had a public spat with Vijayalakshmi earlier this year after posting photographs of her with Darshan with the caption “One decade down; forever to go… It has been 10 years of our relationship”. Details have emerged in the case, pointing to Renukaswamy’s abduction upon Darshan’s instructions, and his murder at a shed in RR Nagar on June 8, after which his body was dumped in a drain. Four men then turned up at the Kamakshipalya police station to claim they had murdered Renukaswamy over a financial matter. If convicted, Darshan may be incarcerated. He has three projects pending release, including the film Devil directed by Milana Prakash, and his producers must be watching the proceedings of the case.

Best known for hits like Kariya (2003), Navagraha (2008), Bul Bul (2013), Chakravarthy (2017), and Roberrt (2021), his latest, Kaatera (2023), is set in 1970s Karnataka in a society riven by caste. Darshan plays the eponymous hero, a brave blacksmith who takes it upon himself to liberate his people from landlords. The irony is inescapable as details emerge of the actor allegedly exploiting his fans for his personal vendetta against another fan. In Kranti, which released last year—to negative reviews—Darshan again plays an unlikely hero who returns from Europe to save government schools from being privatised. While promoting the film, Darshan made a sexist remark—“When lady luck visits, seize her and confine her to your bedroom and take away her clothes”—resulting in a slipper being hurled at him. Perhaps Darshan’s luck has finally run out.

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