Auto Shankar is a 2005

2005 in film

- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...

 Kannada film starring Superstar Upendra

Upendra

Upendra is a cine actor, director, script writer and singer. Born in a middle class family at Koteshwara near Kundapura, he belongs to Kannada speaking Kota Brahmin community. Upendra started his career off with famous director Kashinath as a writer and an assistant director...

, Shilpa Shetty

Shilpa Shetty

Shilpa Shetty is an Indian film actress and model. Since making her debut in the film Baazigar , she has appeared in nearly 40 Bollywood, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films, her first leading role being in the 1994 Aag. Although she has been through years of decline during her career, Shetty has been...

, Radhika and Sudharani. The film was directed by D. Rajendra Babu and produced by Ramu, of Ramu Enterprises.

The movie was filmed in a variety of locations including Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, the Bangalore Palace

Bangalore Palace

Bangalore Palace, a palace located in the city of Bangalore, India, was built to look like a smaller replica of the Windsor Castle in England. It was built by Rev. Garrett, who was the first Principal of the Central High School in Bangalore, now known as Central College.The construction of the...

 situated at Bangalore, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 and the Mysore Lamps Factory, Mysore.

Plot

Auto Shankar, played by Upendra, is an auto driver belonging to the middle class section of the society. He is friendly and jovial. Shilpa Shetty, who plays a money-lender, is brought up in a rich family. She is portrayed as a boorish character. She is unscrupulous in recovering loans given to the poor and has designed crude methods to recover the money. She is also the daughter of a lady don

Don (honorific)

Don, from Latin dominus, is an honorific in Spanish , Portuguese , and Italian . The female equivalent is Doña , Dona , and Donna , abbreviated "Dª" or simply "D."-Usage:...

.

Shankar defends the poor and fights the moneylenders. Several interesting battles follow, after which the money-lender loses all her property and prestige. It is also revealed that she is not really the daughter of the lady don. She then learns a lesson that reforms her attitude. She makes amends and Shankar embraces her as the two fall in love. Meanwhile, the film's other female lead, Sharmila, falls in love with a dirty frog named Aditya Shivkumar. This film is noted for its line "Skaatchu da dooday".

Response

The film was a Super hit at the box office and successfully ran for 100 days. The film was the third biggest hit of 2005 and had done well in B and C centres. The movie has been received as a masala entertainer, purely showcasing Upendra's character and Shilpa Shetty's ravishing role as the film's lead female character. Shetty's performance was criticised in certain scenes, although her performance in the song sequences were praised. The music and the cinematography were critically acclaimed.

Controversies

The movie sparked off a controversy with regard to a photo of Shilpa Shetty from the movie. A Madurai

Madurai

Madurai is the third largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It served as the capital city of the Pandyan Kingdom. It is the administrative headquarters of Madurai District and is famous for its temples built by Pandyan and...

based lawyer filed an obscenity case against Shetty. Shetty however, protested by saying that "It (the photo) is not vulgar. I am an actor and an entertainer and I won't endorse vulgarity."