Sakath 2021

Balu is a young man with big dreams of becoming a singer, aiming to follow in the footsteps of the legendary S. P. Balasubrahmanyam. To chase the spotlight, he joins a reality show called A andhre Anthyakshari, where he decides to play a role that will push him toward the stage. On the advice of his friend Sadhu, he pretends to be visually impaired, a strategic decision that opens doors he hasn’t yet earned through ordinary effort. He also finds himself drawn to the show’s charismatic anchor, Mayuri, whose presence on screen quickly becomes a magnetic pull for him as the competition unfolds.

As the auditions continue, [Balu] grows closer to Mayuri, though his feelings are complicated by the deception at the heart of his identity on the show. He goes so far as to intentionally lose to another blind contestant, a move that shocks the audience and earns Mayuri’s respect, along with the respect of the entire cast and crew. The plot takes a sharp turn when a social activist named Sadashivaraya is murdered in a manner that looks like a car accident. Balu witnesses the incident but remains steadfast in his ruse, choosing not to reveal his true sight or capabilities.

Moved by the tragedy, Balu drifts closer to Mayuri by moving near her home and learning that she is connected to Sadashivaraya as a relative. He also uncovers a crucial clue: the murder suspect is corporator Praveen Mahabala. The story then shifts into a courtroom drama, with Balu taking the side of the public prosecutor Vittal Rao, while Praveen Mahabala is backed by prosecutor Chalapathi. The legal battle becomes a battleground for truth, power, and the fate of the community around the school for the blind.

Meanwhile, Mayuri’s personal life adds another layer to the tension: she is engaged to Sadashivaraya’s son, Dhanraj. This revelation deepens Balu’s internal conflict, but Mayuri’s compassion leads her to take him to the Drishti school for the blind—founded by Sadashivaraya—where she helps him secure a job as a music teacher. In the classroom, Balu finds real joy in teaching the students; his heart grows warmer toward them, and he becomes something of a favorite among the children. The experience rekindles his sense of purpose, and he begins to fight not just for the legal case but for the welfare of the school itself.

As Balu spends more time at Drishti, he forms a close bond with Nakshatra, a blind teacher who inspires him with her resilience. He even tries to help her regain her eyesight, only to learn that her cornea has been damaged since birth and cannot be restored. The drama deepens as Praveen Mahabala, Chalapathi, and another ally named Raghuram begin to suspect that Balu might be faking his blindness. They decide to spy on him, and the suspicion grows into a harrowing confrontation when they conclude he has indeed pretended.

They enlist the help of Giri, the director of A andhre Anthyakshari, who has his own grudge against Balu, to execute a plan. Giri provides Balu with eyedrops that later prove to be a ruse; in a tense moment, Balu applies them, and the consequences are severe: he loses his eyesight again. Yet even in darkness, Balu remains driven to uncover the truth.

The courtroom becomes the stage for a dramatic reveal. Balu stands before the judge and exposes Sadashivaraya’s last words, which name Chanti as the true person behind the conspiracy. He reveals that Dhanraj—Mayuri’s fiancé—wanted to clear the way for a shopping complex by demolishing the blind school at the heart of Bangalore. When Sadashivaraya refused to approve the plan, Dhanraj allegedly plotted the murder, recruiting Praveen Mahabala to manipulate the situation through a voice changer. The postmortem conducted at Dhanraj’s hospital seals the corruption, and in a climactic moment, Dhanraj kills himself.

With the narrative turning decisively against them, Balu discloses to Judge Pushpalatha that Praveen Mahabala is a direct threat to the school and was involved in Sadashivaraya’s death, urging that he be imprisoned. The antagonist Praveen Mahabala responds with fury and desperation: he kidnaps Nakshatra and takes Balu to a secluded hideout, intending to kill him. In a tense interlude, Praveen Mahabala’s brother overhears a conversation involving Raghu and Raghuram—Raghuram suggests that Balu was the key to their strategy, hinting at secret collusion between Balu and the conspirators, including the use of empty eyedrops to fake blindness.

Balu fights back, confronting the henchmen and uncovering a startling truth: Nakshatra was not abducted at all. A voice recorder, designed to fool him, had been used to stage the kidnapping scare. In the end, darkness cannot silence the fight for truth and justice. Balu’s resolve persists, and the story closes on a note of personal triumph as he and Nakshatra celebrate their new beginning together, symbolized by a honeymoon that marks the start of a hopeful future beyond the courtroom battles and the shadowy schemes of those who sought to manipulate the truth.