Kotigobba (2001)

Kotigobba is a 2001 Kannada action drama directed by Naganna, a remake of Rajinikanth's Tamil blockbuster Baashha. Vishnuvardhan plays a mild auto-rickshaw driver who swallows insults and avoids trouble for the sake of his mother and siblings. When local gangsters threaten his family, flashes of another man surface, and the story gradually reveals a past in which he was a powerful don with a very different name. Priyanka Upendra plays the heroine and Ashish Vidyarthi the villain. It was one of the major hits of Vishnuvardhan's later career, and its title later inspired Sudeep's Kotigobba 2 and Kotigobba 3. Shown in Hindi as Don Jaysimha.