Ratha Sapthami is a 1986 Indian Kannada-language romanticmusical film directed by M. S. Rajashekar and produced by S. A. Govindaraj. It stars Shiva Rajkumar in his second venture after Anand. Debutant actress Asha Rani and playwright Parvathavani also star in the movie. The musical score was composed by Upendra Kumar, while the lyrics, screenplay and dialogues were written by Chi. Udaya Shankar. P. Vasu was the co-screenplay writer of this movie.[1][2][3] The story is based on a Kannada novel of the same name by Vidyullatha Sasanoor. Ratha Sapthami opened on 12 December 1986 and was declared a musical blockbuster.
Co-screenplay writer P. Vasu remade the movie in Tamil in 1996 as Love Birds.[4]
The interval twist of the film where the hero supposedly dies and the second half of the film where the heroine is sent out of her hometown to overcome her depression but is shocked to catch a glimpse of the hero's lookalike in a vehicle nearby, and later finds him dancing merrily in a discotheque — went on to be reused in the 2000 Hindi film Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai.[4][5][6][7]
After Anand (1986), Rathasapthami alongside Manamecchida Hudugi (1987), became commercially successful, earned Shivarajkumar the nickname of Hat-trick Hero, coined by the media and his fans.[9]
