Poojari

Poojari is a 2007 Indian Kannada-language action drama film directed by Sharan and starring Adi Lokesh (in his lead debut) and Neethashree.

The film was released alongside Arasu (2007) on Republic Day and was a box office failure despite having a large opening. After the film's failure, Adi Lokesh did not star in any film for a year.

Cast

 * Adi Lokesh as Poojari
 * Neethashree as Priya
 * Rangayana Raghu
 * Shobaraj
 * Ramesh Bhat
 * Avinash
 * Tulasi
 * Chitra Shenoy

Production
Adi Lokesh previously starred in Jogi (2005) and made his lead debut with this film. According to dialogue writer Keshav Adhithya, Poojari is broken down into Poo, which means worship, ja, which means learning jataka and ri, which means repair.

The muhurat of the film was held at Sree Kailasa Vaikunta Mahakshetra Temple in Rajajinagar. Sharan, the producer of this film, also produced Kullara Lok (2002) and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (2005). Similar to the films Om (1995) and Shastri (2005) where brahmins become villains, in this film the lead character uses a machete despite being a priest.

Soundtrack
The music was composed by Abhimann Roy, and the lyrics were written by Sharan Kumar Kabbur, Kantharaj S, Prashanth and Srinivas. The song "Kannale Nanna Chitra Baredanu" was shot in Bangkok. The song "Muddu Muddada Hudugige" was shot in Singapore.

Reception
A critic from Filmibeat rated the film two out of five stars and wrote that "The film is mass oriented and it attracted the mass audience. Poojary has been able to get some good reviews from the opening day watchers. People seem to have liked the fights in the film. Neeta looks glamorous in the song sequences".