Nagarahavu () is a 2002 Indian Kannada-language psychological thriller film starring Upendra and Jyothika. The film was directed by S. Murali Mohan and is a remake of the 1993 Hindi film Baazigar. The film shocked its Karnataka audience with an unexpected violation of the standard Kannada film industry formula, with an ambiguous hero. An above-average success at the box office, this was Upendra's second film where he played a negative role after his earlier blockbuster film Preethse. It was Jyothika's debut film in Kannada film industry. For his work in the film, Upendra won the Udaya Film Award for Best Male Actor for the second time, along with Jyothika for her Best Female Actor Award. Plot Based on Ira Levin's 1953 novel A Kiss Before Dying, it is a contemporary thriller about revenge. The main character is Ajay Sharma (Upendra). His father, Vishwanath Sharma (Srinath), once owner of a great business empire, was defrauded by Ashok Patel (Rajeev), a trusted employee in Vishwanath's company. The Sharma family is ousted from their own company and loses everything they owned. Soon afterwards, Ajay's father and his young baby sister die due to illness, unable to buy medicine because of their destitute state. His mother is now suffering from mental illness and memory loss. Driven over the edge, Ajay becomes obsessed with killing Patel and destroying his family. Ajay begins dating Keerthi Patel (Jyothika), the daughter of the owner of the Patel business empire. They meet secretly as her father would not approve of a poor son-in-law. Meanwhile, the younger daughter Prema Patel (Jyothika, dual role) travels with her father Madan Chopra to Madras (now Chennai), for Ashok's final kart race before he retires permanently. Ashok has never lost before, but comes across Vicky Despande (Ajay Sharma in a disguise of brown contact lenses). Vicky allows Ashok to win by slowing at the last corner and tells him that he couldn't beat his "guru". Vicky then charms Prema by saying that he lost the race as he couldn't break the heart of a beautiful girl. Thus his ploy of winning in spite of losing (meaning Nagarahaavu) succeeds as he wins Prema's heart. This way, he manages to date both Keerthi and Prema simultaneously using different identities. Ajay is (incidentally) photographed lurking outside the birthday party of Keerthi by one of her friends. Later, Ashok Patel arranges for Keerthi to be married off to