Arishadvarga is a 2019 Indian Kannada language neo noir mystery thriller film written, directed and produced by Arvind Kamath, under the banner Kanasu Talkies. The film is a tale of lust, anger, love, greed, power, jealousy, mistaken identity and individual deficiencies. It’s a fatalistic noir tale of one man’s vain struggle to escape his own limitations, unfortunately, an impossibility in the world of noir. The film stars Avinash, Samyukta Hornad, Nanda Gopal, Mahesh Bung, Anju Alva Naik, Gopalkrishna Deshpande, Aravind Kuplikar, Sudha Belawadi, M.G Sathya, and Sripathi Manjanabayalu in prominent roles. The film had its world premiere at London Indian Film Festival during June 2019, where it received positive reviews, followed by the Asian Premiere at Singapore South Asian International film festival during September 2019 and North American Premiere at the Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival during November 2019. It was reported to be partially based on Shankar Vijaykumar's short story Someone.

Plot

Set in present-day Bangalore, an aspiring actor doubling up as an amateur gigolo gets caught up in a sticky situation after accepting a surprise gift from an anonymous client. Anish is desperately trying to make it as an actor but his dire financial situation pushes him to look for an escape, which he finds with an anonymous wealthy client by name Manasaa. Called to her place one day for a rendezvous, he turns up only to be met with a surprise gift, ‘a murder’.