Darshan Thoogudeepa: The Indian film star arrested in fan’s murder case

It also won him legions of fans, says Muralidhar Khajane, film critic and author of a book on Kannada cinema. “He became a hero for those from the marginalised sections of society. They identified with Darshan”.

In his early years, he was “humble, hardworking and disciplined”, says Mr Yogish, who worked closely with him on a film in 2005-2006. “At the time, I predicted that he’d become the darling of the masses. And he did.”

His films, Mr Shiva Kumar says, were “very run of the mill”, his roles repetitive and his acting was “wooden”, but he built a successful career playing an action hero.

“In many of his films, his character was the underdog, with a back story that was used as a justification for him taking law into his hands”.

And for over a decade, Darshan ruled the industry, along with Kichcha Sudeepa and Puneeth Rajkumar, the other two big Kannada stars.

As he continued to deliver hit films, his fans affectionately nicknamed him “D-Boss” [the boss] and a “challenging star” – because “nothing came easy to him, everything was a challenge”, Mr Yogish says.

But, Mr Khajane says, “he could not manage this stardom and didn’t know how to behave when success came to him”.

The actor was arrested in 2011 and spent four weeks in jail after Vijayalakshmi accused him of domestic violence. News reports, external from the time quote her police complaint, external as saying that Darshan assaulted her, threatened her with a revolver and burnt her with cigarette butts.

“Despite her very visible injuries, the industry and his fans continued to support him. His film Saarathi, which released while he was in jail, became a massive hit.”