Kaatera is a 2023 Indian Kannada-language action drama film co-written and directed by Tharun Sudhir and produced by Rockline Venkatesh.

Kaatera pays respect to Prabhavathi and returns to prison, hoping that the villagers will change.

The initial announcement of the film was made on 16 February 2022 on occasion of Darshan's birthday by Tharun Sudhir without revealing much details.

The poster featured a dog leading a band of sheep which created a lot of buzz around the film.

[25] Initially, the producer was aiming to release the film on occasion of Dasara, which did not happen due to production delays.

[29] Post the film's positive reviews and collections, the makers announced that the production house is aiming for a grand overseas release, starting with Dubai.

Additionally, the film is set to have theatrical run in around 9 countries including Germany, UK, the USA, Canada, and Ireland.

[32] A. Sharadhaa of The New Indian Express gave 4/5 stars and wrote "Kaatera steers away from conventional mass formulas, and full credit should go to director Tharun Kishore Sudhir and his co-writer Jadeshaa K Hampi.

"[33] Y. Maheswara Reddy of Bangalore Mirror gave 4/5 stars and wrote "It is worth a watch by all and a must for Darshan's fans.

'"[35] Swaroop Kadur of OTTplay gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "'Kaatera' could have definitely benefitted from a more taut screenplay and shorter runtime, but the film is certainly worth a watch.

The film doesn't mindlessly rely upon its lead actor's star status and instead attempts to drive home a message in engaging, mostly entertaining ways.

"[36] Vivek M. V. of The Hindu wrote "Despite celebrating Darshan's 'mass' appeal, 'Kaatera' doesn't lose sight of its subject, as it balances its message nearly with good dose of entertainment.

"[37] From Day 1, there have been contrasting reports with respect to box office collections officially announced by the makers and the amount estimated by the industry trackers.

[9] A report in January 2024 called the movie the highest grosser of the year with a total collections of ₹216 crores.