[2] Shaapa is a poignant story of a man (Ramesh Aravind as Shekhar) emotionally abused during his childhood by his father and how he struggles to fight his inner demons throughout his adult life.
The story is juxtaposed on the backdrop of the Cauvery river water dispute between the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
To add to it, the memories of his step-mother (whom he is shown to love a lot but who dies) keep telling him that whatever he tries to beget in life, will be lost.
Over the entire period of their acquaintance, Shekhar can never bring himself to let Kaveri know that he's in love with her for the fear that he might lose her just as he lost his beloved step-mother.
The "father's voice in the head" begins to haunt him even more and he decides to consult a psychiatrist (played by Avinash), who offers him advice on how to overcome his situation.
After dinner, Shekhar proposes marriage to her in a creative way, only to realize that she's engaged to Ravi, a mechanical engineer from Chennai (played by B C Patil).
The intended metaphor of two people (Ravi from Chennai and Shekhar from Karnataka) fighting for Kaveri and the Cauvery water dispute between the two states becomes more and more apparent from this point.
He also tries to wean her away from her social services and persuades her to move to London with him so she can have a lucrative medical career there which she doesn't agree to initially.
Shekhar is still determined not to let go of Kaveri (which is shown through a group of people protesting against the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu).
He takes the butcher's help (who is shown to have been an aide of an underworld don a few years ago) to kill Ravi and asks him not to leave behind any clue.
[4] A critic from Sify wrote that "It is an out and out Ramesh Aravind movie, which has been deftly directed by Ashok Patil.
[5] A critic from indiainfo.com rated the film three out of five stars and wrote that "Ashok Patil's maiden venture has many factors to make his Shaapa a blessing.
[6] Writing for The Times of India in 2021, Swaroop Kodur wrote that "Embodying the Tom Ripley character shades in the film, Ramesh Aravind played the part to perfection, and along with Anu Prabhakar's lucidness and easy charm, Shaapa turned out to be an exciting - but tragic - romantic thriller that still stands the test of time".