A is an 1998 Indian Kannada-language romantic psychological thriller film written and directed by Upendra. It stars Upendra in his acting debut and Chandini in the lead roles. The film revolves around a love story between a film director and an actress which is narrated through multiple flashbacks within flashbacks and reverse screenplay. It also explores about the dark truths like casting couch in the film industry. The soundtrack and background score were handled by Gurukiran in his debut film.The opening sequence of the movie where a misanthropic man who is exhilarated by the sense of power he receives by carrying a revolver while walking on the streets was reported to be based on Jean-Paul Sartre's short story Erostratus found in his 1939 collection of short stories The Wall.A was released on 23 January 1998 and received praise for Upendra and Chandini's performances, soundtrack, cinematography and reverse screenplay, which made the audience to watch it multiple times in order to understand the story. The film collected more than ₹20 crore at the box office and gained a cult following. The film was dubbed into Telugu under the same title and was released in Andhra Pradesh. It was remade in Tamil as Adavadi. Upendra won the Udaya Film Award for Best Male Actor (1998) and Gurukiran won the Udaya Film Award for Best Music Director (1998).