On Kantara
I watched Kantara last week in Bengaluru, with a houseful of the crowd cheering, clapping, and whistling throughout the movie. I had mixed feelings after watching the movie. Let me try explaining what I felt after watching the movie.
Prologue
I had heard about the name of this film from social media, but the title poster was where my interest towards it grew. Rishab Shetty’s directorial with Hombale production should be grand with brilliance, and they made no mistake.
I don’t recollect watching the trailer of the film, hoping to watch the film directly. Before watching the movie,
I expected this movie to be about the worshipping practices and cultural traditions of coastal Karnataka, which has a narrative to link the past with the present. Rangitaranga had something along these lines, but it had something else to offer, bringing in Bhoota Vesha, which is present only for a smaller portion of the film.
Having known about the brilliance of Rishab Shetty, and after seeing the title posters, I expected it to be about the rooted cultural and social commentary of Rishab on the exploitation of nature and class differences. I was expecting an intense mythical story to unfold on screen.
My thoughts on the film
The film began with a good story about a King seeking peace. The goosebumps moments start when the King meets the locals of a village, and a villager, possessed by their God, speaks to the King. That scene immersed me in the film right at that moment.
Rishab plays two characters — a careless youth, Shiva and his father. The father character performing Bhoota Kola with powerful eyes and body moments with loud music and screams took me into a trance.
The exchange of asking back the land at the cost of peace and Shiva’s father asking for the peace that Devendra’s forefathers, in return, is directed stunningly and I can’t stop appreciating it.
Coming to what I like, I was amazed by how Rishab wrote, performed, and directed the initial parts of the film and the climax portion. Brilliance throughout those scenes. This film takes on class differences, human greed, hypocrisy, ownership of Nature, and the wild nature of humans.
The selection of actors is apt, except the heroine part wasn’t fitting into the story properly. The actor who played the Guruva character is so perfect that his eyes are pure and innocent all the time, but while performing Bhoota Kola, the man feels ferocious and intense.
Casting Achyuth Kumar was obvious to me. I was expecting him to turn into a villain, and he did! These days, I’ve watched enough movies to predict the characters of Rao Ramesh, Achyuth Kumar, and Rajeev Kanakala as the story progresses in their movies.
Saptami’s Leela would have been great if Rishab had written something apart from the romantic scenes for her. That character had potential if the story didn’t go in the direction it went to become a typical mass-action movie.
I believe that Kannada cinema has good technicians, but they weren’t coming into the limelight due to poor scripts or uninterested filmmakers. Thanks to KGF, the budgets have increased in Kannada cinemas, and the standards have improved.
The music and cinematography for this film are as essential as the script. They took us on a ride into their world, introduced memorable characters, and provided terrific moments.
Rishab, the writer-director, is good, but the actor excelled in the movie. The starting and climax scenes of the movie are pure goosebumps. His acting peaked at the scene where he learns his brother, Guruva, is no more.
In the climax, people fight for the land, to own it — one group trying to get back what their forefathers have donated, another group trying to protect the land they inhabited, and killing each other in the fight, spilling the blood on the same land they are fighting for.
Shiva (Rishab) gets dreams or feels he’s getting followed by his father in Bhoota Kola costume, and all those moments brought me chills. Wish they were extended further and the story went in that direction rather than using them as mere jump-scare moments followed by misplaced comedy.
I got the vibes of watching an authentic movie like Tumbbad.
What I didn’t like:
As mentioned above, I expected this movie to be different after watching the initial part of it. As the story progressed, my interest in it steadily decreased since I saw a couple of movies with scenes similar to Kantara. Kantara promised me something it didn’t live up to but brought back life at the end.
I was reminded of Rangasthalam, Pushpa, Asuran, and Angamaly Diaries. I’m not saying that Rishab got inspired by those movies, but since I watched the above movies, the scenes from those movies kept coming to my memory.
Also, the class difference is just touched, with no link to the scene before or after. The movie has a lot of double-meaning jokes, which I didn’t expect and like here. I’m not saying I don’t enjoy jokes, but this didn’t connect to me after that intense beginning.
The scene progression isn’t great, either. It sometimes feels random, with no continuity with emotion or story, making me feel like watching a mediocre product. Honestly, a couple of mass scenes to elevate the hero in the film felt unnecessary to me.
Before I conclude, I’m not against this film. I enjoyed parts and felt bored a couple of times, like most of the parts. People from all walks of life are cheering the movie in cinema halls.
It feels so good to watch a movie of your mother tongue being celebrated across the country. Wish we get to experience many rooted stories that deliver what they promise!
Kannada cinema is in the safe hands of three Shettys — Rakshit, Rishab, and Raj! Looking forward to their future work alongside the likes of Pawan Kumar and Hemanth M Rao.
