KANTARA - GAME CHANGER FOR LOW BUDGET REGIONAL MOVIES WITH PAN INDIA POTENTIAL

After a long wait Kannada block buster KANTARA is made available on Prime Video.  Made at a modest budget of  Rs 16 crores it went on to amass over Rs 400 crores and completing 50 days runs in most of the languages it was dubbed and released including in Hindi.  The Telugu dubbed version has ousted Telugu movies like Ginna and had maximum theaters.    It got whopping 9.3/10 rating by IMBD and is the most talked about movie in recent times.  As I wanted to watch Telugu version, I didn't catch Hindi version released in Delhi.

The opinions about this movie were very divergent some calling it a masterpiece and others absolutely boring n wondering what it is all about.  

As per me it's the most sincere attempt and a great cinematic experience.   Whether it is scenic forest locales, costumes, fantastic make up, raw action scenes including rolling in mud, jalli kattu scenes, natural light by flames, the village fairs, the village Gods n Goddesses, possessing of divine spirit and its worship known as 'Bhoota Kola'  all are so authentically shot by fascinating cinematography that we feel as if we are part of proceeding on the screen.  I could relate to village fair with processions that used to take place in the street of Vijayawada during Dussehra people putting up demon and Durga make overs which were bit scary for children of my age at that time. 

Any amount of praise is not enough for Rishab Shetty for his direction first and then his spell binding acting in the lead role specially in climax.   It's more appropriate to say that for about 15 minutes in the climax he was possessed rather than acted.  The body language the mannerism and intensity are mind blowing and our racing pulse demanding it to be brought down and it is so beautifully brought down by the soothing climax song Varaharoopam, the heart of the movie (which was wrongly reported to have been deleted in Prime due to IPR issues).  Had it been deleted it would have been anticlimax.

Earlier we saw Rajamauli n Shankar creating wonders to give us great cinematic experiences in Bahubali, RRR and Robo but they pumped in over 400 crores for each movie to create it through CAG.  But Rishab has created a different and natural one with a shoestring budget and proved that it is not always necessary to resort to computer graphics.  If one has imagination, one could create a Kantara and convince audience all across India.  The best part is Rishab has not compromised or diluted the movie to appeal to PAN India audience.  Like Telugu movie Kartikeya 2 it was made for local audience and then dubbed in other languages and went on to become a PAN India hit.  

I find traces of Shayam Benegal and Mrinal Sen in Rishab direction as far as his being wedded to nativity, but he has taken care that movie is not reduced to an offbeat documentary.  I could also find traces of Sukumar's Telugu movies Rangastalam and Pushpa in keeping the main lead very raw, rustic and deglamorized as per the demands of the script and the authentic depiction of village life specially in forest areas

The story has been kept simple the villagers believing that the village deities protect them and the forest land which hundreds of years back was donated by the king.   Cut to present the villagers headed by Hero have to face the heat from the Forest department claiming forest land and the kings decedents trying to grab the forest land by throwing out the villagers 

As far as acting is concerned it's Rishab Shetty all the way.   No one could have translated his idea and imagination about the character more than what he did.  Kishore as Forest officer is excellent.  Music by Loknath is brilliant, all songs brought out real mood specially the climax song Varaharoopam (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVJuOh1mWXQ).  

Strongly recommended but a word of caution, do not watch with expectation of a commercial masala movie but a movie with a difference.  It's going to be a landmark movie not only in terms of highest returns on investment but giving hope to lot of small producers to dream big n dream a PAN India success without the need to waste hundreds of crores on top stars, postproduction and prerelease publicity. 

Not a good omen for Bollywood.    We have seen by trailer of Shehjada how `Ala Vaikutapuramlo'' is copied frame for frame including the name of the hero Bantu.  Now imagine a Khan, Hritik, Akshay or Sair forced to do a Kantara.

S. PRABHAKAR

 

T20 WORLD CUP - 2022

A keenly contested World Cup

Names of lot of Teams were tossed up as favorites before start of the World Cup.  India, Australia NZ were front runners but none of them reached the Finals, Australia despite home advantage. The unique feature of this World cup has been that no team has dominated and all conquering.   Every team has tasted unexpected defeat from minnows or less fancied opponet.   Every team except Afghanistan registered atleast one win.    Had 2 matches of Afghanistan not washed out they too might have registered one or two wins having played all their matches very competitively.     Most of the teams suffered due to abandoning of matches or shortened version as a result of poor planning by Cricket Austalia in rainy season.  As always SA has been done by rain and DL rule as much as their trait of chocking. 

Suspense of Semis and entry into Finals:

Till the last match at the league stage was played the clear line up for Semis has not decided.   The shock defeat of SA in the hand of Netherlands benefited Pakistan and they came to their own in last match to make it to Semis and dominated NZ to reach Finals which looked most distant possibility for most of the time.  The most disappointing show in the entire tournament was put up by India in Semis caving in without a trace of fight back.   In the crucial Semi-final match, they were outclassed in every department and except last 5 overs of Indian batting no session belonged to India.  

The Finals:

As against expectations of fancied clash between India Pakistan, Australia England or Australia NZ, the final clash was between unfancied combination of England and Pakistan.   Ultimately it was the non-fancied and non-star studded England who became the Champs.   England was a team which has few starts n more performers and contributors for the cause of the Team.  The biggest take away from this World Cup as proved by both the finalist is that it is the bowlers who can win you the matches howsoever attractive the batters make the game.  As was seen India was almost gave a walk over in Semi final due to their lacklustre bowling.  In the final its England bowlers who kept Pakistan batters under tight leash and made it easy for batters to chase a small total.  But Pak pace battery didn't give in easily and made a match of it by making England batters sweat till 18th over. 

The panel of commentators who decided man of the match and man of the series did a good job in preferring Sam Curran over Ben Strokes who hit a match saving half century.   Though Curran was magnanimous in saying that Stokes deserved the man of the match, it was Curran's 3 for 12 in 4 overs with 15 dots balls which restricted Pak to a below par score making it easy for England to chase.    He was adjudged Man of the Tournament too for his consistence performance specially in power-play. Normally people get carried away by batters hitting couple of sixes and fours towards to end of the innings and starts believing that it is that innings only took them over the line and ignore the bowlers’ performance.    Besides finals right through the tournament the Pakistan and Afghanistan bowlers who kept their team in the hunt.   In this edition the bowlers have proved that even T20 bowlers have an equal role to play and make it entertaining.    As far as India is concerned it was their bowling which made them tentative leaking too many runs and whatever matches they won too were not very convincing

India debacle

There was so much hype created around Indian team and the India Pak clashes at group level and probability of an Indo Pak final and India as usual thrashing Pakistan.  Not sure about the players, but the crazy Indian followers never counted others like England till they got a rude shock in the Semis.     

The unending IPL matches and wins in bilateral series specially at home has created euphoria around India team.  But India has to set out for their WC campaign on back of non-availability of star pace bowler Bumrah and all rouner Jadeja, Rohit, KL and Pant in indifferent form, Aswin struggling in T20s, Virat coming back to form after giving a long rope longer than `Hanuman’s Tail’.   Out of these only Virat has redeemed himself rest of all them kept on struggling and became burden to the team.  Besides the above Axar, DK, Bhuvi also didn’t do anything noteworthy.  

What is ailing India T20 Team:

The biggest malady of India cricket is its selectors and their rigid fixation about selection process.   Never people get selected in the 15-members squad or final 11 on the basis of their current form.   More than half of them are luggage carried by the team on the basis of their past performances in distant past.   It is considered crime even to discuss about giving a break for a series or season or couple of seasons, as may be required, to seniors who are not performing so that they go back to domestic cricket or Franchise cricket and prove themselves and make a comeback. The best example is the way we carried the baggage of Virat for close to 3 years putting up a below par performance expected from a top-class batter.   After one year had he been rested, maybe we would have found another Virat among the youngster who were warming up benches at prime of their performance levels only because selectors want to accommodate senior citizens as a token of gratitude to what they have done.  Virat took close to 3 years to find his magic and making his fans and pundit thump their chest `didn’t we say form is temporary class is permanent’.   Going by that logic KL and Rohit, Ashwin & Co too may also get unending chances to find their lost touch at cost of many youngsters.  Why don’t selectors follow the best model of Hardik, with few below par performances he was dropped like a hot brick by Indian team as well as MI and see how strongly he came back within a year and now purely on the strength of his performance he has become first and automatic choice in shorter format.  It is a crime in any format and more so in T20 format. What is required in a T20 format a bowler bowling 2 economical overs and picking up 1 or 2 wickets and batters to come and make a quick fire 30 to 40 runs.   You do not need grafters or those who take time to build innings and thereby eating precious balls.   Ultimately even if they score some 50 to 60 runs, they rob others sitting in the dug-out a chance to make quick fire runs.  

One may say hindsight is 20:20 but this time we had so many doubtful starters, KL, Rohit, Virat, Ashwin, Pant.    Why then Shreyas, Samson, Padikal, Rituraj, Pritvi, Bisnoi, Umran Malik and Siraj didn’t get picked up. Had India gone with these in form youngsters they would not have done any worse than this.   You need a different mind-set for Test and limited over cricket specially T20.   We should take a leaf from Pakistan selection.    They threw young pace bowlers in the arena and how well they performed.   We still keep going back to Samis, Umesh Yadavs, Bhuvi.   What will we do with the largest pool of talent available with us through IPL, if that is not used in T20 format.   What is this rotational system, packing the calendars and playing musical chairs with players letting them to decide to pick and choose which series they want to play as a result of which there is no continuity, and they are never match ready when it comes to ICC tournaments and good for franchise crickets only.  

It appears losing in ICC tournaments with alarming regularity is neither bothering the players or the Board as long as their coffers are filled.   If it is so, it’s sad for Indian Cricket.   This edition has shown that minnows like Ireland, Afghanistan and Netherlands are fast improving, and Bangladesh and SL are reviving their fortunes and if there is someone who is sliding down fast its Indian Team.  

The sooner BCCI wakes up and overhaul their selection process, the better for Indian cricket.

 

S. Prabhakar

14.11.2022