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