Kantara (film)

In 1847, there lived a king that had a great kingdom as well as a loving wife and child, but could not find peace. He sets out on a journey to discover true happiness and comes upon a holy stone in a forest occupied by Panjurli Daiva (Varaha Avathar), a deity that protects the villagers that reside in the forest. He donates vast portion of his land to the villagers in exchange for taking the stone with him. Panjurli warns the king that his family and successors should keep their word and not reclaim the land, which will incur the wrath of Panjurli's companion, the ferocious Goblin named Guliga Daiva.

In 1970, the King's successor asks a Bhoota Kola performer, who is possessed by Panjurli to make the locals hand over the land to him, which the performer refuses and states he will die vomiting blood if he tries to reclaim it. The successor raises doubt on performer's possession by Panjurli, to which the performer replies he would vanish if he is possessed, after which he runs into the forest and is indeed never seen again. As warned, the king's successor dies mysteriously, vomiting blood a few months later on the steps of the court, where he was going to argue the land case.

In 1990, Murali, a forest officer, is tasked with converting the villagers' land into a forest reserve. However, he is challenged by Shiva, a Kambala athlete from the Kaadubettu village and the missing performer's son. Shiva is backed by his patron and the village's landlord, Devendra Suttooru, who is the king's successor in the present. Although Shiva is continually asked to perform the Bhoota Kola, he refuses due to the trauma of his father's disappearance. Instead, his cousin Guruva takes his place. Murali and his staff start erecting a fence along the earmarked forest reserve. Shiva falls in love with his friend Leela and uses his connections with Devendra to appoint her as a forest guard. The villagers try to stop the fencing, but the police and forest guards (including Leela) brutally suppress them, creating a rift between Leela and Shiva even though she was following orders and could do nothing about the situation.

As the feud between Murali and Shiva intensifies, Murali decides to arrest Shiva and his friends and heads to their hideout along with Devendra's henchman Sudhakara. During the search, Murali's jeep accidentally gets crushed by the trunk of a tree, which was cut by Shiva as the latter didn't expect Jeep on the way. While Murali survives with severe injury, Shiva and his companions go undercover to avoid arrest. A few days later, they return to the village to meet their families; Shiva makes up with Leela and tells her that he will surrender. However, they are caught by the police and forest guards the morning after. Guruva asks Devendra to bail Shiva, but during conversation Devendra instead tries to bribe him to act as if Panjurli orders the villagers to give him their land in the next Bhoota Kola, revealing his true intention of acquiring his ancestral land given by his predecessor to villagers. Guruva refuses and Devendra kills him; learning that Murali has figured out his ulterior motive, Devendra decides to set Shiva against him.

Having learnt about Guruva's death, Shiva meets Devendra, who lies that Murali is the Guruva's killer. Enraged, Shiva goes to kill Murali, but learns from his blacksmith friend Mahadeva that Devendra himself killed Guruva. Shiva is attacked by Devendra's henchmen, but manages to escape and meet the villagers, whom Murali has told about Devendra's land seizure. After Shiva reveals that Devendra killed Guruva, he and Murali set aside their grudge and unite the village. Devendra and his henchmen attack, leading to an intense battle where several of the villagers are killed. After nearly dying in the fight, Shiva hits his head against Panjurli's stone. Suddenly, he becomes possessed by the Guliga Daiva. Due to that possession, Shiva brutally kills Devendra and his henchmen.

A few months after the battle, Shiva performs the Bhoota Kola, and is possessed by Panjurli, where he, Murali and the villagers join hands in a symbolic gesture. Later, Shiva disappears into the forest after meeting what seems to be his father's spirit. In the mid-credits scene, Shiva and Leela's son asks Sundara about his father's disappearance.

Analysis

To get a grip on the latest Kannada blockbuster “Kantara”, we also need to know the customs, folk culture, and the land of Dakshina Karnataka (Mangalore area). The western ghat region of Karnataka is home to deep forests and unique culture. Bhoota Kola is a ritual, where a man performs with all the colorful makeup and finally delivers a speech. People believe that the speech is God's word. This myth or legend exists in this region. Some families follow the customs.

The hero of “Kantara” belongs to the Bhoota Kola family. The film begins with a King’s story in 1847 and then cuts to 1970 when the hero’s father performs Kolam and mysteriously disappears into forests. In 1990, when the story is set, the hero is haunted by dreams. He sees god coming in Varaha roopam. It is his guilt as he hunts pigs in the forest.

So, there is a hero, whose father was Bhoota Kola, and one who sees God in dreams. And the hero is working for a feudal lord, who acts as their protector. Then the main conflict is about the encroachment of the forests and lands. Director Rishab Shetty has added elements of myth, folklore, and local traditions to tell the story. We need to take all these into account to understand this film.

Simply, the film is a regular masala film of a brother taking revenge on the feudal lord who kills his cousin. There are clichéd sequences. The love story between the hero and heroine is dull. It lacks any novelty. The villain is in plain sight. The villain’s (played by Achyuth Kumar of ‘KGF’) role is also quite clichéd.

The comedy scenes and drinking sequences are quite boring as well. But despite these issues, many elements have made the film unique and immersive.

Much of the film delves into the hero’s hunting habits, his romantic episodes, his camaraderie with local friends, and their village issues. But when the hero’s cousin gets killed, the film takes an entirely different route and it turns into a thrilling ride. The final 20 minutes of this film provide a riveting experience. Acting, taking, music, and sound design have synced well in this episode. Thus, ‘Kantara’ becomes a riveting film.

‘Kantara’ means deep forest. For Telugu audiences, the middle portions and some comedy sequences don’t work but the film’s strength lies in the climax episode and technical aspects. On a whole this film takes the audience into a different world with its amazing background and sound effects. This is for those who want to experience an out of the box experience.

Bottom line: A different experience