I had watched Kantara in the beginning of October and had even written down the review the next day. But due to some unforeseen circumstances (health of KBee) i was forced to shelf the post and let it gather dust, cobwebs and the likes!
Firstly, I am going to be very frank in my review and it is completely my opinion and I have a right to write! (It looks like the beginning of a political speech, but no, I sometimes manage to have strong emotions on certain topics)
Secondly, who has not watched Kantara? If you have watched it is well and good, if not, I advice you to go to the nearest laptop or T.V. , login to Prime and watch it!
I never watch a movie, until and unless I like either the trailer, poster or the word of mouth talk! I have very little patience for mediocre movies and tear jerking stuff. (Life already has loads of problems and ups and downs. Who the hell wishes to go to a theater, pay 200 bucks or more and cry again in an A.C hall, in front of strangers? Not me!)
After the buzz about KGF 2 died down (which I didn’t watch), I read tweets from different actors online, raving about Kantara. (I don’t follow any actor on twitter, but I still found the tweets, some how in my homepage!) Since I hardly knew either Tulu or Kannada, I had no idea what the title meant. I googled it and found out it meant ‘a mystical forest‘ and that’s when I decided to watch the movie.
*** SPOILERS AHEAD***
The opening scene is the back story of the present day.
A King, who has everything he needs, wealth, a happy family and vast kingdom, yet has no peace. He wanders in his kingdom alone,as advised, reaches a spot in the forest, where he finds the Deity of the tribals. He wants the Deity for himself. The Panjurli demands vast lands for his followers, in exchange of coming with him. If the promise is broken, ever, then the Guliga Deiva, a violent servant of Panjurli, will exact revenge! The king accepts. (I may be wrong, but I think the Panjurli at the beginning must have been the grandfather of Shiva.)
Years later, the king’s son breaks the promise by demanding the forest lands, which are worth in crores and demeans the Panjurli. The one performing the Bhoot Kola (as seen in the movie poster) at the beginning is the hero, Shiva’s father. (Dual role by Rishab Shetty as both father and son) The moment the performer runs into the forest and disappears, the titles roll and that was a bang of an opening.
Once the story begins, it shows how Shiva doesn’t respect the very animal pig (or the Varaha Roopa, which is actually their Diety), hunts and kills pigs on a regular basis, eats their meat, feeds the leftovers to his dog, does drugs and also drinks at the drop of a hat. He is probably the worst guy to lead a rebellion or even a movie for that matter! He is brash and arrogant, doesn’t have a job except being the right hand man of a wealthy Zamindar, the heir to the King we see at the beginning of the story. ( Instead of referring to him as King’s successor, I will refer to him as zamindar, to make it easy.) The curse of the Panjurli had indeed come true, because the Zamindar’s son is physically and mentally challenged.
The rest of the story shows some extra characters of the heroine who is a constable, the hero’s mom, some other side kicks and a Bhoot Kola performer who is Shiva’s cousin. Since Shiva’s father vanished into the Kantara forest, Shiva avoids performing the Bhoot Kola, which is their family tradition. His cousin takes up the mantle instead of Shiva as the Bhoot Kola artist.
It is also shown that, whenever Shiva participates in immoral activities, he dreams of either Varaha Roopam or his father in Bhoot Kola attire. It shows that, in spite of his rogue exterior, he is still a God fearing man. We get brief glimpses of his father, appearing suddenly in his dreams and those moments were the only reason I continued watching the movie. (It thrilled me to no end). Rest of the movie was passable. Nothing much to write about. So I will just jot the main points.
As the story progresses, it becomes apparent that there are only 3 important characters. One, Shiva. Two, the forest officer whose aim is to save the forest from smugglers. Three, the Zamindar, the villain. (He is one bad-ass villain, as we can see in the climax)
Zamindar kills Shiva’s cousin, to demoralize the tribals. He tries to pin the murder on the forest officer. But, one blacksmith, who is high on drugs, reveals the truth to Shiva and the pre-climax fight sequence happens. (After the death of Shiva’s cousin, we get a subtle hint of who is going to be the next Bhoot Kola performer, i.e. Shiva. There is an under current of anticipation for the big reveal. The build up for the final act of Kantara, the movie!)
When the whole village along with the forest officer gathers to fight against the zamindar, Shiva is still reeling under his new found gyaan. (In the middle of the movie, there is this scene about Shiva’s cousin dreaming about what may happen in near future to Shiva. This indicates that Bhoot Kola performers sometimes have premonitions and that is what is happening to Shiva during the climactic scenes. He is in a daze!) He knows he will die. He is still coming to terms with this information.
After a lag, Shiva gets into the fight, protects the forest officer, because he is the only one he trusts with his life. One of Zamindar’s chamcha kills off Shiva, by hitting his head, right at the center. (A hit on the head at the top, generally results in Kapala Moksham! There is no way anyone can ever survive that. This is the truth.)
That’s when Shiva’s father breathes new life into Shiva, by making the unique sound, synonymous to the Bhoot Kola.(He increased his son’s life span a little for the sake of the helpless tribals) All hell breaks loose. The violent Guliga Deiva, the servant of Panjurli, acts through Shiva and kills off the villain. (The zamindar, till his last breath is not scared at all, because he thinks Shiva is only acting!)
Finally, Shiva, turns into a Bhoot Kola performer (while Varaha Roopam song plays in the background), tells all the tribals the forest officer and other landlords to stay together and be happy. Just then, Shiva’s father calls him from the Kantara forest, signalling, his borrowed life has come to an end. Shiva rushes into the forest, just like his father and unites with him and both disappear.
Final word:
No one can ever beat the acting Rishab Shetty managed to do at the end. Not a single dull moment in the climax. The movie is elevated beyond anything, only through the last 10 minutes of acting. This moment, I may never forget! I had goosebumps through the climax. I re-watched the climax, a little over 10 times. (I only watch a movie once and never comeback to it. I rarely listen to the same song twice. That says a lot about how much I liked this one.)
Let me not forget to add the supporting cast were also apt and had done justice to their role. But there is always one black sheep! (He spoils the perfect moment by raising his hand too early!)
And God, what a song to accompany the mind blowing acting. Varaha Roopam is a mesmerizing song, divine and memorable. The shehanai (Sannayi in Telugu) and violin make the song a classic.
P.S:
1. Who is Rishab Shetty? How can one direct a movie and also act perfectly? I admire multi taskers, because it is soooooo sooo hard!
2. There was a controversy regarding the Varaha Roopam song. The Kerala based band, Thaikkudam Bridge went to court, saying their song has been copied. Frankly speaking, even if the Varaha Roopam was inspired by the Navarasam of Thaikkudam Bridge, I am willing to forgive it. Why? Because I like it better, sorry guys!
3. One of my favourite scenes is this..the casual head flick to send a goon flying, this one giving himself an aarti!
4. I think there is going to be a prequel to Kantara. I wonder how even Rishab Shetty can live upto the extremely high expectations!
On a different note, after the movie was released, Karnataka government has taken up the welfare of the Kola performers, which is a welcome move. (Who knew such Kola existed before Kantara? )
Until my next post, cheerio friends.
