Kantara ibomma: Sandalwood perfume is blowing across the country today. With yesterday’s ‘KGF’, yesterday’s ‘Vikrant Rona’, and today’s ‘Kantara’, Kannada cinema is proving that it is not lagging behind as everyone thinks, it is competing with other languages in designing stories and screening them.
Although some Pan India Kannada films failed in between, the success of ‘KGF’ and ‘Kantara’ taught everyone that Sandalwood should not be neglected. ‘Kantara’, produced by veteran director Rishabh Shetty himself in the lead role, was released in Kannada on September 30 and became a huge success. Its Telugu version was released on Saturday.
In 1847, a Kannada king was troubled with unrest no matter how many pleasures he had. He wanders the forest in search of happiness. He sees a stone that the tribesmen there consider divine. Seeing it gives him solace. He gives them a forest part of his kingdom as a gift to get the stone that they measure as a god. After a hundred years, the king’s heir tries to get back those lands worth crores and fails.
They believe that Lord Varaha will protect the forest and their home. And the current story takes place in 1990. Shiva (Rishabh Shetty), a tribal, clashes with forest officer Murali (Kishor) who wants to demarcate the forest area. The king’s successor, Dora, sided with the tribesmen and warned the government officials to stay in check. But how did Shiva get to know the nobility like Gomukha Vyaghram? How did he have an eye-opening in him who was indifferent to the traditional tribal fair? What happened to the nobles who saw the rift between the government officials and the tribals? That is the rest of the story.
Starting the story from the time of the kings, director Rishabh Shetty brought it to 1990 with ease. The key to this story is the change in Shiva who is not interested in accepting his father’s legacy. Also, the manner in which Mekavanne Puli-like Dora Laguttu is put out is interesting. As much as it is appropriate for the government authorities to protect the forest area, it is a fact that the tribals have all the rights over the forest!
But when they see that some miscreants want to occupy the forest after deceiving them, the government and the locals have to turn together. Their end is to be seen. The same topic is shown in this movie. The director tried to say that even God does not ignore those who stand in the way between the forest and the tribals. When the authorities respect the traditions of the tribals, they also follow the instructions of the authorities. It is a matter of mutual understanding. Otherwise, if the power is in the hand, the consequences will be severe. The director said this without saying it.
Rishabh Shetty, who started his career as a director with the film ‘Rikki’, showed his ability with ‘Kirak Party’. In the meantime, he has acted as an actor in a few films, and now he has played the role of Shiva in ‘Kantara’. Although the entire first half was entertaining, he spellbound the audience with his performance when the flag-off scene came to a close.
He staged those scenes in such a way that the whole theater was shaken like mass hysteria. He also gave an excellent performance. Although Saptami Gowda’s role as the heroine Leela is less important, three or four scenes are strong. Manasi Sudheer as Siva’s mother, Achyut Kumar as a nobleman, and Pramod Shetty as public representative Sudhakar. After Rishabh Shetty, Kishore effectively played the role of a forest officer.
The main reason for the success of this film is the 100 percent effort of the actors and technicians. Action choreography by Vikram More who won the National Award for Best Action Director is the highlight of the movie. Similarly, Arvind S Kashyap’s cinematography and B. Ajanish Loknath’s background music have taken the movie to another level. The sound design is also amazing. Hanuman Chaudhary’s dialogues were also impressive.
‘Kanthara’ is another prestigious film from Hombale, which has produced huge action movies like ‘KGF’. This kind of movie should be seen in the theatre. Only then can we feel right. The film’s director and protagonist Rishabh Shetty along with the main technicians are sure to be in the race for the national awards this time. Another plus point is that Geetha Arts company released this movie in Telugu!