essay on kannada cinema

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Kannada cinema: How new-age filmmakers are reinventing an 100-year-old industry with culturally-rooted stories

Kannada cinema has seen a seismic shift with smaller budget films becoming superhits, winning accolades. but what does this mean for the kannada film industry.

2023 truly seemed to be the year of Kannada cinema. Some well-crafted films such as Daredevil Musthafa, Sapta Sagaradaache Ello (Side A and Side B), Aachar & Co, Hostel Hudugaru Bekkagiddare and Swathi Muthina Male Haniye, made waves at the box office. They got the non-Kannada audience to throng theatres as well. There has definitely been a seismic shift in the last five years in the Kannada film industry in terms of the kind of films being made. While the 2018 pan-Indian hit, KGF: Chapter 1 , was made on a huge ₹ 80 crore budget, these films have been made on much smaller ones, and still gone on to become superhits and win accolades from the audience and critics alike. Also read: 5 Yash films to watch besides KGF

‘Kannada film industry doing better now’

Director BS Pradeep Varma, 42, won awards for his 2017 debut Kannada film Urvi and went on to make Brahmi (short film) and The Fallen. His cinema doesn’t fall into the mass commercial genre and yet, has received tremendous appreciation from the audience.

Ask him about this change and he says, “The Kannada film industry is doing better than what it was a few decades ago. It’s the conviction that’s making filmmakers deliver better content and projects. I’d like to credit the audience for this because of the exposure they have got thanks to the Internet and the kind of films they are watching from across the globe. They don’t want to settle for anything anymore but something that’s good or extraordinary. There’s nothing in between – average films wont work anymore. Kannada film directors have now understood this and are working hard towards this. However, there are also risks – in the goal of doing something different, they shouldn’t destroy Kannada cinema. We need to keep the flag flying high.”

Kannada directors make ‘culturally-rooted stories’

Some Kannada directors credit 41-year-old Pawan Kumar as a trendsetter in the industry in steering the industry towards new age content. In 2013, Pawan Kumar decided to crowdfund his film Lucia as producers didn’t feel the original script would work and asked for changes. This psychological thriller made on a small budget of around ₹ 50 lakh went on to gross ₹ 3 crore. Pawan Kumar became an example of how a filmmaker could create the kind of content he wanted while also ensuring box office success.

Director Abhilash Shetty, whose 2021 debut film Koli Taal was lauded at numerous film festivals, is currently working on his second film. The 30-year-old says, “These kinds of Kannada movies have been in the works for a while now. Case in point - Lucia, Ulidavaru Kandanthe, Thithi, Rangitaranaga, Ondu Motteya Kathe. The success of these films is the main motivation for other filmmakers. So, many young Kannada filmmakers are coming out with culturally-rooted stories that will appeal to the people of today. Post Covid-19 (pandemic), the Kannada industry came into the spotlight. Maybe this is one of the other reasons more filmmakers here are trying their hand out in experimental cinema.”

In 2022, 777 Charlie, starring Kannada actor Rakshit Shetty, didn’t have much of a buzz but upon release; the Kannada tale about a man and his dog became a blockbuster. It grossed more than ₹ 100 crore at the Indian box office and Rakshit Shetty became a known name outside Karnataka.

Cut to 2023, Rakshit Shetty ’s Sapta Sagaradaache Ello, which was released in two parts – Side A and Side B – became one of the most talked-about films. Directed by 40-year-old talented screenwriter Hemanth M Rao, this story about love, revenge and retribution has become a cult classic like his previous films. The success of Rao’s previous two directorials, Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu (2016) and Kavaludaari (2019), had made him one of the most notable Kannada directors today.

KGF and Kantara's global sucess

Now, what does the success of such films mean for the Kannada film industry? “It means a lot. Karnataka is a big hub for other language films as everyone is aware. I don’t think any other state has films from five or six film industries (Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Hindi, Marathi) that have a major release along with their home state. Karnataka is like a secondary market for them. For our own films to do well in the state and find acceptance in other parts of the country bodes well for us. We are getting a presence in other markets and access to their audience. Cinema is a very expensive medium – this expansion in the market allows us to make movies at a higher budget. You can also push the envelope in terms of storytelling,” explains Hemanth Rao, who has also co-produced Humble Politician Nograj.

Other directors credit the focus on the Kannada film industry now to the global success of Hombale Films’ KGF and Kantara . “There were a lot of critically acclaimed films earlier like Ulidavaru Kandanthe, Ragitiranga, or my film Godhi Banna… but they didn’t break out to the general audience. KGF and Kantara broke this door down with a bang – this allowed the non-Kannada speaking audience to see what else was being made in this industry. The pandemic also got people on OTT and the audience could watch content from other languages that were either dubbed or subtitled. The ease of access to the Internet has added more momentum. However, from an insider’s perspective Kannada filmmakers have been making interesting content for a while now. But yes, this content has increased because of the attention we are getting today,” signs off Rao.

With more younger filmmakers venturing into the Kannada film industry, storytelling is not restricted to certain genres not confined to niche audiences. It was in 1934, that the first Kannada talkie, Sati Sulochana, hit theatres. Just as the Kannada film industry turns a century old, it is seeing much-deserved love and appreciation for its cinema, especially its filmmakers and their cultural rootedness.

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KGF 2, Kantara and beyond: How Kannada film industry emerged as 2022’s biggest success story, and what lies ahead

2022 is the year that kannada cinema arrived on the national stage. after decades of hibernation, the film industry finally woke up to the need for embracing competition for the growth of kannada artists and art beyond its borders..

The Kannada film industry was perhaps the biggest discovery of 2022. Even though the industry has a rich history of filmmaking for nearly a century, its presence was rarely felt across Indian cinema in the last few decades. The visibility of its films was so poor that many Hindi-speaking filmmakers, financiers and audiences didn’t even bother to make the effort to correctly pronounce the name of the language. Kannada even today is widely mispronounced as ‘Kannad.’

But the year 2022 was a watershed one for the industry. Kannada cinema emerged from the shadows and claimed its seat at the table. It’s no longer a passive participant, but an active force, which could influence the collective culture and filmmaking style of Indian cinema. This happened courtesy of two films: KGF: Chapter 2 and Kantara .

“The industry has become more popular now. If you do good movies you can reach a bigger audience, which was not the case earlier. Not many valued Kannada films outside Karnataka ; they used to look down on us. Today, people sit up and take notice of us,” said filmmaker Pawan Kumar. In the past, he also tried to push the envelope when it came to how the industry responded to competition from other language films.

Pawan was one of the popular voices that spearheaded the movement demanding the removal of the unofficial ban on dubbing other language films into Kannada. The practice, which came into existence over 60 years ago to protect the then relatively new Kannada film industry from its much bigger neighbours, evolved into a social norm. Even though there was no legally valid sanction against the dubbing, it was passionately discouraged behind the power corridors of Kannada cinema. It took the Competition Commission of India’s intervention and the constant effort of a few activists (namely Kannada Grahakara Koota) and filmmakers like Pawan to bring about a change.

“There is no way you can ban something. I was not saying we need to dub other language films into Kannada to make money. (My stand was) Let the audience watch better content, and you also excel in making good content as well. My fight was against creating a ban to protect the market. You should open up all the gates and prepare yourself to excel,” Pawan explained.

And the industry’s animosity towards the dubbing culture was rendered pointless with the onslaught of streaming platforms. The native Kannada audience now had access to a trove of high-quality content at their fingertips. “The major concern at the time was that the other language films might come here and take over the business. But, they (Kannada filmmakers) never saw themselves making movies that could be dubbed in other languages,” Pawan added.

The success of KGF: Chapter 1 in 2018 made headlines, but KGF: Chapter 2 created an earthquake at the domestic box office . It became the first film in the history of Kannada cinema to collect a whopping Rs 134 crore on its opening day in India alone. The Yash starrer became a giant slayer as it stormed the new markets and outperformed the movies of homegrown superstars there. A few years ago, nobody would have imagined this could be accomplished by the Kannada film industry.

“The content and the intent were always there. We have had some great movies like Raajakumar in the past from the industry. KGF gave us that platform to go big and all out. We scaled it up a bit and tried to do our market research. This has been a phenomenal year for the Sandalwood industry with some amazing movie releases. We are glad that we could break that stereotypical mindset of people about our industry and cinema,” said Vijay Kirgandur, founder of Hombale Films.

The successes of KGF 2 and Kantara were such that they have enormously expanded the market for Kannada cinema. But, it’s only the beginning of a new journey. The film industry is now riding a popular wave and it mustn’t lose this phenomenal momentum.

“These films (KGF 2 and Kantara) were huge blips. I’d say the Kannada film industry lacks consistency in terms of reach and business compared to Telugu and Tamil film industries. Once every two months, we should deliver a film that clicks with the audience everywhere. We should achieve that consistency. We should have an audience who comes out not just for these massive hits (KGF 2 and Kantara), but also our other films,” Pawan remarked.

Hombale Films has ushered in a new phase in the industry. It seems every fraternity member is now thinking about making films on a scale, which competes with big movies from other languages. But, the other stakeholders should not take the wrong lessons from the track record of Hombale Films . The production company is not in the business of just making tentpole movies. Instead, it is investing in films and talents it believes in. “It’s not like KGF worked, so they are doing movies only in that genre. They are doing movies across different genres and even in other languages. That’s a sign of a good production house,” said Pawan.

Hombale Films is also funding Pawan’s debut Malayalam movie Dhoomam, which stars Fahadh Faasil in the lead. “Hombale Films also knows how to take its films to a bigger audience,” he added.

Hombale Films has been a game-changer for the Kannada film industry. It has significantly raised the bar for Kannada filmmakers with films like the KGF series and Kantara. The work of filmmakers in Kannada will now be measured not against Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam or Hindi films, but against blockbusters from their industry.

“Fortune favours the brave. And we have tried to make a certain change in the way people perceive our industry,” Kirgandur said. “We believe in prioritizing quality over quantity. Our mission is to be a fresh and interesting voice that epitomizes the culture of our industry, and country and catches the attention of the audience.”

For decades, the film industry remained rigid in the ways it operated and made movies without adapting to the changing times. It wanted to stick to the tried-and-tested ways that ensured its survival and success. But, it all changed this year, not just on the box office front. The industry is undergoing metamorphosis on multiple and deeper levels.

Some Kannada films are breaking ground at the box office and some are garnering critical acclaim. On the other hand, the industry is also exporting its top talents to the neighbouring states on a scale never seen before.

Prasanth Neel has lined up multiple projects with at least two big stars of Telugu cinema — Prabhas (Saalar) and Jr NTR. Hombale Films is making movies in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam too. Sudeep has already made his mark in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. Rashmika Mandanna is one of the most sought-after female leads across the country. ‘Duniya’ Vijay has finished acting in his first Telugu film, Veera Simha Reddy — headlined by Nandamuri Balakrishna. Actor-filmmaker Raj B Shetty of Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana is making a movie in Malayalam. And the biggest among all is Shivarajkumar making himself accessible to filmmakers from other languages. He has at least two Tamil films, Jailer and Captain Miller , in the works.

Shivarajkumar is the son of acting legend Dr Rajkumar, who was in his time at the forefront of all trends that defined the Kannada film industry. In a way, the Rajkumar family has always been the bellwether of industry-changing trends. And judging from Shivarajkumar’s upcoming movies, the industry is becoming more open, dynamic, agile and beginning to tap its full potential.

2022 is the year that Kannada cinema arrived on the national stage. After decades of hibernation, the film industry finally woke up to the need for embracing competition for the growth of Kannada artists and art beyond its borders. And people across the country have richly rewarded the film industry’s baby steps towards the big league.

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Essay on kannada cinema (719 words).

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Essay on Kannada Cinema!

Guppi Veerarma, who was closely associated with the theatre, is seen as the pioneer in making of silent films in Kannada though his film project never got completed. Surya Film Company begun by Haribhai R. Desai and Bogilal C. Dave of Sharada Film Company in Bombay (now, Mumbai) made some 40 silent films in four years (till 1932).

The 1930s saw the rise of film companies including Karnataka Pictures Corporation, Surya Prakash Film Company, Mysore Pictures Corporation and Ramesh Film Company. Noted film-makers of the 1930s were Kota Shivarama Karanth and Mohan Bhavanaru who made the remarkable Vasanthasena based onthe Sanskrit drama Mritcha Katika by Sudraka. It turned out to be an exception as it was neither a stunt movie nor a devotional film nor a fantasy.

The Kannada talkies era began in 1934 with Sati Sulochana which was followed by Bhakta Dhruva (or Dhruvkumar). The first studio in Karnataka was the Mysore Sound Studio started by V.R. Thimmaiah in 1937. The Navjyothi Studio was set up by G.R. Ramaiah in 1947 (closed in 1956); it produced Rajasurya Yaga. The Premier Studio was one of the early prominent studios.

In the 1930s and the 1940s, Kannada films were made by those who were not Kannada speakers. Only 15 films were produced till 1943, popular films of the 1940s being Jeevana Nataka, Vani Hemareddy Mallamma, Naga Kannika and Jagan Mohini.

In the 1950s, some 98 films were made. A landmark venture was Bedara Kannappa (1954) that began the career of Rajkumar, perhaps the most noted artist in Kannada films. Naandi (1964) by Lakshminarayan, featuring Rajkumar, was the first Kannada film to earn national recognition.

The 1960s saw the rise of directors like Lakshminarayan (Uyyale, Mukti, Abachurina Post Office, Bettada Hoovu); B.R. Panthulu (School Master, Kithuru Chennamma); and Puttanna Kanagal who made (Bellimoda, Sarapanjara, Nagara Haavu, Upasane, Billi Hendthi, Katha Sangama and Gejje Pooje).

The 1970s began with a bang: Samskara (1970) of Pathabhi Rama Reddy heralded the new cinema movement in Kannada and won the National Award for Best Feature Film. G.V. Iyer’s Vamsa Vriksha (1972), directed by Girish Karnad and B.V. Karanth, and became popular. G.V. Iyer directed Hamsageetha (1975) and won accolades.

He was the first to make a film in Sanskrit, Adi Sankaracharya, in 1984. He also made Madhavacbarya in Kannada (1986) and Ramanujacharya (1988) in Tamil, and his second Sanskrit film Bhagavad Gita in 1993, for which he won the National Award.

Among the film-makers who were prominent in the 1970s were Girish Karnad, B.V. Karanth and M.S. Sathyu. Kamad made Kaadu in 1974, dealing with the damage to village life and value, and Ondanondu Kaladalli (1978). He made Tabbaliyu Neenada Magatie in 1977 with B.V. Karanth who had made Chomana Dudi (1975) that won the President’s Gold Medal Award. M.S. Sathyu, maker of Garam Hawa in Hindi (1975), made Kanneswara Rama (1977), Chitegu Chititu (1978) and Bara (1982).

Girish Kasaravalli made Ghatashraddha (1977), and won the President’s Gold Medal for it. He has directed films like Aakramana, Moori Darigalu, Tabarana Kathe, Bannada Vesha, Mane, Kraurya, Thai Saheb, Dweepa, Hasina and Naayi Neralu. Tabarana Kathe, Thai Saheb and Dweepa have won the President’s Gold Medal Award for the Best Feature Film.

The noted Kannada directors of the 1970s and the 1980s include P. Lankesh (Pallavi, Anuroopa, Khandavideko, Mamsa Videko, Ellinadalo Bandavaru), Nanjaraj Urs (Sankalpa), Chandrasekhara Kambara (Kaadu Kudre), V.R.K. Prasad (Rishya Sringa), T.S. Nagabharana (Grahana, Banker Maargayya, Asphota, Santa Shishunala Shariffa, Mysoora Mallige), T.S. Ranga (Geejgana Goodu, Savithri, Giddh), C.R. Simha (Kakanakote) and Katte Ramachandra (Arivu).

In the 1990s, Kannada cinema did not produce the kind of films it did earlier. But there were notable contributions from Prema Karanth (Phaniyamma), Shankar Nag (Accident and Minchina Ota), Kashinath (Anubhava and Aparichita), Sadanand Suvarna (Kubi Mattu lyala), Suresh Heblikar (Kaadina Benki), Krishna Masadi (Avasthe), S.V. Rajendra Singh (Muttina Hara, Bandhana and Antha), T.S. Nagabharana (Janmada Jodi and Nagamandala) and Sunil Kumar Desai (Beladingala Bale). Kavitha Lankesh is a noted film-maker who has made Deviree, Alemaari, Bimba and Preeti Prema Pranaya. Among the other film-makers who have emerged are P.R. Ramdas Naidu (Mussanje) and T.N. Sitaram (Matadana).

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Meanings of the City

Kannada cinema has always had an ambivalent relationship with bangalore—until today, when it views the city with unconcealed loathing.

IN A TYPICAL CONTEMPORARY KANNADA FILM,  a Kannada-speaking migrant in Bengaluru tries to find employment, only to encounter difficulties at every step. Forced into the underworld, he becomes a dreaded don, cutting his enemies to bits with a cleaver until the law catches up with him and he dies. Bengaluru, here, is not the glamorous cosmopolis as perceived from afar, but a decidedly seedy city festering with crime and injustice. Why the most prosperous city in South India is portrayed as such in local-language cinema can perhaps only be understood through an enquiry into several connected factors—one which begins with the meaning of the city in Indian popular cinema.

The city has been a crucial motif in Indian popular cinema from 1947 onwards, but its meaning has changed with each significant event in this nation’s history. Bombay, for instance, used by Hindi films to represent ‘The City’, came into great cinematic prominence in the 1950s as a metaphor for the promise of the modern in Nehru’s India.

That uncomplicated optimism, however, did not last very long. By the late 1960s, Indira Gandhi’s brand of populism had unleashed a wave of aspiration across socioeconomic classes that imposed a new cinematic meaning on the city: it became a symbol of opportunity. In films like Yash Chopra’s Deewaar (1975), in which the iconic Angry Young Man first appeared, a dockyard worker ascends to wealth and power in the city—albeit through unlawful means. While films like Deewaar nominally uphold the law, material advancement by any means is shown as hugely attractive.

The early 1990s saw the end of Nehruvian socialism—after decades of interventionism, the PV Narasimha Rao government liberalised the economy and opened up India to global market forces. Hindi cinema began to reflect this development: the state was shown as withdrawing from its own institutions, with the police therefore behaving like private agencies—most notably in Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya (1998).

One would expect regional cinemas in India to use their major metropolitan centre to represent ‘The City’ in their respective narratives, and for these cities to be portrayed as variants of Bollywood’s Mumbai. One purpose of regional cinema has traditionally been to endorse a strong regional identity, as seen in representations of Chennai in Tamil cinema or Kolkata in Bengali cinema. Yet somehow this is not true for Kannada cinema. It has always had an ambivalent relationship with Bangalore—until today, when it views the city with unconcealed loathing.

Each strain of popular cinema has its own constituency, the expanse of audiences it chooses to address. Mainstream Hindi cinema has traditionally addressed people across India and has therefore given voice to the concerns of a wide population. Kannada cinema defies the expectation of a pan-Kannada reach: earlier, it restricted its vision to princely Mysore (made up of Bangalore, Mysore and the remainder of southern Karnataka) and it continues to exclude Kannada-speaking regions beyond.

Mysore, during its rule by the Wodeyar dynasty, was regarded as a ‘nation within a nation’ and, to a large degree, has retained its exclusive culture ever since the time of British India. Vestiges of this sentiment lingered on in Kannada cinema, which was born in 1930s Mysore, even after linguistic reorganisation. Following the States Reorganisation Act of 1956, which redrew the boundaries of India’s states along linguistic lines, Mysore was enlarged by the addition of Coorg state and the Kannada-speaking districts of southern Bombay and western Hyderabad. The initiative for linguistic reorganisation of the Kannada-speaking areas did not come from Mysore but from other Kannada-speaking locales like Dharwad and Belgaum, whose residents had suffered considerably from speaking a minority language. People from the former Mysore retained memories of the princely state which did not fade, and so they never fully embraced the expanded region. Indeed, they lamented the changing of the name of the enlarged state from Mysore to Karnataka in 1973.

Linguistic reorganisation did not create unity in the way it was anticipated. While Bangalore was part of Old Mysore, it was also seen as the site from where the British governed. And it historically attracted migrants—both during the colonial period, and then later, after it became a hub for public-sector industries.

Bengaluru, or Bangalore, is an unlikely spot for a prosperous metropolis. Emerging from rather modest origins, it gained importance in 1807 when the British arranged with the government of Mysore for a regiment of European cavalry, and another of infantry, to be based northeast of the town, with administrative offices in the fort to the south. The importance of the Cantonment increased when the British, claiming corruption in administration, intervened to wrest power from the king and his advisors in 1831. The state then came under the purview of British commissioners, and government offices were relocated to Bangalore while the king was relegated to a strictly ritual position in Mysore. The relocation of government offices and the presence of the garrison meant that there was an influx of service providers—especially Urdu-speaking Muslims and Tamil speakers—from all over southern India. The migrant populace was concentrated around the Cantonment area, while the City area remained mostly Kannada-speaking, like the majority of people in Mysore state. A linguistic gulf separated the two since the area housing the garrison was deliberately kept apart from the City by the British.

Following linguistic reorganisation, Bangalore became the capital of Kannada-speaking Karnataka, though it was only a few hours away from Tamil-speaking Tamil Nadu, Telugu-speaking Andhra Pradesh and Malayalam-speaking Kerala. As the two sections of Bangalore grew into each other, the city came to exhibit an unusual degree of cosmopolitanism.

In the Cantonment area, the British built sprawling bungalows and wide boulevards—along with a glamorous upper-class lifestyle—to distinguish it from the cramped City outside. The first lot of English-medium schools in the state opened in the Cantonment—though over a period of time English-medium private schools mushroomed in the City as well, while classes in government schools were conducted in Kannada. As the older City developed a culture dominated by Kannada, a balance between various languages was achieved in the Cantonment under the dominance of English. As may be expected, Bangalore was and remains deeply divided on the language issue.

In the late 1990s, when the IT industry and IT-enabled services accounted for 60,000 jobs in the city, language became the key to opportunity; the new economy favoured those with an English-medium education. These companies started to recruit from all over India and estimates show that presently only 10 percent of the jobs in the new economy are held by Kannada speakers. Since these companies pay their employees substantially higher wages, the spending power of non-Kannada workers—increasingly visible in new consumption trends—has become a talking point in Bengaluru.

Another reason for the disaffection of Kannada speakers is perhaps the endless expansion of Bengaluru, marked by the entry of private builders. Families that originally owned bungalows, as well as farmers on the periphery, succumbed to the needs of the ever-expanding city. Those now occupying the apartments in the city are new entrants to Bengaluru, with visibly greater purchasing power. Farmers who gave up their land in exchange for the compensation available to them have realised its soaring value too late. Given this troubled history, Bengaluru may be expected to represent more than simply an archetypal ‘city’ for Kannada cinema.

KANNADA CINEMA TOOK ROOTS  in the 1930s, but even after Independence, the films kept to mythological themes. Mysore, under indirect rule at the time, experienced Independence less viscerally than did the rest of the country and so the motifs that marked Hindi cinema after 1947 emerged in Kannada films much later. An event possibly more important than Independence was the creation of Karnataka, and the attempt to build a pan-Kannada identity.

One of the first authentic ‘socials’—a domestic melodrama without any mythological motifs—in Kannada cinema was BR Panthulu’s School Master (1958). It marked the first time Bangalore was crucial to a Kannada film’s plot.

School Master introduced the idea of the love marriage to Kannada films at a time when it was a significant subversion of the cultural idiom. Unlike in Hindi cinema, where love is shown to be integral to marriage, Kannada cinema—until fairly recently—favoured endogamy and the arranged marriage. Mysore society was virtually constituted by marriage networks forged by those of the same caste who lived within 20–30 km of each other. With the expansion of the state, Kannada cinema tried to accommodate wider audience sensibilities: in School Master , lovers of different castes and from places separated by as much as 300 km meet in Bangalore.

Kannada cinema associated Bangalore with the Indian nation and Nehruvian modernity in the 1960s, possibly because of the Central government’s investment in the city. The region that fell under Old Mysore took some time to become culturally integrated into the Indian nation. It was only in the 1960s that the process picked up (the belated patriotism finds expression in Panthulu’s Kittur Chennamma (1962), a historical film about the eponymous queen who fought the British).

Among the 1960s-era films, the first one to suggest Bangalore as an important place is MR Vittal’s Nanda-Deepa (1962), told through the perspective of a girl brought up in a village. The man whom she marries represents private enterprise in the city. In the early 1960s, large industry in Bangalore was government-owned, and so, in effect, the man she marries symbolises the first generation of entrepreneurs who owned ancillary units in the public sector. Hers was a viewpoint of the rural person to whom Bangalore was still distant. Ravi’s Bhagyada Bagilu (1968), which identifies with the upwardly mobile resident of Bangalore, and Panthulu’s Beedhi Basavan na (1967) call attention to the opportunities available in the city for material advancement. Other key films from this period, however, depict Bangalore as the moral site in which the Nehruvian modern subject resides.

In a key ‘reformist’ film, Arasukumar’s Bangarada Hoovu (1967), the city serves as a plot element. Told from the viewpoint of a young development officer, Anand, who wants to marry his friend’s sister although his mother has set her heart on him marrying his cousin, the film reaches its climax when Anand’s love interest is diagnosed with leprosy. Anand sees to it that she is cured, and marries her soon after. Anand is from Bangalore and the film begins with a ‘modern dance’ by young women in tight clothes trying to attract his attention in a park. These two indications of the modern—represented by Western dancing and medicine—get due attention in this film, reminiscent of Hindi films like Guru Dutt’s Baazi (1951), which also features the parallel and conflicting motifs of the doctor and the club dancer.

If Kannada cinema portrayed the expanded Mysore region as growing more faithful to India in the 1960s it was because of its important political leverage. While the Congress was perceived to be weakening after Nehru’s death, it continued to remain strong in Mysore. It was this strength that made then Chief Minister S Nijalingappa (1956–58, 1962–68) one of the most powerful people in the Congress, and a member of the group known as the ‘Syndicate’ of influential regional leaders. It was Mysore’s electoral importance that led to Nijalingappa’s elevation to the post of president of the The Indian National Congress in 1968, when his protégé Veerendra Patil replaced him as chief minister.

The cordiality between the region and the nation as inferred from Kannada cinema reaches its apogee in B Dorairaj-SK Bhagavan’s spy thriller Jedara Bale (1968). In the film, a Bangalore-based secret agent Prakash, aka CID 999 (played by the actor Rajkumar), is after a gang of counterfeiters. Several factors in Jedara Bale point to Mysore’s  sense of self-importance vis-à-vis the nation: among them, the confidence that Bangalore is where the technology is, as well as the sense that the fate of the nation is in local hands. To convince us that Bangalore is ‘international’, the film locates much of its action in the vicinity of Hotel Bangalore International, then an upmarket hotel with floor shows advertised in daily newspapers. The ‘cabarets’ in the film are watched by family men accompanied by women in saris, as if to assert that the ‘modern’ signified by these dances is not in contravention of Mysore tradition.

When Indira Gandhi split the Congress in 1969, after months of inter-party conflict, it brought an end to the Syndicate. Nijalingappa’s exit from the Congress meant that Mysore was not so close to the nation anymore. Some of the trends in Kannada cinema from 1969 onwards can be seen in sharp contrast to the earlier goodwill. In Siddalingaiah’s Mayor Muthanna (1969), Bangalore is the site of criminal activity and injustice, as it is associated more with the Centre and India than with Mysore. The discord is also visible in the casual and indiscriminate way in which pictures of national leaders are hanging in people’s houses—as though to downplay their significance. In films like Bangarada Hoovu, which came only two years earlier, pictures of national leaders held positive connotations that were impossible to ignore.

During Devaraj Urs’ stints as chief minister (1972–77 1978–80), he was favoured by Indira Gandhi and implemented her programmes in the state. But he was not simply a camp follower; his activities in the political arena were seen as originating from his own initiative. Thus, even after the 1970s, Bangalore in Kannada cinema continued to be portrayed in a negative light. In Nagara Haavu (1972) the small-town hero meets his childhood sweetheart in a Bangalore hotel where she has been brought as a prostitute. In Siddalingaiah’s landmark Bhoothayyana Maga Ayyu (1974), the villagers drawn into futile litigation travel to the courts in Bangalore, but fail to find justice. In Na Ninna Bidalare (1979) the hero’s marriage to his cousin is on the verge of a breakup because of his illicit relationship with a Bangalore-based seductress.

In the 1980s and 1990s, several Kannada films tried to use the glamour of Bangalore to their advantage—notably Sunil Kumar Desai’s films, like Utkarsha (1990), Nishkarsha (1994) and Beladingala Baale (1995)—but most stories revolved around people with origins in small towns, yet with occupations in or connections to Bangalore. Films of this category include Nanjundi Kalyana (1989), Ganeshana Maduve (1990), Tarle Nan Maga (1992), Bombat Hendthi (1992) and Nammoora Mandara Hoove (1996). Most of the latter films try to escape from Bangalore at the earliest opportunity, as though it would be improper to remain in a space traditionally inimical to them.

According to the statistics released by the state’s health and family welfare department, the population of Bangalore grew from 1.7 million in 1971 to 5.1 million in 2001 and 6.5 million in 2011—but was roughly estimated at 7.5 million in 2009, an increase of 47 percent in eight years. Between 1991 and 2001, the population of Karnataka grew by 17.5 percent while that of Bangalore grew by 23.5 percent. Perhaps more importantly, the population of Karnataka increased from 53 million to around 64 million between 2001 and 2009, and the share of Bangalore in Karnataka’s population increased from around 9.6 percent in 2001 to roughly 11.72 percent in the same eight-year period, suggesting a sharp upward shift in the economic dependence of the state upon the city. It is apparent that Bangalore’s importance in the region has grown hugely in the new millennium—a fact that is repeatedly reflected in Kannada cinema.

Kannada cinema now seems to have found the community that best represents the region:s Kannada-speaking migrants—those who have no option but to deal with the city and who are trying to fight it, even as they are trapped in its coils. The most popular story model is that of the Kannada gangster film—for example, Majestic (2002), Kitti (2004), Jogi (2005), Duniya (2007). These films do not all correspond to a single pattern but, generally, each film depicts the story of a migrant who tries to eke out an existence in Bengaluru before coming into violent conflict with various forces and becoming a dreaded gangster. In time, the law catches up with him, and he is gunned down. The migrant, even when he is a don, lives in a makeshift dwelling or in temporary quarters. The romantic interest is usually between the migrant and a woman from the city; it never comes to fruition.

Even when the film is a romance, the protagonist does his best to get away from Bengaluru, as in Mungaru Male (2007) and Gaalipata (2008). The common portrayal of Bengaluru in all these films is as an unattainable space, a site marking a defeat or a space best avoided. This is in marked contrast to the way Mumbai is depicted in Hindi cinema.

It is evident that Bengaluru has been consistently viewed by Kannada speakers from neighbouring areas as a treacherous place—but its economic importance now makes it impossible to ignore. The contemporary films reflect this perception in presenting Bengaluru as an evil which must be contended with, although there is little hope of changing it for the better. Interestingly, state authority (usually represented by the police) is portrayed as antagonistic to those from the region.

Cinematic evidence aside, film industry-related events cause extreme reactions in Bengaluru among the followers of Kannada cinema. When the hugely popular film star Dr Rajkumar passed away in Bangalore on 12 April 2006 at the age of 78, sorrowful fans went on a rampage. A constable was beaten to death by a frenzied mob and several people were killed in police firing. An old woman was seen on television trying to damage a police vehicle. The death of another major star, Vishnuvardhan, in December 2009 led to the burning of public transport vehicles. The violence does not spill over to the state’s other towns, and so evidently it is Bengaluru, in particular, which creates disaffection in a huge section of the Kannada-speaking public. Outbursts such as these are inexplicable on their own, but perhaps the evidence of Kannada cinema’s take on the city could provide some answers.

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Kantara: a cultural turning point for indian cinema.

As we speak, the cinegoers of India are in the midst of an intense experience for which they were not prepared. A movie, made in a language spoken by a fraction of the population, representing the traditions of few districts within that population, made with very few known faces – with very less collective experience, has captured the imagination of an entire nation. It is an imagination that is hardly supported in mainstream art and narrative. Yet, even to people who are forced to move away from that imagination, it is so familiar and deep within their consciousness that a single stroke from this movie has sprung a fountain of it. Here, we present a small summary of its artistic and cultural achievement – which is still in the making and process. The real impact can only be assessed when it has run its due course.

The First A chievement : With this movie, our traditions, our dEvatAs, and our sense of sacredness are back into mainstream cinema. We had lost them for a few decades even in the Kannada industry, while some other industries had moved away right from the beginning. With Kantara, we have brought them with a bang – right into the sanctum sanctorum of the Cinema – as an integral part of the plot, narration & essence of the piece, rather than being an also present element of the cinema. The Daiva is not just back but the Daiva itself is the cinema.

The Second A chievement : This reformation of the cinema contributes in both the substance and the form. With Kantara, we have regained independence from ‘Realism’ as the primary form of telling a story. We have, of course, had our ‘Nagins’ & Magadheera-s. But our non-realism cinema merely limited themselves to fantasy & entertainment. They were shy attempts. Kantara, though, is an unabashed foregrounding of the Indian form of storytelling and narrative. The Myth merges with the Real. The resulting Visual storytelling form is a universal one that is relevant to all kinds of stories – rather than a limited set called fantasy limited for entertainment. Kantara presents a form of storytelling where the Myth is not a separate genre. Rather it is another real experience one that elevates the mundane physical reality.

The T hird A chievement : Kantara has brought back the Deseeya – the folk - to the national centre-stage. It is a triumph of the Deseeya form. What Bahubali 1&2 were for the Margeeya - the Classical, Kantara is for the Deseeya - the Folk. Bahubali could have happened anywhere in Bharatavarsha at any point in time. But Kantara’s physical co-ordinates are marked to a few districts around coastal Karnataka. But there is an additional achievement. The Deseeya in the movie touches the Margeeya at its core & peak. Panjurli Daiva, Guliga, Folk Dance, Sanskrit & Classical Music are together. The Deseeya speaks the language of Margeeya ( Dharma ) seamlessly in the movie. This demonstration of the seamless co-existence of the two, one reaching the other at its peak, is another phenomenal achievement. Importantly, this is not done forcefully or ideologically or with a political intention that is apparent. It just comes out as the presentation of a matter of factly reality and without disturbing the artistic integrity of the movie.

The Fourth A chievement : In the last 300 years, India has seen many historical conflicts flowing through its time-line. The cycle of conflict-resolution-synthesis is in a mighty repetition. Kantara presents one such grand Civilizational/Cultural conflict going through a very simple story. The movie is about two conflicts

• A forest community and its clash with Modernity, the State and the dynamic of Progress/Development.
• A conflict within the forest community between Greed (Artha, Kama) and the Divinity (Dharma/Moksha) within the culture.

The achievement is in presenting this conflict, in its multifacetedness and complete cycle, through a very simple story. This is a typical genius of our Janapada form. All participants in this conflict go through a complex journey and a transformation. The emerging metaphors the movie captures are fascinating. The forest community hates the intervention of the State, represented by the forest officer. The forest officer duty-bound to perform certain duties is detests their obstruction. Both do not understand each other’s intentions and potentials. Rather, both see each others’ methods and performances as detrimental and having bad intentions. In addition, the forest officer is taught by Modernity to look down upon the traditions of the forest community - ideologically. Yet, the forest community is unable to see the evil within to which they have submitted themselves. It can only do so with support from the forest officer. The forest officer too progresses in his objective only with the support of the forest community. Yet, this whole process is set forth by the Daiva itself. It is the active invocation of the Daiva by the forest community and the eventual recognition of its power by the forest office that creates a resolution and the way forward - presented with cinematic brilliance in the last few scenes of the movie. That this complex narrative does not result in an ideological or political excess in the movie harming the aesthetic experience of the movie - is another additional achievement in this context. This is a grand criticism of both the Modern Secular State and a recognition of the traditional community’s necessity to move forward by engaging with Modernity.

Kantara is a simple Folk Story but an extraordinarily rich detail that will shame a modern anthropologist. It's amazing that so much detail can be packed into a single movie while using every detail to present a dimension of the story. This is indeed a literary & visual achievement. Explaining this in a minute detail will make a longer essay. The whole movie is shot within a few square kilometres. All innovation/investment is towards set making for every scene. It involves no foreign travel, no grand localing and unnecessary expenditure. There may be VFX and other technology. But it is so invisible and is not a selling point of the movie, in spite of ticking all boxes of a fantasy. This is such an emancipation for future makers. This is the right paradigm of creating a piece of art - technology must be subservient to art and culture.

From the making stand-point, Kantara shines in every department of the craft - Acting, Cinematography, Editing, Music, Script, Lyrics, Dance - literally everything. But the critical  difference lies in three elements

• The confidence to pick such a subject
• To have the right cultural vision and perspective
• To be able to craft that into a cinema and direct it to the last detail

That's the phenomenal achievement of Rishab Shetty. He has shown the potential of being a good artist in his previous movies. But, with Kantara, he has achieved that ‘‘hanumad-vikAsa हनुमदविकास’. He has leapt into the sky and reached another orbit of cinema.

The execution ticks many boxes of a well-made-movie. Every single character in the movie contributes to the whole in a unique way. Nobody is more/less important except the protagonist himself. The lead actress is not a property unlike in many movies. She has a distinct personality and plays a role in the transformation of the protagonist and the community. She goes through her own crisis in the process. Characters largely silent also make a difference to the movie. Their silences play a part in the larger narrative and cinematic experience the movie creates. All other prominent and minor roles are all well etched, of course. They undergo their own transformation in the due course of the movie. The movie is a definite triumph of characterisation.

Acting is just absolutely brilliant in the movie. Rishab deserves an extra dose of credit for having extracted such good performances from so many different characters even as he himself has essayed the role of his life. Sapthami Gowda is perfectly cast in her role presenting a quick journey from innocence to responsibility.  Protagonist’s brother Guruva depicts the Kola performer’s sense of sacredness in every appearance with almost no dialogues. Veteran actor Achyut Kumar deserves all the hate - such a Villain. Kishore, the police officer, personifies the blind arrogance of the Modern State. The young Manasi Sudhir stunningly essays the role of an aged mother who has seen all the rough sides of a tough life.

Once again Ajaneesh Lokanath impresses in the Music - both in songs and in the background. Ever since he erupted onto the silver screen through ‘uLidavaru kaMDaMte’ he has retained the ability to spring a surprise and present something unforgettable. The whole music is a great fusion of traditional, classical, folk and new modern instruments and style. This fusion itself is another significant feat of the movie. Two main songs are both brilliant. Throughout, every scene has an understated but culturally fitting music. Extraordinary orchestration of Kola, Folks Songs. The folk and the classical co-exist even in the movie subtly emphasizing the subject of the movie. It is no exaggeration to say that the music itself is another character in the movie.

After Direction, if there was one department with equal complexity it was Editing. A good script can be destroyed on the editing table. In Kantara, the editing department may have triumphed as much as the Script and Direction. It has resulted in the movie having multiple textures at once - at once a story, a visual, a documentary, a musical, action, fantasy. So much detail, so many forms, so many elements drawn from a rich life and culture. All scenes well knit into a brilliant overall movie. Finally, the movie looks like one monolith in spite of such diversity in scenes, rhythms and so on.

People in the language department too deserve a call-out. The language used in the Script, Dialogues, Lyrics - beautiful Kannada/Tulu from Coastal Karnataka with a Kundapura flavour I guess. The literature of the script is aesthetically brilliant. When an English word comes it plays a role to depict an aspect of the character/community. Otherwise, its a great mix of Tulu, Kannada, Sanskrit to depict the reality of the situation. It all looks like a single language. The acoustic experience of the movie is elevated by the sound of its language.

While the diversity challenge was high in Editing, I would still single out Cinematography for a special appreciation. For this movie with all its traditional, folk, forest, local detail, diverse elements, Divine experiences, the kind of action it has, innovative Cinematography was needed. Finally, it wins because it offers a Divine experience which is central to the subject of the movie. This is not achieved in isolation – It does so throughout.

Finally, if there is excellence in so many departments of a movie - it is the director who deserves a call-out. It is Rishab Shetty all the way. It's his Vision, Direction, Script and Acting. A performance of his life - with Shraddha & Sanskriti, of Authenticity, Devotion, Sense of Purpose. Metaphorically speaking, through this movie, he has truly fulfilled his Pitr Rna, Daiva Rna, Samaja Rna. He has brought back a civilizational fundamental into the centre-stage of cinema. The movie stands-out for two reasons - Excellence & Authenticity. The latter is a consequence of the lived experiences of Rishab (& his team). It has made a difference to his life and possibly a few others in the movie. They have made this movie first for themselves & then for the audience.

Thus, Kantara is a grand case for Business subservient to Culture.

The Cultural Importance of Kantara

While being a great piece of art, Kantara is very important for us culturally and civilizationally as well. It brings back a mighty confidence in the Local. It demonstrates that the local in India touches the universal - artistically and in business. The subject of the movie is both ‘Unity in Diversity’ & ‘Diversity in Unity’ at once. The former is bottom-up and the latter is top-down. We are a philosophy that actively seeks and drives diversity. We are a philosophy that recognizes diversity and weaves it into the whole.

The movie represents both phenomenon in its substance and form. In its business success, it represents the former. It shows that the Diversity never comes in the way of Unity. Across India people are watching it either in its dubbed form or in Kannada with subtitles - with appreciation. This brings back the confidence in the local - be Local in your substance. You can still be universal in relevance. Make a movie about a small corner of the universe without inferiority, atrocity but present its cultural essence, beauty & perspective. Kashi will love a story from Kundapura.

It completely alters the way of storytelling as we have seen the modern mainstream. The Story has elements from Fantasy, Puranas, Realism, Musical, Exaggeration, Visual, Folk & Classical. It is a phenomenal artistic achievement weaving into a form to tell a Contemporary Story with a sense of Past, Present and Future. This is how India always tells a story if one reads classical literature such as Kadambari of Banabhatta or Kathasaritsagara. That form of storytelling is now back. This results in the experience of Time as a seamless continuous flow. Thus the movie achieves another civilizational differential - the Saatatya - a unity of Time rather than isolating the past, present and future.

Kantara demonstrates in its subject and experience that Divinity is an integral part of our lives. Keeping Divinity away from our art forms we have impoverished our artistic products as well as our lives. In this aspect, Kantara is one big leap in the grand journey of Decolonization - without using that word - a nudge for us to use our own Lenses. This needs no special explanation if one has gone through the last 20 minutes of the movie. It is no exaggeration to say that it is a cinematic first for India. Rishab becomes the character he portrays. The audience lose their sense of separation from the cinema, the forest community, the story and the very Time. This is typically achieved in our Janapada art forms. But it is an absolute rarity in cinema. It is an absolute first experience of Transcendence in a modern art form - attested by nearly everybody in some form or the other. This is without a parallel. Its Divinity & Transcendence without exaggeration. It performs cathartic correction in your mind and creates a beautiful silence. Most people have reported that the audiences simply leave the theater quietly not wanting to disturb their silences - for that is too rare an artistic experience in our times.

Kantara is just that one thing that I have longed for forever in a movie without being aware of it. Hopefully, this cathartic correction, takes our cinema, art in a different direction and flows into other aspects of our civilizational spaces.

Feature Image Credit: cinemaexpress.com

The T hird A chievement : Kantara has brought back the Deseeya – the folk – to the national centre-stage. It is a triumph of the Deseeya form. What Bahubali 1&2 were for the Margeeya – the Classical, Kantara is for the Deseeya – the Folk. Bahubali could have happened anywhere in Bharatavarsha at any point in time. But Kantara’s physical co-ordinates are marked to a few districts around coastal Karnataka. But there is an additional achievement. The Deseeya in the movie touches the Margeeya at its core & peak. Panjurli Daiva, Guliga, Folk Dance, Sanskrit & Classical Music are together. The Deseeya speaks the language of Margeeya ( Dharma ) seamlessly in the movie. This demonstration of the seamless co-existence of the two, one reaching the other at its peak, is another phenomenal achievement. Importantly, this is not done forcefully or ideologically or with a political intention that is apparent. It just comes out as the presentation of a matter of factly reality and without disturbing the artistic integrity of the movie.

The achievement is in presenting this conflict, in its multifacetedness and complete cycle, through a very simple story. This is a typical genius of our Janapada form. All participants in this conflict go through a complex journey and a transformation. The emerging metaphors the movie captures are fascinating. The forest community hates the intervention of the State, represented by the forest officer. The forest officer duty-bound to perform certain duties is detests their obstruction. Both do not understand each other’s intentions and potentials. Rather, both see each others’ methods and performances as detrimental and having bad intentions. In addition, the forest officer is taught by Modernity to look down upon the traditions of the forest community – ideologically. Yet, the forest community is unable to see the evil within to which they have submitted themselves. It can only do so with support from the forest officer. The forest officer too progresses in his objective only with the support of the forest community. Yet, this whole process is set forth by the Daiva itself. It is the active invocation of the Daiva by the forest community and the eventual recognition of its power by the forest office that creates a resolution and the way forward – presented with cinematic brilliance in the last few scenes of the movie. That this complex narrative does not result in an ideological or political excess in the movie harming the aesthetic experience of the movie – is another additional achievement in this context. This is a grand criticism of both the Modern Secular State and a recognition of the traditional community’s necessity to move forward by engaging with Modernity.

Kantara is a simple Folk Story but an extraordinarily rich detail that will shame a modern anthropologist. It’s amazing that so much detail can be packed into a single movie while using every detail to present a dimension of the story. This is indeed a literary & visual achievement. Explaining this in a minute detail will make a longer essay. The whole movie is shot within a few square kilometres. All innovation/investment is towards set making for every scene. It involves no foreign travel, no grand localing and unnecessary expenditure. There may be VFX and other technology. But it is so invisible and is not a selling point of the movie, in spite of ticking all boxes of a fantasy. This is such an emancipation for future makers. This is the right paradigm of creating a piece of art – technology must be subservient to art and culture.

From the making stand-point, Kantara shines in every department of the craft – Acting, Cinematography, Editing, Music, Script, Lyrics, Dance – literally everything. But the critical  difference lies in three elements

That’s the phenomenal achievement of Rishab Shetty. He has shown the potential of being a good artist in his previous movies. But, with Kantara, he has achieved that ‘‘hanumad-vikAsa हनुमदविकास’. He has leapt into the sky and reached another orbit of cinema.

Acting is just absolutely brilliant in the movie. Rishab deserves an extra dose of credit for having extracted such good performances from so many different characters even as he himself has essayed the role of his life. Sapthami Gowda is perfectly cast in her role presenting a quick journey from innocence to responsibility.  Protagonist’s brother Guruva depicts the Kola performer’s sense of sacredness in every appearance with almost no dialogues. Veteran actor Achyut Kumar deserves all the hate – such a Villain. Kishore, the police officer, personifies the blind arrogance of the Modern State. The young Manasi Sudhir stunningly essays the role of an aged mother who has seen all the rough sides of a tough life.

Once again Ajaneesh Lokanath impresses in the Music – both in songs and in the background. Ever since he erupted onto the silver screen through ‘uLidavaru kaMDaMte’ he has retained the ability to spring a surprise and present something unforgettable. The whole music is a great fusion of traditional, classical, folk and new modern instruments and style. This fusion itself is another significant feat of the movie. Two main songs are both brilliant. Throughout, every scene has an understated but culturally fitting music. Extraordinary orchestration of Kola, Folks Songs. The folk and the classical co-exist even in the movie subtly emphasizing the subject of the movie. It is no exaggeration to say that the music itself is another character in the movie.

After Direction, if there was one department with equal complexity it was Editing. A good script can be destroyed on the editing table. In Kantara, the editing department may have triumphed as much as the Script and Direction. It has resulted in the movie having multiple textures at once – at once a story, a visual, a documentary, a musical, action, fantasy. So much detail, so many forms, so many elements drawn from a rich life and culture. All scenes well knit into a brilliant overall movie. Finally, the movie looks like one monolith in spite of such diversity in scenes, rhythms and so on.

People in the language department too deserve a call-out. The language used in the Script, Dialogues, Lyrics – beautiful Kannada/Tulu from Coastal Karnataka with a Kundapura flavour I guess. The literature of the script is aesthetically brilliant. When an English word comes it plays a role to depict an aspect of the character/community. Otherwise, its a great mix of Tulu, Kannada, Sanskrit to depict the reality of the situation. It all looks like a single language. The acoustic experience of the movie is elevated by the sound of its language.

Finally, if there is excellence in so many departments of a movie – it is the director who deserves a call-out. It is Rishab Shetty all the way. It’s his Vision, Direction, Script and Acting. A performance of his life – with Shraddha & Sanskriti, of Authenticity, Devotion, Sense of Purpose. Metaphorically speaking, through this movie, he has truly fulfilled his Pitr Rna, Daiva Rna, Samaja Rna. He has brought back a civilizational fundamental into the centre-stage of cinema. The movie stands-out for two reasons – Excellence & Authenticity. The latter is a consequence of the lived experiences of Rishab (& his team). It has made a difference to his life and possibly a few others in the movie. They have made this movie first for themselves & then for the audience.

While being a great piece of art, Kantara is very important for us culturally and civilizationally as well. It brings back a mighty confidence in the Local. It demonstrates that the local in India touches the universal – artistically and in business. The subject of the movie is both ‘Unity in Diversity’ & ‘Diversity in Unity’ at once. The former is bottom-up and the latter is top-down. We are a philosophy that actively seeks and drives diversity. We are a philosophy that recognizes diversity and weaves it into the whole.

The movie represents both phenomenon in its substance and form. In its business success, it represents the former. It shows that the Diversity never comes in the way of Unity. Across India people are watching it either in its dubbed form or in Kannada with subtitles – with appreciation. This brings back the confidence in the local – be Local in your substance. You can still be universal in relevance. Make a movie about a small corner of the universe without inferiority, atrocity but present its cultural essence, beauty & perspective. Kashi will love a story from Kundapura.

It completely alters the way of storytelling as we have seen the modern mainstream. The Story has elements from Fantasy, Puranas, Realism, Musical, Exaggeration, Visual, Folk & Classical. It is a phenomenal artistic achievement weaving into a form to tell a Contemporary Story with a sense of Past, Present and Future. This is how India always tells a story if one reads classical literature such as Kadambari of Banabhatta or Kathasaritsagara. That form of storytelling is now back. This results in the experience of Time as a seamless continuous flow. Thus the movie achieves another civilizational differential – the Saatatya – a unity of Time rather than isolating the past, present and future.

Kantara demonstrates in its subject and experience that Divinity is an integral part of our lives. Keeping Divinity away from our art forms we have impoverished our artistic products as well as our lives. In this aspect, Kantara is one big leap in the grand journey of Decolonization – without using that word – a nudge for us to use our own Lenses. This needs no special explanation if one has gone through the last 20 minutes of the movie. It is no exaggeration to say that it is a cinematic first for India. Rishab becomes the character he portrays. The audience lose their sense of separation from the cinema, the forest community, the story and the very Time. This is typically achieved in our Janapada art forms. But it is an absolute rarity in cinema. It is an absolute first experience of Transcendence in a modern art form – attested by nearly everybody in some form or the other. This is without a parallel. Its Divinity & Transcendence without exaggeration. It performs cathartic correction in your mind and creates a beautiful silence. Most people have reported that the audiences simply leave the theater quietly not wanting to disturb their silences – for that is too rare an artistic experience in our times.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article belong to the author. Indic Today is neither responsible nor liable for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in the article.

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Shivakumar GV

Shivakumar is a vagabond in the Thought World deeply interested in philosophical/intellectual foundations of Indian Civilization and conflicts in Modern India. In particular, he is Read more

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Pic: Kannada actor Yash, wife Radhika Pandit cast vote on Day 2 of Lok Sabha polls

Kannada actor yash along with his wife radhika pandit cast vote in bengaluru. the 'kgf' actor shared a picture on instagram..

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• Actor Yash and Radhika Pandit cast vote on April 26
• The second phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections took place today
• The actor shared a picture on Instagram and highlighted the right to vote

During the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, Actor Yash got his finger inked at the polling booth in Hosakerehalli, Bengaluru.

Kannada actor Yash, on April 26, cast his vote at a polling booth in Bengaluru. The second phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections took place today, in Karnataka, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Yash shared a picture with his wife while flaunting their inked finger. In the caption, the ‘KGF’ actor explained the importance of exercising the right to vote. Yash was also clicked at a polling booth while casting his vote in Bengaluru’s Hosakerehalli.

He captioned his picture and wrote, “Your vote - your voice. Make it count! (sic).”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Yash (@thenameisyash)

The actor spoke to the reporters at the polling booth and said, “The government should do what it is supposed to do and it should let people do what they are doing. I think interference should be less. Empowerment should be done, there are so many things, that I expect as a citizen.”