Kantara is a Kannada film written & directed by & starring Rishab Shetty, who weaves a deeply cultural story with divinity, village politics and the ever shifting relationship between Nature and Humans. A forest village protected by a Demigod, comes under threat when the landlord tries to reclaim the lands which were donated by the former king. Rishab plays the character of Shiva, a delinquent who is haunted by the demigod because he avoids his destiny and what a magnificent performance by him, throughout the film he is complex, loud and subtle at the same time and in the climax he just sends shivers down everyone's spine. The cinematography especially of the nighttime by Arvind Kashyap is gorgeous. Sound design plays a big factor in this film as well as the background score. The action is well designed with some neat camera work. There is a lot of comedy by Shiva's buddies in the first half, which is really fun to watch but it dampens the serious turn that it takes later and lessens the impact of the climax. But its such a unique theater experience, especially for urban audience, who remains far away from this ancient cultural mysticism of our country and divine acts of deities.
Review of Kantara
