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Booked tickets for family for PS1 tomorrow. Celebration of mediocrity is the norm now a days, have zero expectation, and let us see how it goes. This is our first movie in 4 years (in theatre).

Kaantaara (Kannada)

Watched the movie today in PVR.

Liked the excellent cinematography and music. Liked the acting by Rishabh Shetty, Kishore and Achyuth Kumar. Costume designs, Kambala, Bhootha kola dance are depicted well.

Disliked KGF 1 - hence did not like the last 20 minutes or so. Felt a sense of déjà vu there. Remove the story from the film and it could have been a good documentary about costal Karnataka.

Rating : 3/5

PS 1

I think they should not have attempted to make this movie.

In the first half so many characters come and go and I struggled keep track. So many good actors had nothing to do. I am sure novel has enough depth for each of these characters. My wife knew about the characters and did not struggle like me. Even she was struggling to connect the plot at couple of points.

Movie pick the pace in the second half and by this time I had some understanding about the characters and plot. Part 1 ending is good and laid the base for showdown in part II.

Watched it with family in theatre (Malayalam dubbed version), few actors dubbed themselves, dialogues and dubbing quality was good.

Rating: 3/5
waiting for part II

Edit: I am going to read about the book and characters in detail before watching part 2.

Kantara (Kannada)
Rating - 5/5

One of the best movies that I have seen in recent times. Amazing acting, cinematography and music were top notch. The story was something that gradually built until that awesome climax which was the icing on the cake.
Rishabh shetty really lives the role and is a treat to watch on the screen. A must watch for any movie lover.

Kantara (Kannada)

I rarely watch regional movies in theatre. But I had to make an exception to this one because of all the hype around it.

This movie showcases lots of Tulunadu traditions like Boota Kola, Kambala and Cockfighting, which I have written threads about.

It is extremely entertaining if you know the local traditions and the dialect. My wife and I were wondering if people outside of Tulunadu will understand the subtle nuances. May be not as much as us locals. The movie is fully subtitled in English. Sometimes, the ritualistic words are in Tulu, and subtitle is shown in both English and Kannada at the same time.

The cinematography, acting, direction is all excellent. Amazed to see such high production values in a regional movie about a mini-regional place like Tulunadu. The main story is about the clash between villagers living next to forest and the forest department.

Panjurli the wild boar (Varaha) is the main deity in the movie, it is my family deity too. Same people who worship the wild boar, can be seen hunting the wild boar in the movie. It might sound like a contradiction, but it is not. Wild boars cause the maximum damage to crops, so ancients worshipped the wild board spirit, while killing them to control their population.

The climax can be hard to understand if one is unfamiliar with Guliga. Guliga or Gulige (in Tulu) is an extremely angry and ferocious deity, whose main duty is to eliminate the bad guys. In Kantara movie they interpreted Guliga coming to help the villagers in the climax. They have blended the Guliga dance concepts into the climax scene in a beautiful way.

Rating - 5/5

These are scenes from the play Shivadhootha Gulige. The guy who plays Gulige in this play also played the role of Guruva (Shiva's brother) in Kantara. The ferocity of Gulige can be understood if you see this video. Then the Kantara climax might make more sense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0iPtfFe-7M

Guliga, or Guligan as the diety is referred to in North Malabar, has already made an appearance in your thread, courtesy...me:D

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ml#post2047084

Unfortunately, all local Gods have been relegated to secondary status throughout most of North Kerala due to reasons that are beyond the scope of this thread

Have to watch this movie when it gets released in OTT

Not in Coastal Karnataka though. It has become bigger and bigger. Now Kantara might make it even more popular.

I agree with Samurai. I am from North Malabar, it is growing bigger and more popular now a days.
As you said waiting for OTT release to watch Kantara.

Watched the movie Kanthara in PVR hubli yesterday. It was completely full. I thought it's just another hype. But it isn't. It's a very nice movie. Rishab Shetty has done wonderful job with his character. Not surprised as he was also into Yakshagana if I am not mistaken.

P.S - can be scary for kids.

Rating it 4/5

Kantara : 4/5

I think enough has been said about the movie. Went with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised, and enjoyed it quite much (even though I had to rely on the subtitles). The end could have been shortened by 10 mins instead of unnecessarily extended fighting sequence just before the end scene, but I guess movie makers find it a necessity to showcase the hero as an one-man-army.

P.s. For those on the fence wrt to watching it, give it two weeks - Amazon Prime are a 'partner' to the movie.

Nice of you to write that way it is pronounced. :)

I saw reviews in Hindi and Tamil, they are all mispronouncing as it is written in English. The correct pronunciation is कांतारा or ಕಾಂತಾರ.

I am not a book reader, but listening through podcasts. It is a 5-parter, where each part is about 13-14 hours. That is how big the source material is.

I am on chapter 33 of 60 on the 1st part, and yes there are lot of characters so far to keep track :)

In 2022, it is best done as a web series, which would do more justice to the source material. But colleagues who've read the books, have reviewed positively about the movie.

I started ‘Re-Reading’ the book Ponniyin Selvam’ after 3 decades. By the time I finish, it’ll be on OTT

PS1 was an ideal recipe for an OTT series, like for example GoT. I’m getting mixed reviews from those who have watched it.

Maybe off topic...
Kantara is probably the correct transliteration of ಕಾಂತಾರ (कांतारा)
In ASCII based transliteration schemes for Indian languages ta = ತ / त; tha = ಥ / थ; Ta = ಟ / ट
In some schemes t stands for the soft ತ / त while ṭ (with dot below) stands for the hard ಟ / ट.
So the reverse transliteration of Kanthara would be ಕಾಂಥಾರ / कांथारा

Booked tickets for family for Kanthara in Sydney. I am going to the theater after more than 7 years. My daughter is 6 years old and its her first movie in a theater, hope she does not get too scared.

Though I do not belong to tulunaadu, my place borders it(ಘಟ್ಟದ ಮೇಲೆ). We do follow some spillover cultures of tulunaadu. I believe I am well-versed with different kannada dialects of costal region(do not understand Tulu), anyway it will get tested. I hope I can understand the subtle nuances and have fun.