Every once in a while, a movie comes along to shatter your own existence and rethink your whole belief system regarding cinema.
It will make you question: What did I just see?

Kantara is that kind of cinema, the movie which was released a week ago in the Kannada belt got wide release this week as Hindi dubbed. I was waiting for the OTT release in the original language, but couldn’t resist and finally watched the dubbed version. The rave reviews had already created too much curiosity and the movie went beyond my expectations.

A social drama, a psychological thriller, musical choreography, or a cinematic extravaganza whatever you may call it, but all can be found in this single film. In particular, the climax, those heart-thumping 20 minutes and the sheer high-voltage performance by Rishab Shetty, the actor-director, is something that has not been witnessed on the big screen for a very long time.

Kantara, a mystery forest, tells a story of tribal in a village, highlighting all human relations and values; anger, silence, greed, betrayal, and love. It tells the story of how one must not go against nature with a mix of mythology and cultural rituals.
Without giving much of the story away, the movie has a linear story line with many moments of comedy, thrill, and conflict during the first half. The game of deceit and betrayal begins in the second half with a mind-blowing climax.

When you have a rope-tight script with an engaging screenplay, then everything falls into place.
Be it cinematography, performance or action, each department has excelled. We get to witness something that we haven’t seen before.

Regarding the much talked about climax. The Kannada industry has mastered their climax. Be it KGF Part 1 or the recent Vikrant Rona or even this movie, each of the movies has outdone each other with their climax. The biggest USP of the movie for me would be Rishab Shetty, both as an actor and as a director. It still amazes me how did this one person thought of those scenes in his head before executing on the screen. The guy is somewhat genius to think and present such movie.