Kantara

“Heady blend of history, myth, folklore, high drama and stylishly choreographed action neatly wrapped in a form firmly rooted in the cultural milieu it has sprung from.”

Rating: 4 stars | Full review

“While the subservient might feel that they are adequately represented through the movie, the gaze of Kantara is that of the upper caste and its unambiguous affirmation of a stratified society. Hence, there is something in it for all tastes that makes it strategically a win-win situation. With the success of this movie, the world is now well aware of this hitherto lesser known hybrid form of cathartic worship of the divine and has probably annexed it as its own. After all, like the cannabis joints that Shiva intakes in the movie, this form of worship, too, is out-of-the-world and transcendental. “

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“Kantara… asks an old question that never got old: Who owns the land? Three possible answers: the king, the landlord, or the people. Or no one – land is eternal, and so is its owner, the Almighty (or nature itself). This tripartite struggle marks the screenplay, too… Its climactic arc is a thing of bewitching beauty, following its own three-act structure: betrayal, resolution, beginning.”

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“The primary achievement of Kantara is to avoid the dry rationalist approach of political cinema and embrace the irrational… The conclusion of the film is deeply moving… The use of Carnatic music at the eventual climax is incongruous since it is Brahminical while we are dealing with tribal belief.”

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