Kanthara. Review

Land, culture and belief systems are the identities of any tribal society. If any one of these attributes are broken, it create a great impact. The film kanthara tells these cultural underpinnings of a tribal society with an admirable degree of artistic freedom and conceptual understanding.

The plot delivers chronologically from 1870's when a local Raja in search of  peace finds a tribal God's sculpture, following the authorative instruction of his advisor. As the tribesmen refuse to give him their deity, he offers them his land. As generation changes, once the a defied man imbibing the God's spirit was asked about the very reason of these belief, he runs to the forest and vanished. This event made the belief stronger among the people and installed a strong sense of belief.

The film shifts its timeline to 1990's and narrates continuously as the land from the Raja is now under the tribal people because of the early offer. Younger generations of that royal family and the modern forest laws challenges the land ownership of tribal people subsequently and the story build up on such struggles of tribesmen to reestablish their land ownerships and other forest rights, keeping the culture and identity intact.

Positives.

The story is apparently a blend of myth and reality but it managed not to challenge logic and scientific temper.

Great performance from Rishab shetty, especially on the climax, really makes the theatre with a barbaric ignite of tribal customs with furious vistas of rage and revenge. 

Technically, the beauty and lifestyle of a transitioning tribal area is impressively captured by the cinematographer. Art direction deserves special round of applause for recreating such a society with minute detailing. 

It invites our attention towards debatable questions like land ownership, castism, feudalism, corruption, exploitation of forest produce and Govt intervention in a tribal world where the morality and justice of modern day seems strange.

Negatives.

First half of the film may feel comparatively slow. After 20 years, from 1950 to 1970, the change in the upper class feudal family, is less convincing. It's shown that the old king as the one who search for peace and happiness but the story itself didn't mention any reason for his sorrows. 

Rating.

Sometimes, To uphold the belief systems, every society should sacrifice something. It can be the lives of animals in the form of rituals or the humans too. People often deserves to have their faith rewarded.  I am awarding 8/10 for this film and suggest everyone to watch it on big screen for better experience.