Kantara: Bollywood is learning all the wrong lessons from all the wrong films
When people like Sanjay Dutt and Ranbir Kapoor say that the principle cause why most Bollywood movies have flopped this 12 months is as a result of they aren’t ‘rooted’ in Indian tradition, they’re talking in code. They aren’t speaking about Bollywood movies in any respect, however the thought of masculinity that these movies venture. And whereas it would sound like they’re championing tales set in villages, they’re really speaking concerning the gruff guys who rule over them.
What these folks actually need — and so they make no bones about this — is Kantara, a movie wherein dudes with beards race buffalo, harass ladies, and battle within the mud.
After months of optimistic word-of-mouth, Kantara arrived (in an admittedly altered type) on Amazon Prime Video this week. And having consumed no advertising and marketing materials past the placing photos of writer-director-star Rishab Shetty’s painted face, I sat down to look at it, reasonably intrigued to search out out what all of the fuss was about. However think about my disappointment once I realised, nearly 10 minutes in, that Kantara isn’t a magic-realist fable set in rural India in any respect, however principally a poisonous KGF clone with a plot denser than the forest wherein its hero lives.
Performed by Shetty, the 12 months’s second-most annoying film Shiva is launched in a battle sequence. He wears a perpetually indignant look on his face, and scoffs on the mere thought of taking ‘permission’. Shiva, you see, has a multigenerational distrust within the authorities. He performs by his personal guidelines, and is considered one thing of a troublemaker in his village. Over the course of the movie, he picks a battle with an area forest officer for merely doing his job, and repeatedly molests a girl till she falls in love with him. He’s the sort of individual you’d wish to keep away from, however for some cause, he’s been chosen to be the protagonist of this film.
You may argue that Shiva is an genuine illustration of what an alpha male dwelling in a ’90s-era Karnataka village could be like. And also you’d be proper. However that isn’t the issue, is it? Shiva is free to be as horrible as he needs. However the query of an ideological deadlock arises solely when the film begins to forgive his horrible behaviour, after which rewards him for it. In doing so, Kantara units Indian filmmaking again by years.
By declaring that Bollywood motion pictures have forgotten what made them particular within the first place, folks like Ranbir Kapoor are rejecting not solely the numerous progress that mainstream Hindi cinema has made within the final decade — aided in no small half by the delicate portrayal of masculinity in Kapoor’s personal movies — however they’re additionally undermining the contributions of colleagues who’ve spent their careers making an attempt to distance themselves from the business’s problematic previous.
It’s a previous that Bollywood filmmakers are determined to return to, although, having satisfied themselves that that is the one factor separating their movies from success. They’ve come to this conclusion after witnessing a number of South Indian movies make crores in Hindi-speaking territories, usually on the expense of main Bollywood releases starring fairly folks whose one Instagram submit would rating ‘likes’ from extra folks than would present as much as their movies.
It’s one factor for massively-mounted motion pictures reminiscent of Pushpa: The Rise, RRR, KGF: Chapter 2, and Ponniyin Selvan: I to generate income — they have been all the time presupposed to — however when a movie like Kantara hits, with out even being reverse-engineered for ‘pan-Indian’ success, it’s important to sit up and take discover. You must ask your self what audiences are drawn to, and extra importantly, why they’re returning for seconds. Produced on a comparatively small funds of Rs 16 crore, the Kannada language movie has made greater than Rs 400 crore up to now. For context, that’s round thrice the entire field workplace of director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi, which reportedly price 10 instances as a lot.
By slapping it with a badge of honour, and failing to criticise its many faults, we’ve set the ball rolling down a path to artistic doom. Simply take a look at the sort of behaviour that it’s endorsing, after which spot the tendencies. This new wave of Indignant Younger Man cinema owes an important debt to the 70s, however whereas Vijay’s mom in Deewar was his ethical compass in some ways, Shiva’s mom in Kantara and Liger’s mom in that nonsensical movie are largely nags. They exist purely to ‘serve’ their sons, generally actually. This can be a stereotype that the typical Indian male would possibly determine with. As an illustration, in a single scene in Kantara, Shiva snaps at his mom for not making his favorite dish.
In one other scene, when his lover Leela brings him meals whereas he’s chained to a tree or one thing, he violently pushes her away. Leela is an attention-grabbing case research, by the way in which. The primary time he ever sees her, Shiva pinches her naked abdomen with out her consent. Later, he peeps at her when she’s showering. The next morning, when Leela and her father come on the lookout for him after he has touched her inappropriately, seemingly indignant at his actions, it appears for some time that the movie is about to carry him accountable for his behaviour.
However no, it seems that they’d come by for a special cause altogether, and Shiva, who was momentarily involved, is let off the hook. Maybe inspired by the dearth of penalties, he coerces Leela to squeeze herself between him and her dad on his motorcycle within the very subsequent second, smirking as he does it. It’s disgusting actually, as a result of the film is aware of what you have been considering — it wouldn’t have performed the misunderstanding for laughs in any other case — and chooses to mock you for it.
Movies like Kantara, and KGF, and Liger, are actively rejecting the millennial thought of masculinity, however they’re additionally displaying a large center finger to nearly each well-rounded feminine character created within the final decade. Having Leela within the film isn’t a difficulty, however right here’s a personality that hardly speaks, has zero company, and exists purely to revolve round Shiva’s orbit. At one level, he straight-up threatens to beat her. She is tertiary supporting character at finest, however by projecting her because the ‘feminine lead’, the film is cruelly desecrating the very that means of these phrases. It’s the equal of a girl being given a hefty promotion in a company set-up, after which being tasked solely with ordering espresso.
Folks watched Kantara and resonated with its portrayal of historical rituals, its anti-caste allegory, and its epic, operatic narrative. However I noticed cruelty. Not like most unhealthy movies, Kantara isn’t clueless. It chooses to take the conservative route. It’s a dinosaur-minded shame, one other ‘Hombale Movie’ severely missing in each humility and humanity.