‘Kantara: Chapter 1’ review: A wooooooaaaav-worthy tale of enchantment

Wooooooaaaav! The signature cry of humans infused with godly powers turned Rishab Shetty’s Kannada-language Kantara (2022) into a national phenomenon. In Kantara: Chapter 1, Shetty goes back in time for the origin story of the roar.

Centuries ago, during the reign of the Kadamba dynasty, the ruler of the Bangra kingdom makes the mistake of straying into the sacred Kantara forest. That man’s son, Rajasekhara (Jayaram), stays clear of Kantara, as does his son Kulashekara (Gulshan Devaiah) and daughter Kanakavathi (Rukmini Vasanth).

Instead, Kantara comes to Bangra. Forest dwellers led by Berme (Rishab Shetty) travel to Bangra to learn the secrets of the kingdom’s wealth, military prowess, mastery over iron – and trade. In the Bangra marketplace, Berme finds Arab and Portuguese spice traders selling the forest’s produce at vastly higher rates. Berme also meets Kanakavathi, who is intrigued by Berme’s raw machismo and business acumen.

Kulashekara is initially too dissolute to care. As Bangra’s new king, Kulashekara is so steeped in drunken revelry that he ignores Berme’s Spartacus-like rise from tribal outlier to alternate power centre.

Berme’s journey from foundling to celestial warrior winds past bruising battles between his people and Bangra’s military.

Shetty’s screenplay, co-written with Anirudh Mahesh and Shanil Gowtham, is vastly more ambitious than its predecessor, as is the scale of...

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