Pushpender Kumar (Golu)

The movie at its core, is about the ownership of forest (or land) between the villagers, the original “Dani family” (descendants of King’s family) and the Government who want to convert the forest into a reserve area. But inter-weaving the elements of panjurli (demi-God) dance, Kambala festival and the beautiful use of Varaha avatara of Vishnu (Varaha avatara, again, is a Boar who protects Earth or land out of the cosmic ocean), makes Kantara a satisfyingly unique experience in today’s movie landscape. Kantara doesn’t ridicule or trivialize any of the rituals of Dakshina Karnataka, but embraces them wholeheartedly to remind us that rituals are a way of life in India and needs an introspection instead of blindly rejecting them.