Anand Gandhi says Kantara celebrates ‘toxic masculinity’

• Kantara, directed by Rishab Shetty, doesn’t seem to have impressed filmmaker Anand Gandhi.
• Anand expressed his opinions about the movie on Twitter.
• A few others agreed with Anand’s ideas.

Kantara, directed by Rishab Shetty, doesn’t seem to have impressed filmmaker Anand Gandhi. The director served as the creative director of Tumbbad and produced movies such as the critically praised Ship of Theseus (2013). He states that, contrary to what many people have said after viewing the new Kannada film, Kantara is nothing like his Tumbbad.

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Anand expressed his opinions about the movie on Twitter. “Kantara is nothing like Tumbbad. My idea behind Tumbbad was to use the horror as an allegory of toxic masculinity and parochialism. Kantara is a celebration of these,” he wrote.

A few others agreed with Anand’s ideas. “Those who will understand the films will understand this as well. Your work was in a different league altogether,” read a comment on his tweet. “Kantara is everything wrong with present India.. unfortunately the film is celebrated,” read another.

The film directed by Rishab Shetty, was premiered on September 30. It received a tremendous amount of positive feedback from viewers for its plot and stunning cinematography. Kantara, which is set in the fictional village of Dakshina Kannada, centres on the Kambala champion Shetty (Rishab), who engages in combat with a moral Forest Range officer.

Kantara, a Hombale Films production, features south actor Kishore as well as Rishab Shetty, Pramod Shetty, Achyuth Kumar, Sapthami Gowda, and other leading actors. While the movie received positive reviews and made more than 400 crore at the box office, some people have criticised the sequences in which the lead actor, Shiva, bullies a woman into falling in love with him and acts like a violent village rowdy.

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Previously, the movie has also received criticism from director Abhiroop Basu. Speaking about it Abhiroop, “I feel it’s a mockery of anyone’s intelligence. Poorly made, regressive, loud, replete with tropes, no real character to root for, so-called plot twists appear dishonest and merely serve as gimmicks, the protagonist’s redemption arc is laughable and by the time the film reaches the much talked about climax, I am not really interested anymore.”

He also added, “But I guess it shouldn’t really be shocking for a film that forces you to believe in ‘divine intervention’ earning aplenty, especially in a time when you are trying hard as a country to prove the scientific relevance of a mythological character. So really, it all fits in.”