Kantara - Chapter 1

Kantara aka Mystical Forest.

In the 1800s, there lived a king who had a great kingdom and a loving family. He had everything he needed but could not find peace. In search of peace and happiness, he sets out on a journey in the deep forests and comes upon a holy stone in a forest occupied by Panjurli, a deity that protects the villagers residing in the forest. He donates a vast portion of his land to the villagers in exchange for taking the stone with him. Panjurli warns the king that his family and successors should keep their word and not reclaim the land, for if he does, he will have to face the wrath of Panjurli's companion, the ferocious demigod, Guliga. 

Fast forward to the 1970s, the King's descendant, during the religious procession, asks a performer, possessed by Panjurli, to make the locals hand over the land to him. The performer refuses and states the former will die vomiting blood if he tries to reclaim it. The descendant is skeptical of the performer's possession by Panjurli, to which the performer replies he would vanish if he is possessed, after which he runs into a forest and is never seen again. As warned, the king's successor dies mysteriously, vomiting blood a few months later on the steps of the court, where he was going to argue the land case.

The year 1990:

Murali, a forest officer, is tasked with converting the villagers' land into a forest reserve. However, he is challenged by Shiva, the missing performer's son. Shiva is backed by his patron and the village's landlord, Devendra Suttooru, who is the king's descendant in the present. Although Shiva has repeatedly been asked to perform the religious prayer aka Bhoota Kala, he refuses due to the trauma of his father's disappearance. Instead, his cousin Guruva takes his place. 

This is the general setup of the movie. The first half of the movie is like any other movie, setting up characters and scenes and the love story of the protagonist. 
Rishab Shetty, director and lead actor, has done justice to himself by correctly portraying the character of Shivanna. He also plays the performer possessed by Panjurli who vanishes in the jungle, his dad. It is that memory of his father vanishing in thin air that stops Shivanna from taking his father's place in the processions. 

The movie is about a rowdy village following their simple day-to-day lives, a third-generation (?) landlord who doesn't believe in the myths of the past, an initially misinterpreted forest officer, and the mysteries of the jungle. 

DO NOT MISS the last action scene of the movie. Rishab Shetty has done full justice to the possessed character. It reminded me of Vidya Balan in Bhool Bhulaiya. I saw the last fight scene more than 10 times after first watching the movie. 

My rating: 4.5/5

MUST WATCH!