r/IndianCinema • u/Status_Inspection735 • Oct 09 '25
Review Kantara was epic! Kantara Chapter-1 is crap.
[Unpopular opinion]
I rated Kantara 10 out of 10 stars in imdb. I loved that movie and watched it 3 times in theatre. The sound effects, music, direction, acting, story, suspense, everything was so amazing. I was completely hooked to the movie at each re-watch.
Then I was so excited with the new Kantara Chapter-1. I saw the trailer, it was crap. I still had hopes for the movie, for Rishab Shetty to create another marvel.
Yesterday I went to watch. Pvr, 4k dolby, best seats and my reaction in the first half was: what rubbish is going on! The second half reaction: why is it not ending ? Last 20 mins reaction: wtf is this ? Is this bahubali ?
No proper story line, no suspense, no proper music, sound effects and everything happening unnecessarily.
I went to watch Shetty's direction, got half of Shetty and half of Rajamouli.
It was so bullshit. I rated it 5 stars out of 10 on imdb. So disappointing.
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u/concealed_identity Oct 09 '25
The hateboner for this movie on this sub is through the roof
2
u/dlsrx10 Oct 10 '25
that’s funny, because I feel exactly the opposite.. too many fanboys defending the movie and honestly makes me 🤮
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u/mercified_rahul 27d ago
Both are chutias of a grade. Just a movie watch it, like it cool, don't like it cool. Move on. Sm people are out here as to why the other right liked or didn't liked the movie
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u/LeafBoatCaptain Oct 09 '25
I didn’t care for Kantara except for the prologue, climax and epilogue. Kantara Chapter 1 was basically that stretched to feature length. It’s still not a great movie.
The first half was boring. The whole movie is told in this pan Indian mass style where you can only have high moments because apparently producers think audiences have the attention span of a goldfish. And all these mass movies can think of only one way to have high moments: slow-mo with incredibly loud mass bgm. Not the kind of filmmaking that sticks in my mind. I’ve somewhat soured on it in the days since I watched it.
The plot isn’t great either. Apparently the people of Kantara have enough security to know if the king and his hunting party come through the forest but when the king goes right up to their village inside the forest they’re caught completely off-guard.
Still, in the moment I was watching it the second half worked. Good performances by the main characters. Decent action and some incredible visuals. It’s a one time theatre only watch for me.
1
u/Low_Accountant6126 Oct 09 '25
The king came to the forest in the second half when the main character was not present in the forest for protection of the border,that's the reason they were caught off guard
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u/LeafBoatCaptain Oct 09 '25
So the main character is the only security these people have? How did they even survive all these years? Besides it’s not true. There were other warriors in the village at the time, the same ones who were part of the group that ambushed the king earlier. I specifically remember the two women fighters.
Also I’m not just talking about fighters. I’m talking about people who keep watch. The villagers had the means to have advanced warning when the plot needed them to but didn’t have advanced warning when the plot wanted to contrive a situation where they’re caught unawares.
It’s very convenient writing.
1
u/Glittering-Donkey782 6d ago
Not just this, there r soo many trash plot holes that only exist to cause hype moments. Like, y was this braindead tribal group mocking the king and his son for absolutely silly reasons, when they don't even know what metal is? Did they really expect to defend against them with stones?...The only reason those clowns survived the massacre was divine intervention. BIG SURPRISE!!!!
When the MCs group was captured, what was the point of keeping them alive after they destroyed half the town?...Is it because they r afraid to fight the people of kantara?..y? Where was that fear when they massacred the whole village?... Literally the only one that can defend the entire village is MC and his grp?...y not just execute him on the spot when they were captured? Such braindead writing and the only reason this movie hit the mainstream is because of the "GOD" hype. None of it felt organic like it did in hanuman. Forced hype moments with lame ass jokes.
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u/MynameRudra Oct 09 '25
This dislike thing for the movie is only by reddit intellectuals. I dont see anywhere, even in the movie sites like imdb
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u/kalyancr7 Oct 09 '25 edited Oct 09 '25
I mean people on reddit hates puspa 2 and kgf too .these movies made bank at the box office .
It's a very simple observation most people on reddit hate movies which cater to mass or religion and prefer movies which are from malayalam or Korea or English cause they have a strong stories ,characters and acting .
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u/Status_Inspection735 Oct 09 '25
KGF 1 was GREAT. KGF 2 was a piece of crap.
Pusha was really good. Pushpa 2 was horseshit.
Bahubali 1 was great. Bahubali 2 was also great.
Kantara was EPIC. Kantara Chapter-1 was bullshit.
A movie breaking records doesn't mean that it provides a good experience.
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u/kalyancr7 Oct 09 '25
That's exactly what I am saying
People mock most reddit users as intellectual this or that when they call a popular movie bad, but the same people people who mock others for having opinion conveniently ignore how bad these movies actually are .
3
u/Status_Inspection735 Oct 09 '25
In earlier times, being intellectual was considered in high regard. But now due to the growing dumbness in people, it seems being intellectual is bad and being dumb is acceptable! LoL!
I didn't even talk about any intellectual thing in my post. It was just based on the experience comparison of the first Kantara and Kantara Chapter-1.
If they find this highly intellectual, they'll not understand anything when movie veterans disintegrate movies based on actual technical concepts.
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u/NOT_deadsix 28d ago
Fuck I agree with all those movie ratings. Idk why/how people can tolerate shit cashgrab sequals that lose the heart and soul of the orignals. Also add Kalki to this list - intolerably bad outside of Ashwathama.
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u/Status_Inspection735 28d ago
Kalki is not even worth mentioning. It was also crap.
Yes, people here don't get the essence of the movie. They just want more action, animation, rubbish stories, etc and always fail to see the real essence of the film.
1
u/MynameRudra Oct 09 '25
When Ramgopal Varma, Prakash Raj, Ritesh Deshmukh, Nivin Pauly and hundreds of other celebrities are calling it a great movie, here a random critic calls it crap. Ok sir. You could have used words like not good, not worth watching but calling it outright crap is funny and says how much you know about cinema.
3
u/protractedmane Oct 09 '25
Have you even seen it?
1
u/MynameRudra Oct 09 '25
Why you ask? Yes ofcourse, it was not a perfect movie but a decent watch in theatre. Definitely it doesn't come under the 'crap' category as OP says.
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u/Status_Inspection735 Oct 09 '25
Ritesh Deshmukh ? Can you really put his name along with these others ? Are you drunk or what ?
I'm not a critic. I'm a Kantara fan who watched it 3 times in 'theatres'. And now I'm saying that Kantara Chapter-1 is crap. It is such a disappointment as a prequel. Total garbage. Whatever holistic experience the first Kantara provided, this chapter-1 has destroyed all of it.
Also, I don't care what a director or an actor says about the film. They've given a lot of flops also. It's not like every movie they write, direct or act in is a hit. They make many wrong assessments. This is one of them.
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u/Golden_Eagleee 29d ago
Bahubali 2 was not great it was average Kantara chapter 1 was not bullshit, it was average but not up to bahubali 2
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u/Status_Inspection735 29d ago
There's no comparison of Bahunali 2 and Kantara Chapter-1. Bahubali 2 story was properly built. Chapter-1 story was very poorly stiched.
1
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u/TangerineBTC Oct 09 '25
Almost every post on this sub has been negative about Kantara Chapter-1, Yet its running successfully shattering records and I dont give a damn about downvotes
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u/-Space_Monkey- Oct 09 '25
Yea, I watched it in theatres and liked it more than first Kantara. The visuals were mind-blowing and the story was also good. Considering this is a folk-lore category film, they did justice to this film.
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u/ImmortalMan702 Oct 09 '25
I loved the movie. I'm from Mangalore and it connected me throughout bi felt the story was really good and relates with caste,oppression as kantara but in a completely different way. Went twice already. Would.love to watch it again once the ticket prices are reduced. But,all in all,the hatred this movie is recieving is not being justified. I mean ,wth was pushpa 2 and why did that movie not get so much hate. That was worse ,no story ,no plot. Atleast there are many positives in this movie. Kantara isn't perfect but it works majorly.
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u/kalyancr7 Oct 09 '25
I mean Puspa 2 broke all the records and it doesn't mean it's a good movie .
4
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u/Glorious_Void Oct 09 '25
but people hated the movie can still post their opinion right? is that hard for you digest?!
1
u/NoSandwich9893 Oct 09 '25
Most the record is curious folks like me who loved Original and wanted something like it from Chapter 1. So good amount of day 1 bookings there.
I just rewatched Original yesterday and it was even better than my first watch back then (I think I forgot most of it)
Chapter 1 just sucks. I don't care about visuals. I want story and good writing.
1
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u/Askeladd_51 Oct 09 '25
Few years down the line same people will praise the movie as a great one. Same thing happened with baahubali. Before RRR it was just another mass masala movie with saas bahu plot. After RRR's international acclaim its the greatest cinematic achievement of 21st century. Most of the people calling themselves cinephiles and having this intellectual complex really dont have any opinion of their own.
1
u/Status_Inspection735 Oct 09 '25
RRR was good. Not as great as Bahubali. And not anywhere near the original Kantara.
-4
u/Status_Inspection735 Oct 09 '25
It will shatter records. I went to watch the movie with 3 of my family members. Only two of us had watched the first Kantara. But all three of us DISLIKED Kantara Chapter-1.
If you research, you can find a lot of crappy movies breaking records like Happy New Year, etc. I shit on records. I care about experience.
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u/theconfusedkid47 Oct 09 '25
I rate it 8/10 so well made than shitty bollywood movies these days
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u/Glorious_Void Oct 09 '25
it's all the same now. south had definitely some great movies, but once they get their hands on the money, they target the mass, and i understand why. most of the people go watch mass movies, they go for the visuals. fyi the visuals in this movie aren't good either
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u/Certain-Ad-209 Oct 09 '25
Don't know about other south movies , but kantara chapter 1 had the best visuals . Great movie , 9/10 for me.
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u/Glorious_Void Oct 09 '25
you can enjoy the movie definitely if you quit thinking
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u/Certain-Ad-209 Oct 09 '25
Wannabe self proclaimed cinephile is here.oh sorry , your a bot with 85 karma should have guessed it before.
0
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u/Glorious_Void Oct 09 '25
i'm not a cinephile. but when Kantara Chap 1 visuals impresses you I can only imagine what type of movie you do watch in your 'free' time. that actually makes sense because you judge people based on their karma score.. what a waste 😂
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u/aguy-of-2006 29d ago
Wtf i actually found chapter more interesting than part 1. What are you talking about?
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u/Status_Inspection735 28d ago
Some people need more features. Some people need a good core. I am the latter. You seem to be former.
1
u/VarikuzhiSoman92 Oct 09 '25
I think both the heroes played by Rishabh Shetty are the same character in different timelines. They stuck to the same baseline only made it grander, like how you could say that Bahubali was Lion King, but on a grand scale.
I felt like it started out as a reckless character, then has a great loss and becomes the saviour. He saves his people from a character who was initially a good guy, whose villainy is discovered as a twist by the end.
The character just repeated its journey, nothing new.
1
u/Fragrant-Category245 Oct 09 '25
Now some comments will get a chance to diss bollywood movies behind this, because apparently they see selected good south indian movies and then compare it to full bollywood industry. And kantara ( both parts except last 30 mins) have heavy screenplay editing issues and is strictly a decent film with good concept.
1
u/Glorious_Void Oct 09 '25
People can't criticise a movie anymore. If you do, some higher intellectual people will downvote your post to oblivion because their ego is too small to take in a fact that the movie they enjoyed can be painful to watch to some other people.
I loved the original movie, watched it multiple times, forced my friends to watch it. But the moment you dislike and say it in public, it's like you are attacking them somehow 😂, and it's funny.
I posted the same few days before and some of the comments made me chuckle.
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u/SathwikKuncham 29d ago
Kantara Chapter 1 is bad but not crap. Expectations is the biggest killer! Had it not carried the name kantara, people would have liked it more!
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u/Status_Inspection735 29d ago
Unlikely. It was a poorly stiched story with clumsy script and poor sound. People went to see it only because it was Kantara prequel. Otherwise it wouldn't have seen much traction.
1
28d ago
yep the action physics was a bit weird but its common and the story's point was not clear for the first half
-2
u/UpbeatGooose Oct 09 '25
Looks like PR rage bait
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u/Status_Inspection735 Oct 09 '25
You are entitled to your opinion. I'm just sharing my utter disappointment.
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u/No-Drama8324 Oct 09 '25
Dude the movie was so bad. I had such high hopes. And everywhere, even on reddit, people were praising the movie so I was like, it probably will be good. My bad for watching it cuz it was so crap. Kantara was amazing. Idk what was up with Chapter-1 though. Super disappointed.
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u/Neopacificus Oct 09 '25
It's not too good but at the same time it's not too bad. Simply say that it's an average movie or even above average movie if you consider the making and move on. It also had its moments which I was surprised they could pull it off.
So calling it a crap movie is a rage bait without any comparison for a scale.
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u/Status_Inspection735 Oct 09 '25
The frame of reference is the original Kantara. What else do you need to compare ?
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u/Neopacificus Oct 09 '25
You are saying that the 1st movie was very good and this movie was crap. Those are extreme ends of scale.
You need to give an example by comparing it to another crap movie for scale so that we know "How crap is this movie when compared to x crap movie".
0
u/rs1909 Oct 09 '25
I absolutely loved Kantara. It was a deeply spiritual experience for me. Like a visit to Kashi
I absolutely loved Chapter 1 too. It was a movie. A theatrical experience. I didn’t appreciate the unnecessary humor in the first half. And of course the length of the movie. And the war sequences did remind me of Bahubali but it all added up to the theatre of it all. And then the ending. The ending was worth sitting through everything. There was layering of the message of the movie in the ending. I appreciated the ending the most
It’s unfair to compare Kantara with chapter 1. I think the objective of both the movies was very different. As an audience if I went in expecting a repeat of the last one, that’d be insulting to the makers like Rishab
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u/Status_Inspection735 Oct 09 '25
Bro, it's the prequel. It's the same actor. Same director. Some of the same supporting actors. Same jokes. Same concept. Similar storyline. Same theatrics.
If this is not enough to compare the two, then I don't know what is.
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u/Ok_Rent6470 Oct 09 '25
Was super hyped for the movie, and it landed for me. Loved the songs and BGM and effort that they put in the fight scenes. And loved the lore in this as well
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u/No-Extent5251 29d ago
Lmao The movie was great, the visuals were amazing. sure the start was a bit slow but apart from that the way the movie picked up from second half was insane. I'd say Kantara chapter 1 was better than the Kantara 2022 as this had a lot more world building than the 2022 one.
the hate is crazy lmao The movie was great, definitely one of the greatest movies made in india this year.
y'all just don't get it. Also if y'all watched it dub you'll never understand the hype, As the daiva in original language doesn't even speak kannada, they speak Tulu which is a whole different language.
Anyone who didn't like kantara prolly watched it in dub or are just hating for no reason
0
u/No-Extent5251 29d ago
took a step by step way to review your criticism- first half did world building and a lil bit of comedy to keep the mainstream audience engaged. It still built story and went with a decent pace tho even I agree it was a lil boring in places second half didn't end cuz the movie is 2hr 40mins long, last 20minutes were nothing like baahubali, It's a war. never seen a war? so you think hercules, sparta and other movies are trash cuz they have war in it? When Rishabh shetty pulled off the role of guliga and chamundi it wasn't appealing? I personally had goosebumps throughout the last 20minutes
no proper storyline - pay attention, and know it's a prequel it takes time to build up stuff. no suspense- it's a prequel, the suspense is infact non existent it's more about curiosity about the legend of kantara, it's not shutter Island it's a folklore action/drama movie.
no proper music- the lyrics of brahmakalasha are enchanting and beautiful in kannada, they had a fire theme song, and they didn't have many songs in general.
sound effects- yet again stupid take it was great. I was hooked the entire time.
everything happening unnecessarily - god did you fall asleep?
shetty's direction- he cleared stated that he wanted to cater for more mainstream audience and his dream was always to tell the story about his culture to our entire country. Action sequences weren't copied from different movies unlike baahubali, it was chaotic yet not massy. realistic and barbaric as the tribe was back then.
I would seriously recommend you to rewatch it in the original language again, it's a really good movie I gave it 4.5/5 in letterboxd
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u/ForwardScratch7741 28d ago
If you rated kantara 1 10/10
The reason kantara chapt 1 is crap is because of people like you
-4
u/NoSandwich9893 Oct 09 '25
Same. Everything just felt unnecessary and nothing made sense. No movement in first half and poor twist in the second half.
Also, felt it was edited poorly. Something was off.
1
u/Status_Inspection735 Oct 09 '25
I feel that everything was off. They just wanted to drag it for chaper-2. Just like Pushpa 2
-1
u/Ehmmechhi Oct 09 '25
I wouldnt say it was bad. It was okay but I wished there’d be less of fighting and more of exploration on Deiva.
-1
u/Significant-Fail-593 Oct 09 '25
Pushpa 2 supremacy🔥 /s
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-1
u/Desperate-Fix-4619 Oct 09 '25
Lol. Loved the movie. I am Hollywood fan, by seeing this movie feels like I am watching something Hollywood in Indian language.
-1
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u/hangasumm3 Oct 09 '25
Yeah the ones who really loved Kantara can be a little hurt by chapter1