The signature motif of ¡°Kantara: A Legend ¡ª Chapter 1,¡± India¡¯s second-biggest box-office success of 2025, is a primordial scream. It may as well be the sound of old Bollywood in its death throes or the birth pangs of a new industry.
¡°Kantara,¡± described by its writer-director Rishab Shetty as ¡°faith, culture and devotion in all its glory,¡± isn¡¯t standard Bollywood fare. For one thing, the film wasn¡¯t made in Mumbai, India¡¯s financial and entertainment capital. Nor is it targeted primarily at a Hindi-speaking audience.
Filmed in Kannada, a southern Indian language spoken by more than 50 million people, the story is about a mysterious forest ¡ª and the preternatural forces that reside in it. The overall experience is a bit like ¡°The Northman,¡± except that the Viking legends have been replaced by homegrown deities and an animistic tradition of spirit worship that has spawned an art form. When they aren¡¯t fighting a greedy landlord, forest dwellers dress up in colorful costumes and exotic headgear and enter a trance through their dance. That¡¯s when they let out their bloodcurdling screams.
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