Comparing Kantara and Avatar: The Last Airbender
I recently watched the movie Kantara( ಕಾಂತಾರ: ಒಂದು ದಂತಕಥೆ). It is an incredible and spectacular movie, I can’t remember the last time I walked out of a movie theater with such a sense of awe, being completely mesmerized.
The movie is set in the forested lands of coastal Karnataka and parts of Kerala which is collectively called Tulu Nadu( ಪರಶುರಾಮ ಕ್ಷೇತ್ರ). The basic premise of the movie is the tussle between humans and nature and how the native communities who live in those lands find balance with nature while dealing with insensitive government officers and other greedy and moneyed landlords.
Another significant theme in the movie is the Tulu Nadu traditions of Bhoota Kola and Daivaradhane which are shown very well. In the Tulu Nadu region, the daivas and bhootas are like demigods and guardian spirits that are worshipped by the local communities, and these spirits are considered a bridge between humans and nature.
In the movie, the village folk worship two sibling spirits called Panjurli and Guliga. The hero of the movie is Kaadubettu Shiva, a Kambala champion, who has a connect with these spirits; the movie is about how he takes on the entire system, both the government and the landlord, and how the spirits and the traditions of Bhoota Kola and Daivaradhane play into these battles. I will not go into the details of the plot and storyline, for that you can go watch the movie. But I would like to point out a few parallels between this movie and another animated series based on a fantasy universe called Avatar: The Last Airbender( this is the Avatar created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, not the one created by James Cameron), which is also heavily inspired by eastern philosophies and traditions.
This concept of daivas, bhootas, and guardian spirits of the Tulu Nadu region as shown in the Kantara movie is akin to the concept of spirits in the Avatar series. Spirits in the Avatar universe are a vast range of metaphysical and supernatural entities that represent and embody various aspects of life and nature. The Northern Water Tribe who live in the north pole revere and draw their power from two spirits called Tui and La, which are in the form of Koi fish.
Tui and La are the Moon and Ocean spirits and they live in the Spirit Oasis, a sacred land for the Northern Water Tribe. They are twin spirits that exist together, they represent the yin and yang of the universe, push and pull — they have circled each other in an eternal dance and they have balanced each other. That has been the nature of their relationship since the beginning of time.
This is similar to the Panjurli and Guliga daivas that guard the forests in Kantara. These bhootas balance each other like yin and yang, Vishnu and Shiva.
Now coming back to Avatar, towards the end of season 1, the Fire Nation army led by Admiral Zhao lays siege to the Northern Tribe, and the Fire Nation army eventually makes their way into the Sacred Oasis where Admiral Zhao manages to kill Tui, the moon spirit. This effectively blocks out the moon rendering the Northern Water tribe powerless and defenseless against the advancing Fire Nation army. The Water tribe people begin to lose hope and Princess Yue says, “All is lost now, there is no hope left.”
At this point La, the ocean spirit merges with Ang and turns into this giant spirit monster embodying the rage of the ocean. This spirit monster is able to summon immense power and destructive force, using which it destroys the Fire Nation’s navy fleet and defeats their army.
In a similar fashion, towards the finale of Kantara, a war breaks out between the village folk and the hired henchmen of the landlord, Devendra Suttooru. The mercenaries of Devendra Suttooru prove too much for the villagers to handle. Suttooru’s men manage to kill Kaadubettu Shiva or at least render him completely unconscious. Devendra Suttooru seems to be on the brink of victory and all hope seems to be lost for the villagers. That is when Guliga daiva possesses Shiva’s body, and their combined force destroys the remainder of Suttooru’s henchmen and also decapitates Suttooru himself.
I felt this was very similar to how Ang and La, the ocean spirit, merge to defeat the Fire Nation.
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Kantara is a thrilling movie, I strongly recommend you go watch it. The Bhoota Kola and the accompanying song at the end of the movie is very good and will likely stay in your head long after you have left the movie theater. Its lyrics are as follows -
ವರಾಹ ರೂಪಂ ದೈವ ವರಿಷ್ಟಂ
ವರಸ್ಮಿತ ವದನಂ
ವಜ್ರ ದಂತಧರ ರಕ್ಷಾ ಕವಚಂ
ಶಿವ ಸಂಭೂತ ಭುವಿ ಸಂಜಾತ
ನಂಬಿದವ ಗಿಮ್ಬು ಕೊಡುವವನೀತ
ಸಾವಿರ ದೈವದ ಮನ ಸಂಪ್ರೀತ
ಬೇಡುತ ನಿನ್ದೆವು ಆರಾಧಿಸುತ
