Kantara vs Tumbbad debate: Political correctness taking over cinema will lead to death of storytelling

Filmmaker Anand Gandhi who served as the creative director for the 2018 period horror Tumbbad, landed himself in hot water over the weekend for his comments on Rishab Shetty-directorial Kantara. Gandhi was less than pleased with viewers who compared Tumbbad to Kantara, which he felt was a ‘celebration of toxic masculinity’. Shiva, the protagonist in Kantara, is a hunting, flesh-eating, hyper-masculine Kambala player who emerges as the guardian of his village and the tribals. Some scenes in Kantara were massively criticised for being inappropriate – particularly the one where Shiva intrudes on Leela’s privacy when she is bathing. On another occasion, Shiva pinches Leela’s hips when she returns from her training. Leela is aghast and taken aback by Shiva’s gestures. The next day, Leela’s father shows up on Shiva’s doorstep presumably to give him an earful for his inappropriate behaviour with Leela. Instead, Leela’s father is clueless and claims that he did the same at Shiva’s age.

The blatant display of misogyny in Kantara is disturbing at first. It made many viewers and critics uncomfortable. Perhaps, the climax of the film overshadowed such problematic scenes could have potentially led to massive outrage. Gandhi’s tweet on the same received many replies, some argued that showing Shiva as a lecherous man was important to cement his transition from debauchery to enlightenment.

Kantara depicts the journey from debauchery to enlightenment, the nativism playing an enabling role. Tumbbad is the exact opposite- a glorification of debauchery and stereotyping of the natives.

You’re right – Kantara is nothing like Tumbbad.

— The Road to Serfdom (@quark_time) December 3, 2022

It is important to note here that Kantara is set in the 1990s. It is based on the lives of natives living in a Mangalorean forest far away from the urban cities and towns. It is not entirely unfair to expect a period drama to celebrate progressive ideas and champion gender equality. Shows like Stranger Things, Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and House of the Dragon – all set in a much older timeline have had gay characters and championed women’s rights. But incorporating such ideas into period dramas can be difficult for any filmmaker simply because the ideas are relatively new and weren’t as popular in the time these films were set in. One must understand that a Shiva pinching Leela’s hips in the 1990s is not the same as a Kabir Singh slapping a Preeti in 2019. The context and the time in which the two films are set is different.

Besides, the misogyny and hyper-masculine traits of Shiva – like hunting animals, eating their flesh, smoking ganja play a key role in making Kantara’s climax impactful. One simply could not have expected Shiva, who wore ganjis with his chest hair popping out and came across as a heterosexual cisgender man, to shave off his beard and don the costume of a Kola dancer in the climax. The shock of seeing Shiva dressed as a Kola dancer and eventually running off into the forest in the final scene made Kantara’s climax so beautiful. The blatant display of misogyny and toxic masculine traits in Kantara serve a larger purpose in the grand scheme of things. It is these traits which make Shiva’s transformation – his journey from debauchery to enlightenment – impactful.

Besides, why can’t filmmakers write problematic male characters? If a male character is a) too good to be true or b) problematic with no redeeming qualities, the Left would criticise the filmmaker for not writing gray characters who are layered and have shades of both good and bad. But the moment a filmmaker writes a character like Shiva who is problematic in the way he treats Leela but also protects his land and its people, the filmmaker is accused of celebrating toxic masculinity. “If filmmakers are expected to constantly answer for the worst things their audiences might ever think, no art of value would ever get made,” said film critic Emily VanDerWerff on Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time In Hollywood. Why should the filmmaker be held responsible for what their audience might do after stepping out of the theater? Since when did filmmakers become the gatekeepers of society? Why are we holding them accountable and answerable for every good and bad thought that crosses the mind of their audience? This is the same school of thought which once argued that violent video games lead to an increase in violence. The controversy around the film The Joker in light of an increase in the mass shootings in the US ignited a heated debate on the same.

If we expect our filmmakers to not portray anything slightly problematic, how will they ever be able to push the envelope and make great art? Why are we constantly policing writers and directors and calling them out publicly if they make anything that can be construed as being slightly sexist or misogynist? If this continues, soon all filmmakers will be issuing apologies on a daily basis and making substandard films with no complex characters. In a time when the Indian film industry is struggling to survive, we need to encourage our filmmakers to innovate and experiment with new stories and genres – of course not at the cost of turning a blind eye to misogyny unless it is absolutely necessary for the larger plot of the film, as was the case with Kantara.

Art is meant to be subjective, to push boundaries and make people think. The more we force our filmmakers to be politically correct and get their scripts vetted by legal teams to avoid backlash, no art of great value will come out in the near future.

Deepansh Duggal is an entertainment, pop-culture and trends writer based in New Delhi. He specializes in op-eds based on the socio-political and gender issues in the world of entertainment and showbiz. He also writes explainers and occasionally reviews shows in the OTT space. He tweets at @Deepansh75. 

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.