Bhoota Kola, Guliga, Rain Fight: Behind Kantara's 3 Pivotal Scenes

This interview is part of a new series 'Take Three' by noted film writer Subha J Rao, which breaks down three pivotal scenes for new releases in cinema from South India.

***

The Rishab Shetty-directed Kannada blockbuster Kantara, in which he also co-stars with Kishore, has mesmerised audiences with its Bhoota Kola sequence, and the ferocious dance of the Guliga.

Those who’ve never witnessed the kola before were left in awe, and those who have, were gratified at the on-screen representation of a culture that is an intricate part of their lives.

That awe is precisely what cinematographer Arvind Kashyap hoped the audience would experience. Because that was what he felt when he watched the kola for the first time.

“I’m a Basavanagudi boy and grew up in Bangalore. I watched the Bhoota Kola for the first time during my research for the film. I was mesmerised by the light and sound, music and the experience. It is fascinating how energy transfers from person to person during the kola, and so I decided to recreate that feeling while shooting,” says the 30-year-old cinematographer.

The film is about emotions, but there were not too many close-ups. “We played a lot with close-ups. We used them minimally. We went for extreme close-ups only when we needed it. We reserved it for the very important shots,” says Arvind, who used Arri Alexa mini LF and signature prime lenses for the film.

In a conversation with this writer for OTTplay, Arvind deconstructs three important shots in the film:

The Bhoota Kola

In Kantara, the Bhoota Kola happens over three time frames — in 1890, 1970s and the 1990s. While shooting, Arvind was particular about not beautifying the ritual for the screen. “There was no background lighting as we wanted the attention to be on the performer. At the same time, we had to create the impression of this mystical, magical place. We had to make each of them distinct, as the light sources were different in each of these time periods. For the first, we primarily used fire as the source of light, and lit most faces using torches. The flicker of the fire also added realism and a hint of mystery,” shares Arvind.

Many of the important parts of the film take place at night, and it would have been noticeable if the lighting was artificial. “For instance, for a scene where we wanted to show a full moon, I wanted to use a blue tinge for that sense of mystery. We strung up Chinese lanterns with CFL bulbs and stuck them with blue gel. This lent the kola sequences that hint of something magical. And then, there was Rishab. He was so well trained and had done his homework and so became the character [such] that the audience felt the devotion.”

From the time discussions began, Arvind was looking forward to shooting the climax. “It sounded crazy in the first narration, but we used a visual metaphor of the camera rotating to convey the idea of the circle of life. Again, we wanted this portion to be surreal. Therefore, you have a profusion of blue. For this, I observed a lot

of paintings of mysterious forests, and the light and shade effect. For the scene where the father and the son meet, we lit up about half a kilometre and shot the sequence of him running towards the blue light. It was a challenge.”

The Pre-Climax Rain Fight

For this sequence, Arvind wanted the audience to travel with Shiva, who was high on marijuana. “His vision is very macroscopic and blurred beyond a certain range of vision. That’s what we tried in lensing,” says Arvind.

Usually, this would be shot on a track using a zoom lens, but the team mounted the zoom lens on a gimbal, leading to unique looking shots. “We used a lot of macro shots with a macro lens,” Arvind adds.

This scene was shot exactly a year ago, when the Southwest monsoon was on its way out, but it was still raining. “Our set was in the middle of nowhere and we realised shooting a firefight when it was raining would be very challenging, because we needed a coverage of 200-300 degrees in the night, and that meant lights everywhere. We did a lot of overlapping, because the area was vacant, and this lent additional depth to the rain,” Arvind recounts.

The Guliga Dance

No one except Rishab knew how this sequence was going to shape up. He told Arvind about three or four images that he had in mind; everything else was unplanned and organic. “And I usually like planning my shots,” notes Arvind, wryly. “[But] once it began, the Guliga sequence happened on its own. Vikram Mor did an amazing job with the stunt choreography for this, and we shot it in two days… Once Rishab got into that Guliga zone, we did not want to make him wait, because it is difficult to come out of it and get into it again.”

Arvind focused on what was in his hands: technology. “We set about reducing any technical errors that would interfere with the creative process. We lit up the entire area of about two acres with 360-degree lighting.

The idea was that wherever Rishab moves, we should start shooting within two minutes. The beauty of this whole process was the serendipity too. So many things just fell into place. When Guliga jumps off the roof, you’ll see a full moon right above Rishab’s head. That was a happy coincidence,” he says.

The team experienced the same goosebumps people are experiencing now in theatres, Arvind observes, and this, even though there was no background score to drum up emotions. “Once Rishab transformed, it went beyond a regular performance, and he was in that zone. Truth be told, there were times I was a little afraid to approach him during that shoot. He looked powerful…” says Arvind. “I took five minutes to calm myself the first time we shot the Guliga sequence. The energy was so high, and seeing it through the viewfinder was a very intimate experience.”