Challenging Star Darshan’s Kaatera reaches streaming milestone on ZEE5 in only 5 days

Challenging Star Darshan’s Kaatera is quite the winner; not only did it do well at the box office in Karnataka, getting into the Rs 100 crore club with a Kannada-only release, but it is also being lapped up and how on OTT as well. The film, directed by Tharun Kishore Sudhir, dropped on Zee5 Kannada on February 9, and, within only 5 days, it has notched up 100 million streaming minutes. The Darshan-led period film managed this milestone despite being available in Kannada with English subtitles only.

Kaatera review - Challenging Star Darshan is solid, effective in Tharun Sudhir's well-meaning film 

Kaatera was Darshan’s second collaboration with Tharun. Written by Guru Shishyaru director Jadesha K Hampi, along with Tharun, and armed with dialogues by Maasthi Upparahalli, Kaatera is a film set in the 70s, at a time when farmers and lower caste people were oppressed by rich landlords, most of who hailed from the powerful upper strata of society. Darshan played the title role, Kaatera, a blacksmith who is hopeful of a better and brighter future of the people in his village, Bhimanahalli, which, he realizes would only come at a great price. Kaatera is then forced to have to fight for the rights of the people.

The film’s highlight was, undoubtedly, the return of Darshan the performer, as Kaatera was not in the standard commercial movie template. While there were mass moments, there was no unnecessary elevation or build up for the star. He was paired with Aradhanaa, the daughter of veteran actress Malashree, which netizens were not too kicked about initially, given the vast age difference between the two actors. The film also starred Shruthi Krishnan, Achyuth Kumar, Kumar Govind, Biradar, among others.

Kaatera is still running in select theatres, and was the biggest hit of the year. It was also a good end of 2023 for Darshan, who began it with Kranti, which did not work at the box office. The actor has now moved on to his next, Devil, directed by Prakash Veer, who’d earlier made Tarak with the Challenging Star. The first look of Devil is expected to be revealed close to midnight of February 15, as a special treat to ring in the actor’s birthday.

After Kaatera’s OTT debut, audiences say it’s Darshan’s best film 

Tharun and Darshan have now announced that they will collaborate on a third film. The duo had earlier shown interest in making a film on freedom fighter Sindhura Lakshmana, but it is not clear if they will revisit that. For now, Darshan has another film with Kariya maker Prem also in the pipeline.