Kaatera’s soul-stirring pathos number Manasege Banthu Bittu Hogoke is here

Ever since Challenging Star Darshan’s film Kaatera came on OTT, the team has been dropping the full videos of some of its hit numbers, like Pasandaagavne and Yava Janumada Jodi, among others. A little while ago, yet another song came out, albeit as a lyrical video only, presumably because it contains moments from the story that reveal plot points.

Sung by Hemanth Kumar, with lyrics by filmmaker AP Arjun, Manasege Banthu Bittu Hogoke is a song that comes at a point in the tale when Kaatera (Darshan) returns home after fighting an evil gang that had been hired to kill the people in his village, only to find out that he has lost the love of his life, Padmavathi (Aradhanaa) in tragic circumstances and includes visuals of the funeral rites.

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Kaatera is Darshan’s second film with director Tharun Kishore Sudhir and is a tale set in the 70s, when the government introduced the Land Reforms Act. According to the act, farmers who till were adjudged owners of the land they worked on, much to the chagrin of landlords at the time. Tharun and fellow filmmaker-writer Jadesha K Hampi used this act as the backdrop of their story about a blacksmith called Kaatera, who has to wield the weapons he forges to fight for the rights of the people in his village.

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Released in theatres on December 29, Kaatera was a runaway hit and provided a welcome relief for the Kannada industry, which had not had a major blockbuster in a while. The film’s satellite and digital rights had been procured by Zee Network prior to the release, with an OTT release fixed within 45-days of its theatrical outing. After Kaatera dropped on Zee5 on Feb 9, within the first 5 days itself it amassed a massive 100 million streaming minutes. The film recently celebrated its 50-day run at the box office and is still playing at select halls across the state.

The team had spoken about the possibility of releasing Kaatera in Telugu and that dubbing work had been undertaken, but it is yet to hit theatres or even OTT in that version. Meanwhile, Darshan has moved on to his next, Devil with director Prakash Veer, which he is looking to have in theatres in October this year.