Kantara: Chapter 1 (2025) Movie Review: A Grand Spectacle Searching for Its Soul

hen “Kantara” was released in 2022, it took India by storm. Everyone around me seemed hypnotised by its mix of folklore, mysticism, and masculine energy.

It was the classic tale of a trouble-maker who finds his higher calling through pain and penance

This is a film of uncompromising visual ambition. The scale dwarfs that of the first movie; the forests, temples, and battlefields feel larger, deeper, and almost mythic.

The most impressive part is how tactile everything feels. In an era when even modestly budgeted films lean on green-screen spectacle, “Kantara: Chapter 1” insists on the physical.

The much-talked-about chariot sequence is the film’s show-stopper — a feral symphony of dust and velocity

The screenplay seldom allows him moments of vulnerability or doubt.

As a result, his eventual transformation feels inevitable rather than cathartic.

Kantara: Chapter 1 (2025) Movie Review: A Grand Spectacle Searching for Its Soul