''Kshetrapati'' is a 2023

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

-language feature film written and directed by Shrikanth Katagi. It stars

Naveen Shankar Naveen Shankar (born 25 May 1988) is an Indian actor who has worked predominantly in Kannada cinema. Naveen made his feature film debut with ''Gultoo'' in 2018. He is known for his performance in '' Hondisi Bareyiri'', '' Gurudev Hoysala'' and ...

, Archana Jois, Rahul Ainapur, and Harsh Arjun, with the main supporting cast including

Achyuth Kumar Achyuth Kumar is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Kannada cinema, alongside a few Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. He is known for his performances in the ''KGF'', '' Kantara'', '' Sidlingu'', and '' Lucia''. He is the recipient ...

, Krishna Hebbale, Shailashree Urs, Natya Ranga, and Sardar. The film was released on August 18, 2023.

Plot

Basavaraj is an aspiring engineering student who dreams of working in the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

while in college he receives a call with devastating news from his family that his father who is a farmer committed suicide due to pressure from banks to pay his agricultural loans. Basavaraj takes up his father's profession drops out from his graduation and tries to make ends meet. He realizes that farmers get paid very little for their produce and the majority of the profit is devoured by corporate companies. Local MLA is in favor of corporate companies and purchase the produce from the farmers with force and share the profits among their party. Escalating the issue to the

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

still didn't resolve their problems. The protagonist takes matters into his own hands and starts a revolution. He encourages farmers to sell their own produce rather than selling it to corporate companies. He seeks help from journalist Bhoomika played by Archana Jois, and shares their tactics on social media. After an exchange of blows with the antagonist and Chief Minister they finally succeed in convincing the government to look after the farmers and pay them fairly

Cast

as Basavaraj Hadimani * Archana Jois as Bhoomika * Rahul Ainapur * Harsh Arjun *

as newspaper publisher * Krishna Hebbale as a politician * Shailashree Urs as Basavaraj's mother * Natya Ranga as Basavaraj's friend * Sardar

Production

The film was shot in North Karnataka locations such as

Gadag Gadaga-Betageri is a city municipal council in Gadag district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Gadag District. The original city of Gadag and its sister city Betageri (or ''Betgeri'') have a combined ...

, Ilkal, Hubballi, and Dharwad. It portrays North Karnataka culture, cuisine, costume, and dialect.

Reception

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

gave a critic's rating of 3 out of 5. The Hindu mentions the movie as - "The Naveen Shankar-starrer, despite being well-intentioned, comes across like an uninspired soap opera". OTTPlay reviewed the movie to be over sentimental but to be well-meaningful.

References

External links

* 2020s Kannada-language films 2020s Indian films {{2020s-Kannada-film-stub