<p><strong>Kannadiga </strong></p>.<p><strong>Kannada (Zee5)</strong></p>.<p><strong>Director: BM Giriraj </strong></p>.<p><strong>Cast: Ravichandran, Achyuth Kumar, Pavana Gowda</strong></p>.<p>BM Giriraj's 'Kannadiga' is a fictionalised account of the first-ever Kannada-English dictionary, prepared by Ferdinand Kittel, a German priest.</p>.<p>The movie starts with the story of the Gerusoppe queen Chennabhairadevi, who is taken hostage by the Portuguese. A protege of her, Samantabhadra, dedicates his life to working on Kannada. He is given an island, which is later taken over by the Portuguese.</p>.<p>Around 300 years later, the fight for this island continues. That's when Kittel enters the scene by buying the island. His love for Kannada makes him a disciple of Gunabhadra (Ravichandra V in a subdued, yet refreshing role), while he is also obliged to promote Christianity. Gunabhadra's brother adds his own conflict to the narration and we get to see a drama that involves language, religion and freedom fight.</p>.<p>We see glimpses of caste dynamics and oppression, the influence of Christianity at the time (19th century), the rising resistance against this, and the Jain-Muslim unity. The Kundapura Kannada language in the movie stands out so does the tribal costume style of the South Canara coastal belt.</p>.<p>'Kannadiga' starts with powerful dialogues and above-average visual narration but fizzles out after a while. The first half suffers from poor screenplay but the second half makes up for it.</p>.<p>Poor sound design spoils the fun - the mediocre music overshadows dialogues in many scenes. The menace of bad subtitles that plagues Kannada movies continues to persist.</p>.<p>In Karnataka's history, Jains have played a major role. The movie offers a peek at a small part of this past. It also offers a nuanced view of who a Kannadiga is, beyond the cliched language politics seen today, and explains how the purity of language is a myth.</p>
<p><strong>Kannadiga </strong></p>.<p><strong>Kannada (Zee5)</strong></p>.<p><strong>Director: BM Giriraj </strong></p>.<p><strong>Cast: Ravichandran, Achyuth Kumar, Pavana Gowda</strong></p>.<p>BM Giriraj's 'Kannadiga' is a fictionalised account of the first-ever Kannada-English dictionary, prepared by Ferdinand Kittel, a German priest.</p>.<p>The movie starts with the story of the Gerusoppe queen Chennabhairadevi, who is taken hostage by the Portuguese. A protege of her, Samantabhadra, dedicates his life to working on Kannada. He is given an island, which is later taken over by the Portuguese.</p>.<p>Around 300 years later, the fight for this island continues. That's when Kittel enters the scene by buying the island. His love for Kannada makes him a disciple of Gunabhadra (Ravichandra V in a subdued, yet refreshing role), while he is also obliged to promote Christianity. Gunabhadra's brother adds his own conflict to the narration and we get to see a drama that involves language, religion and freedom fight.</p>.<p>We see glimpses of caste dynamics and oppression, the influence of Christianity at the time (19th century), the rising resistance against this, and the Jain-Muslim unity. The Kundapura Kannada language in the movie stands out so does the tribal costume style of the South Canara coastal belt.</p>.<p>'Kannadiga' starts with powerful dialogues and above-average visual narration but fizzles out after a while. The first half suffers from poor screenplay but the second half makes up for it.</p>.<p>Poor sound design spoils the fun - the mediocre music overshadows dialogues in many scenes. The menace of bad subtitles that plagues Kannada movies continues to persist.</p>.<p>In Karnataka's history, Jains have played a major role. The movie offers a peek at a small part of this past. It also offers a nuanced view of who a Kannadiga is, beyond the cliched language politics seen today, and explains how the purity of language is a myth.</p>