Kaatera

<p>: Kaatera ( ) is a in Bheemanahalli living with his sister Kumari, brother-in-law Mahadevanna and family. Kaatera has to tackle multiple challenges to implement in order for the farmers to escape from the feudal landlords Devaraya and Kaalegowda as they are torturing the farmers to gain tax. Prabhavathi, the daughter of Shanubogha, has been in love with Kaatera since childhood. Despite reluctance due to , Kaatera accepts her love and Prabhavathi leaves with Kaatera against her parents’ wishes. Just before the marriage, Kaatera learns that Devaraya has sent 108 skilled combatants to destroy him and his village. Kaatera kills the combatants and returns home only to find Prabhavathi killed. An enraged Kaatera kills Devaraya for Prabhavathi’s death and is imprisoned. : The finds the skeletons and Reena D’Souza, the forensic officer, tells the police to begin the investigation. Reena learns from a police officer, who was among the combatants, about Kaatera’s past and closes the case as natural death due to Kaatera’s good nature. Meanwhile, Mahadevanna and the villagers manage to get Kaatera released on parole. Kaatera attends the festival and meets Prabhavathi’s brother Paddu. Kaatera reveals Paddu’s involvement in Prabhavathi’s death. Paddu reveals that he killed Prabhavathi as he was enraged about her marriage to Kaatera. Kaatera kills Paddu, thus avenging Prabhavathi’s death. Kaatera urges the villagers to respect each other and eradicate caste discrimination. Kaatera pays respect to Prabhavathi and returns to prison, hoping that the villagers will change. The initial announcement of the film was made on 16 February 2022 on occasion of birthday by without revealing much details. The project was initially said to be produced by Umapathy Srinivas Gowda, which did not materialise. Later, took over the project and the announcement was made on 16 February 2022 by releasing a poster. The poster featured a dog leading a band of sheep which created a lot of buzz around the film. Later, was onboarded to play the antagonist role which was confirmed by the director. The team roped in Debutant Aradhana Ram, who is the daughter of actress . A year later on 26 February 2023, the makers announced the title and first look of the film, celebrating the actor’s birthday. The project was titled “Kaatera”, which is based on the goddess Kaateramma, famous in . The project is being co-written by Jagadeesh Kumar Hampi of fame. Renowned dialogue writer Maasti was brought on board. Popular actor was onboarded on 17 March 2023 on his birthday by releasing a poster. began with a muhurta on 5 August 2022. The shooting took place in various locations of and . The film organised a press meet on 12 September 2023 in Bangalore, where it was revealed that the major portions of the film had been shot and post production works would begin shortly thereafter. , a long time and frequent collaborator of Darshan, composed the music. Initially, the producer was aiming to release the film on occasion of , which did not happen due to production delays. It is being speculated that the team are eyeing or February 2024 release. The makers announced that the film will be releasing on 29 December 2023, through a special video. Post the film’s positive reviews and collections, the makers announced that the production house is aiming for a grand overseas release, starting with . Additionally, the film is set to have theatrical run in around 9 countries including , , the , , and . and bought the digital streaming and satellite rights of the film. The film was premiered on ZEE5 on 9 February 2024. A. Sharadhaa of gave 4/5 stars and wrote ” steers away from conventional mass formulas, and full credit should go to director Tharun Kishore Sudhir and his co-writer Jadeshaa K Hampi.” Y. Maheswara Reddy of gave 4/5 stars and wrote “It is worth a watch by all and a must for Darshan’s fans.” S. Sridevi of gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote “The movie drives home an important message while being a perfect star vehicle for Darshan. Now is a good time to say, ‘Welcome back, Darshan – the performer.'” Swaroop Kadur of gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote “‘Kaatera’ could have definitely benefitted from a more taut screenplay and shorter runtime, but the film is certainly worth a watch. The film doesn’t mindlessly rely upon its lead actor’s star status and instead attempts to drive home a message in engaging, mostly entertaining ways.” Vivek M. V. of wrote “Despite celebrating Darshan’s ‘mass’ appeal, ‘Kaatera’ doesn’t lose sight of its subject, as it balances its message nearly with good dose of entertainment.” From Day 1, there have been contrasting reports with respect to box office collections officially announced by the makers and the amount estimated by the industry trackers. While reported that the first day collections officially announced by the makers was ₹19.79 crores, cautioned that the actual figure might be only ₹9 crores as per trade. reported the gross first day collection to be ₹14.79 crores which was ₹5 crore equidistant from both the trade figures and official figures. and reported the first day net collections to be ₹11 crores. Similar to Day 1, there were varying reports with respect to Day 2 collections – while the makers announced that the two day gross was ₹37.14 crores, pegged it at only ₹18.85 crores and estimated an even lower figure of ₹17.75 crores. The trade estimated the first weekend gross to be only ₹27.60 crore to ₹35 crore as against ₹58.08 crore declared by the makers. Similarly, at the end of first Monday, the makers declared a gross of ₹76.34 crores as against trade figure of ₹36.89 crores. Continuing with the tradition, the difference between producer figure and trade figure continued to be more than 50% even after 5 day of release – with the trade estimating the gross collection to be around ₹ 41.40 crores to ₹44 crores as against the producer figure of ₹86.84 crores. The total gross at the end of Day 6 was reported to be ₹95.36 crores. The total first week gross collections were reported to be ₹104.58 crores by the makers as against the trade estimate of only ₹45.50 crores – further widening the gap between the two figures by a staggering 130%. The trade estimated the net collections to be ₹55.58 crores – which resulted in a whopping ₹49 crores difference between the gross figures declared and the net figures estimated. The net collections at the end of two weeks was reported to be around ₹59.90 crores to ₹65.57 crores. While the makers announced that the movie had become the highest grosser in the state with ₹190.89 crores collected in 19 days, noted the huge difference between the figures declared by the makers and the amount estimated by the trackers. The makers announced the gross collections to be ₹206 crores at the end of 20 days but the tracked collections was reported to be only ₹100 crores after 22 days of its release. speculated that the collections could have been inflated since the weekly collections and footfalls couldn’t match up. A report in January 2024 called the movie the highest grosser of the year with a total collection of ₹216 crore but in mid – 2024, the collections reported by multiple sources were in total contrast – ranging from ₹200 crores to a paltry ₹25 crores. However, the trade estimated the final gross to be around ₹65 crores. Reports emerged later that though the movie was the highest grosser of the year, the collections were only ₹67 crores.</p>