1970s: Kaatera is a blacksmith in Bheemanahalli living with his sister Kumari, brother-in-law Mahadevanna and family. Kaatera has to tackle multiple challenges to implement Land Reforms Act 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 caste discrimination, 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.
1989: The forensic team 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 Darshan's birthday by Tharun Sudhir without revealing much details.[12] The project was initially said to be produced by Umapathy Srinivas Gowda, which did not materialise.[13] Later, Rockline Venkatesh 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.[14]
Later, Jagapathi Babu was onboarded to play the antagonist role which was confirmed by the director.[15] The team roped in Debutant Aradhana Ram, who is the daughter of actress Malashri.[16] 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 Karnataka.[17] The project is being co-written by Jagadeesh Kumar Hampi of Guru Shishyaru fame. Renowned dialogue writer Maasti was brought on board. Popular actor Kumar Govind was onboarded on 17 March 2023 on his birthday by releasing a poster.[18]
Filming
Principal photography began with a muhurta on 5 August 2022. The shooting took place in various locations of Bengaluru and Hyderabad.[19] 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.[20]
Aniruddha Shastry, Madhwesh Bharadwaj, Abhishek M. R., Vishak Nagalapura
5:12
Total length:
31:02
Release
Initially, the producer was aiming to release the film on occasion of Dasara, which did not happen due to production delays.[22][23] It is being speculated that the team are eyeing Sankranti or February 2024 release.[24] The makers announced that the film will be releasing on 29 December 2023, through a special video.[25]Post the film's positive reviews and collections, the makers announced that the production house is aiming for a grand overseas release, starting with Dubai. Additionally, the film is set to have theatrical run in around 9 countries including Germany, UK, the USA, Canada, and Ireland.[26]
Home media
ZEE5 and Zee Kannada bought the digital streaming and satellite rights of the film.[27] The film was premiered on ZEE5 on February 9, 2024.[28]
Reception
Critical reception
A. Sharadhaa of The New Indian Express gave 4/5 stars and wrote "Kaatera steers away from conventional mass formulas, and full credit should go to director Tharun Kishore Sudhir and his co-writer Jadeshaa K Hampi."[29] Y. Maheswara Reddy of Bangalore Mirror gave 4/5 stars and wrote "It is worth a watch by all and a must for Darshan's fans."[30]
S. Sridevi of The Times of India 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.'"[31] Swaroop Kadur of OTTplay 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."[32]
Vivek M. V. of The Hindu 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."[33]
Box office
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 Vijaya Karnataka reported that the first day collections officially announced by the makers was ₹19.79 crores,[34]Hindustan Times cautioned that the actual figure might be only ₹9 crores as per trade.[35]Vijayavani reported the gross first day collection to be ₹14.79 crores which was ₹5 crore equidistant from both the trade figures and official figures.[36]OTT Play and Times of India reported the first day net collections to be ₹11 crores.[37][38]
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,[39]Deccan Chronicle pegged it at only ₹18.85 crores[40] and Jagran estimated an even lower figure of ₹17.75 crores.[41] The trade estimated the first weekend gross to be only ₹27.60 crore[42] to ₹35 crore [43] as against ₹58.08 crore declared by the makers.[44] Similarly, at the end of first Monday, the makers declared a gross of ₹76.34 crores[45] as against trade figure of ₹36.89 crores.[46] 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 [47] to ₹44 crores[48] as against the producer figure of ₹86.84 crores.[49] The total gross at the end of Day 6 was reported to be ₹95.36 crores.[50] The total first week gross collections were reported to be ₹104.58 crores by the makers[51] as against the trade estimate of only ₹45.50 crores[52] – further widening the gap between the two figures by a staggering 130%.
The trade estimated the net collections to be ₹55.58 crores [53] - 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[54] to ₹65.57 crores.[55] While the makers announced that the movie had become the highest grosser in the state with ₹190.89 crores collected in 19 days,[56]Hindustan Times noted the huge difference between the figures declared by the makers and the amount estimated by the trackers.[57] The makers announced the gross collections to be ₹206 crores at the end of 20 days[58] but the tracked collections was reported to be only ₹100 crores after 22 days of its release.[59]OTT Play speculated that the collections could have been inflated since the weekly collections and footfalls couldn't match up.[5] A report in January 2024 called the movie the highest grosser of the year with a total collections of ₹216 crores.[60] The trade estimated the final gross to be around ₹65 crores.[5] However, reports emerged later that though the movie was the highest grosser of the year, the collections were only ₹67 crores.[61]
^Trade speculated that the makers were spreading inflated numbers.[5] There is a varying degree of reporting of collections since the first day. Refer "Box Office" section for details in difference between official figures announced and the trade estimates which showed discrepancies as high as 130% at the end of first week.
