Are you seeing what I'm seeing?

It's surprising that both Homebound and Kantara: Chapter 1 wallow in cliches of India, rather than reinventing them

- Deepanjana Pal

Homelound, a film by Anusha Nandakumar and Surabhi Sharma, asks why are some Indians more Indian than others?

When Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) was attacked for its depiction of India, director Steven Spielberg likely felt blindsided. Yes, he had shown this as a place where chilled monkey brains were considered fit for a banquet. But he was hardly the first filmmaker to exoticise India.

The late Amrish Puri, who played the villain Mola Ram, stood by the film. In his autobiography, The Act of Life (2006), he wrote: “We do this to ourselves in our own films. It’s only when some foreign directors do it that we start cribbing.”

I was reminded of this while watching Kantara: Chapter 1, written, directed by and starring Rishab Shetty. Set in a mythical past, it is lavishly produced.