Another Kannada actor and director, Raj B Shetty, is becoming increasingly central to the Bollywood scene with his debut film Bandar. The awaited suspense thriller trailer for the upcoming thriller, released on May 21, is now on the internet. India-born Kannada actor and director Raj B Shetty will make new waves with his debut film Bandar as well.
At the height of its popularity is the film, now widely read in Internet discussions and popular for its drama. And the master of Kannada cinema, well-known performances from the man, who is perhaps the greatest feature-film director of all time and arguably the most successful of them all, in fact, Raj B Shetty, sits amidst a burgeoning South Indian mainstream film scene.
No matter how many films he's made for Kannada, he's also been on screen for a few Malayalam features, to which he's been lauded for his offbeat onscreen charm and acting technique. His new move into Hindi cinema has made its way into the field with Bandar.
Bobby Deol stars in the movie. Bobby Deol isn’t merely a villain portrayed in a movie like Animal, nor is Bandar employing a completely different type of character whose complexities are varied and multifaceted to Bobby Deol. You get the vibe of a dark psychological thriller, perhaps as suspenseful as anything the movie has to offer--it's filled with mystery, criminality, and emotional intensity.
The untold plot depicted in the trailer concerns Bobby Deol, a senior celebrity who struggles with his own dark and murky desires. The trailer tells us he falls in love with a young lady. But when the woman goes and reports his rape to her, he’s sent to prison. Inside the prison, it seems that there remains the central mystery of the movie.
A prisoner named Raj B Shetty features in the trailer and is glimpsed a bit in the film in some sort of bizarre, uncanny manner. In the trailer, he spends barely any screen time, but we can assume the looks and unsettling smile have been working for the audience. A lot of online chatter has surrounded viewers a single scene of Raj B Shetty laughing strangely.
A teaser last week showed Raj B Shetty dancing inside the prison with other inmates, and so interest grew in the picture. The audience is curious about why his character symbolises anything; how does it help make that deep turn for Bobby Deol inside the movie, as the film progresses so deeply?
The film is directed by the distinguished Bollywood director Anurag Kashyap, who has directed cult classics Gangs of Wasseypur, Dev.D, and No Smoking. Kashyap is an acclaimed filmmaker, famous for his gritty storytelling, unique plots and dark character movies.
As for Bandar, a famous, though often contentious, film he would make as a young man, you know he’s back in India to pursue his dream and get himself recognised as one of India’s great filmmakers in history. The cinematic style, prison vibe, atmospheric suspense and emotionally disturbed individuals of its trailer also closely mirror Kashyap’s usual style.
Some readers on social media have already started comparing the film’s tone to that of some of the director’s more notorious early cult psychological dramas, with a similar tone in mind. It will become a kind of defining moment for Raj B Shetty in his acting career. Since then, he has grown into one of cinema’s most pliable talents, and he’s taken huge strides in combining realism and emotion into an entire new corpus of films ranging from Kannada films to experimental narratives.
Now, his debut as an actor in Bollywood films with director Anurag Kashyap is celebrated as a mammoth step toward an audience at the national level. These Kannada filmgoers, especially in Karnataka, were anxious to see another Kannada actor enter the mainstream Hindi film world.
I should note that the film garnered interest, not necessarily in a way that unveils much of the central mystery, and not so much from the other ways. Industry analysts say Bobby Deol’s unquestioned comeback, Anurag Kashyap’s storytelling and Raj B Shetty’s unusual approach in filmmaking will have Bandar sitting as one of the most discussed thriller films this year. It comes out in theatres on June 5.
