Karavali movie story: When cattle farmer Dhananjaya (Prajwal Devaraj) aka Dhana’s cow Bhoomi goes missing, his search for the family’s favourite bovine leads him to a village where kambala is a sacred tradition, but has been discontinued for three decades. There, Dhana meets Mahabala (Mithra), whose life revolves around rearing buffaloes for the kambala, in the hope of winning the race someday. Mahabala’s every effort is thwarted by the local landlord (Ramesh Indira), for whom, retaining the ‘championship’ is a matter of prestige. But when Dhana realizes his connection to the discontinuation of the race, things come to a head.
Karavali movie review: It is unfortunate that Prajwal Devaraj’s latest, Karavali, which comes after a slew of lacklustre films like Rakshasa, Gana, Abbara, Veeram, and many more, has been mired in a controversy surrounding unpaid dues, the use of a dubbing artiste for the actor and more. Gurudath Ganiga’s solo directorial debut is, undoubtedly, one of Prajwal’s better outings in quite a while, even though his presence in the film is fairly limited.
It’s not the typical commercial film protagonist role he's accustomed to and barely gives him 10-15 lines to speak, at the most. By the time you register that he’s not the one who’s dubbed for those lines, his speaking bits are over, honestly. Keeping the scope of his role aside, what the actor gets is a film that is likely to get more eyeballs than his last 4 releases combined.
Although launched as a Prajwal-led film, Karavali, as it stands now, is held up mainly by Raj B Shetty’s extended cameo as Mahaveera (Maavera) and Mithra’s slightly over-the-top Mahabala. Raj, in particular, gives the film its ‘decent one-time watch’ tag. Ramesh Indira is the villain in the tale, a role that he’s handled like any of his other recent antagonist outings, offering zilch novelty.
Also read: Karavali on OTT: Where to stream Prajwal Devaraj and Raj B Shetty’s film after its theatrical run
The women of Karavali have absolutely no agency; take Sampada Hulivana and Sushmitha Bhat out of the equation, and it makes no difference whatsoever, because the world that Gurudath has created revolves around kambala and the men involved.
He presents a simple tale of a son ‘avenging’ his father through the sport and that is where, one realizes, the question of the ‘6-pack abs’ comes into play. In the absence of said transformation, the makers had to resort to close up shots of Prajwal’s face and cut to Raj running the kambala race, with an actor sporting rippling muscles in the next lane.
Raj B Shetty in Karavali
The technical aspects of the film, especially the cinematography and the music, elevate Karavali a great deal, although, Sid Sriram as choice of singer for Muddu Gumma remains questionable. What Karavali sorely misses is an emotional anchor. The family dynamics of both the protagonist and the antagonist needed deep dives to explain their motivations.
Karavali movie verdict: Karavali is not a flawless film; it could have benefitted from better writing, casting and execution. But despite its obvious drawbacks, it’s not insufferable and makes for a decent one-time watch. There’s a payoff; it’s just not the most satisfactory one.
