Mumbai: When the first full trailer of Kantara: A Legend — Chapter 1 dropped on September 22, 2025, it didn’t just generate buzz it sent pulses racing. The prequel to the 2022 Kannada blockbuster has long been one of the most anticipated films of the year, and this glimpse confirms that its scale, folklore depth, and emotional undercurrents are set to dwarf expectations.
Director and star Rishab Shetty returns with an intensity rarely seen, transforming into a mystical Naga Sadhu amid ancient forests, royal power struggles, and the primal roots of myth. The trailer’s visuals build a palpable tension crowds, warriors, tribal lore, and dueling spiritual presence each frame a composition of violence, reverence, and elemental power.
Flanking the visuals is Ajaneesh Loknath’s background score, which has become the heartbeat of the trailer. Deep chants, resonant percussion, and haunting ambience combine to evoke goosebumps. Fans are already lauding how music and myth meet here Loknath’s work bridges the familiar tone of the first Kantara with the ritualistic intensity that a period prequel demands.
Yet, amid the cheers, there are whispers. Some viewers believe the trailer dips too much into grandiosity, risking melodrama over the raw, grounded folk energy that made Kantara a surprise hit. Others wonder whether the narrative undercurrents power, revolt, class conflict, ancestral duty will retain the subtlety and grit of the original or get lost in spectacle.
Across social media, reactions span from reverent awe “God-level madness”—to cautious curiosity: “the visuals are stunning, but does the story deliver?” The trailer sets its sights high, releasing the film in multiple Indian languages on October 2, 2025, with hopes that Chapter 1 will not just expand the lore, but rekindle the cultural electric charge that made Kantara much more than just a movie—an experience etched in earth, blood, and folklore.
