‘Follower’: How Harshad Nalawade’s Kannada-Marathi film confronts border tensions and digital hate

Harshad’s film overcame theatrical disruptions and censorship hurdles over the past couple of years to find a home on the OTT platform MUBI. Follower is a relevant film today more than ever, and the passionate discussion at Suchitra, laced with interesting anecdotes, was proof. “It’s a beautiful and rewarding experience to interact with your audience,” Harshad tells The Hindu.

Follower is a stunning drama on the long-standing border issue between Karnataka and Maharashtra in Belagavi. The film lays bare the harsh realities of social media trolls. It’s a moving yet realistic character study of Raghavendra Pawar (a superb Raghu Prakash), whose life and dreams slowly fall apart against political disputes, strained relationships with parents and siblings, and an aimless career.

As a last resort, he clutches on to ideology, as that gives him power and some sort of identity. But that comes at the cost of friendship. A clash of political opinions creates a distance between the best buddies, Pawar and Sachin (Harshad). The third person in the trio friendship, Parveen (Donna Munshi), is caught between the two, trying to mend the fractured relationship before life hits her with the responsibility of being a single mother.

Director Harshad Nalawade (centre) on the sets of ‘Follower’.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Follower is a deeply personal film by Harshad. “The film is about a few friends of mine. I wanted to make a movie about a guy with strong beliefs. Now, if I only reflected his staunch beliefs, it would be very convenient. I wanted to understand why my friend believed in a certain leader. I wanted to know what led him to support and defend a particular ideology,” explains Harshad. “Here is a guy who believes in half-truths and gets brainwashed. However, what convinced him to latch onto an ideology? That’s the core of my story,” he adds.

ALSO READ: Adithya Prakash’s short signals the rise of a promising Kannada filmmaker

The 100-minute film is a balanced reflection of the prevailing political tensions where the characters aren’t judged harshly but portrayed as vulnerable beings.

Follower calls for unity in the face of rampant hate. For Harshad, it was an honest expression of his strong feelings. “My father is a Kannadiga, and my mother is a Maharashtrian. I grew up listening to Kannada songs of Dr. Rajkumar and Marathi songs of Lata Mangeshkar. The constant language shifting was a daily scenario for me. I grew up loving both languages and always wondered why there was animosity between these two linguistic groups,” he says, before trying to understand the origin of radicalised people.

“If a Marathi-speaking person in Belagavi is surrounded by the Marathi community, then he is stuck in an echo chamber. You want to believe what your people say. The same theory applies to a Kannada-speaking person who is surrounded by the Kannada community. This leads to the divide,” he adds.

Artistic liberty is facing a serious threat thanks to harsh censorship rules in the country. Follower was also a victim to this system. At the screening, the filmmaker revealed the censor board’s ironic demand to mute the words ‘Kannada’ and ‘Marathi’ in the movie.

Harshad argues that the primary duty of the board is to provide a censor certificate and not to tell the filmmaker what to show or what not to show. “The board suggests cuts based on what the current government has to say or will say. People in the censor board aren’t suggesting cuts based on their intelligence. They are controlling films based on what the majority of the nation believes. It’s scary and unacceptable,” he opines.

Raghu Prakash and Donna Munshi in ‘Follower’.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The self-censorship of OTT platforms is an additional hurdle for films with strong political themes, notes Harshad.

“We approached several platforms, but they were cautious about taking such films. We are living in tricky times, and nobody wants to take risks.”

Before making Follower, his debut feature, Harshad assisted directors such as Umesh Kulkarni and Sudhir Mishra. The youngster has co-written the web series, Killer Soupand Ghoul, on Netflix. He is currently writing his second feature film, which will also be set in Belagavi. “My stories will continue to come from North Karnataka and South Maharashtra. Mainstream cinema has portrayed people from that region in a caricaturish manner. In reality, there is so much intensity and coolness to people from that region.”