If you have watched Rishab Shetty's acclaimed film Kantara, you may have noticed the landlord’s house featured in the film. From the arched laterite columns to the solid wooden rafters or the exquisitely carved doors, it is not a set created for the film, but rather a traditional ancestral home situated in Udupi, Karnataka.
On January 6, Priyam Saraswat, a content creator who often shares interesting home tour videos on his page, shared a tour of the Kantara house, which famously featured as a primary filming location for the movie.
Inside the Kantara house
According to the video, the house is part of Sai Radha Heritage Resort. The traditional house is typically called Guthu Mane, which means ancestral house. The property exemplifies classic heritage architecture through features like a central courtyard, double-tiled roofing for natural cooling, and an antique accountant's desk. Let's take a look inside:
The tour of the house reveals a structure that has retained most of its historic elements. As one enters the home, they are welcomed into a sitting room featuring Kaavi flooring, a wooden staircase with elegant balustrades, vintage furniture, and original dark wood beams on the ceiling.
{{/usCountry}}The tour of the house reveals a structure that has retained most of its historic elements. As one enters the home, they are welcomed into a sitting room featuring Kaavi flooring, a wooden staircase with elegant balustrades, vintage furniture, and original dark wood beams on the ceiling.
{{/usCountry}}The sitting room leads to the courtyard, which is in the centre of the house. It is also the place where the dining table is set, and where Rishab Shetty and the villain were seated in the movie, and the climax was shot.
The stunning details
The courtyard reveals an open verandah, called ikat in Udupi, with a manicured lawn, double-slanted tile ceilings to cool the house so one doesn't need to use an AC, arched laterite columns, antique ceiling lamps, and solid wooden rafters. It also features a jharokha-style window with a built-in seat, where landlords would sit and talk to people who came to meet them.
The video also showcases a very ancient jewellery box in the courtyard, featuring 30 places built inside where you can keep your jewellery. There is also an accountant's desk, where you sit with their ledgers and, uh, do the daily accounting. I can still see some books inside.
Another unique detail is an antique swing with a very ancient fan built into the top that moves when the swing moves. The video also gave a glimpse of the rustic kitchen. The house has about four bedrooms, two upstairs and two downstairs.
The equally gorgeous outdoors
The video also showed the other entrance of the house, featuring an ancient hand-drawn artwork which was taken from a Brahman's house in Sirsi. The entrance also has a unique, traditional antique doorway with hand-carved details.
The lawn outside the house also has a traditional well with a red-tiled, slanted ceiling that provides shade for the water.