Man of the Match is a Kannada-language comedy-drama film directed by D. Satya Prakash and stars Nataraj S. Bhat, Dharmanna Kadooru, and Sundar Veena, alongside other cast members. The film has a runtime of 114 minutes.
Amazon Prime Video describes the movie as:
A Director calls for an audition and makes a movie out of it by creating conflicts between the artists who attend the audition. First of its kind realistic commercial film in Kannada that has multiple characters and touches upon current social conflicts in a humorous and satirical way.
– Man of the Match review does not contain spoilers –
Man of the Match is an amusing movie and starts off as such. Right as auditions are about to start for a rookie director’s new film, his surprising ways of going about finding the right actors has not only the producer confused but the audience as well. As the film progresses, the director’s newfound way of auditioning proves to be more than amusing – it proves to be really interesting. Much like found-footage movies, although this isn’t technically that, the raw way Nata goes about the entire audition scene seems extremely real and believable.
One of the biggest positives about this movie is that you won’t be able to figure out what exactly is going on. Throughout the runtime, the movie goes back and forth from one character to another, from one situation to another. Most of the time, it is impossible to figure out who is acting and who isn’t. However, it’s an excellent character study, showcasing people’s ideas, habits and who they are as people. At one point, you feel scared for Bhavana, whose fiancé Bhushan’s temperament totally changes when things don’t go his way. Riddled with similar situations, the experimental film truly experiments with people and situations.
However, the most interesting part of Man of the Match Kannada film is Nata himself. Is he a genius or a psychopath? Does he have an ulterior motive or does he simply enjoy harassing people for his own gain? For a greater part of the movie, Nata’s motivations are a bit foggy. It is difficult to gauge him. And although you do get to know what is going on in the end (of course), you are still conflicted with the thought that something else isn’t going on. This feeling of unease and suspicion towards everyone around you feels almost maddening after a while.
Nevertheless, the movie, in spite of all of these feelings of discomfort, proves to be quite magnetic. Maybe it’s because it’s almost impossible to ascertain whether the situations are real or not – you won’t be able to look away for even a second. As Nata continues on his odd rampage, the movie talks about how, in the digital world, it is almost impossible for people to have true freedom and will. We are at a point where we are constantly being monitored or sometimes upload our lives willingly for all to see. Man of the Match is right about that – do we really have any privacy anymore?
But the real question is, should people take advantage of this digital hellscape for their own gain? And, most importantly, do they win in the end?
Nataraj S. Bhat, Dharmanna Kadur and the rest of the cast do an impeccable job at bringing this chaos to the forefront. There’s a certain sinister feeling in the chaos that is the audition and the actors bring the feeling of confusion and uncertainty in their work. As all of these lives catch fire in one way or another, you are confused whether you want to sympathise with them or if you want to watch this go down because it’s just so entertaining.
Summing up: Man of the Match
Man of the Match 2022, in the end, is an interesting and fresh addition to the Kannada film industry. Its new and fresh take makes it a worthy watch where you are glued to the screen wondering how this show will end. Will the ending be satisfactory or will you keep asking questions about morality and people’s thought processes? Well, I guess that’s for you to find out.
Man of the Match is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
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