Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana: Watch Shiva’s ‘tandava’ in the rain in Sojugada Soojumalige

When the trailer of filmmaker-actor Raj B Shetty’s Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana came out, there was a fleeting visual of the actor brandishing a blood-soaked knife and ‘dancing’ in the rain. It was a scene that would be etched in the memory of audiences when they got to see it in in its full glory in the film. Raj, as Shiva, doing a tandava of sorts, after stabbing a rival to death, was a pivotal moment in the narrative of the gangster story. It also established just how terrifying Shiva was in every move, every scream.

The sequence, which plays out to a Midhun Mukundan score called Sojugada Soojumalige, has been sung by the music man and actress Chaitra J Achar. The team has released the full video song now, which netizens hail as the core of the movie. “That scene and this song in the background gives goosebumps,” was a common refrain among fans, with many adding that they could see the real Shiva dancing within Raj.

The film, which came to theatres in November last year, then had a splash on OTT too, when it came on Zee5 Kannada. Raj’s cinematic brilliance was the talk of town, not only in Karnataka, but across the country, an amazing feat, considering that the film was released only in Kannada with English subtitles. Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana, according to Raj, is not a film that ought to be dubbed into or made in other languages, given how rooted it is in the culture of Mangaladevi, Mangaluru.

As the film inches closer to a year since its theatrical outing, there’s been no word from Raj about what he intends to do next as a filmmaker. As an actor, he has had minor cameos in Thurthu Nirgamana and 777 Charlie, most of which were shot prior to the pandemic. In fact, even Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana was completed before Covid struck, so, Raj has had a fairly long break from filmmaking. In recent times, there have been murmurs that he is working on a new film, which will mark the comeback of actress Ramya. But neither party has confirmed the same, with Ramya only saying that she is working with a ‘Shetty’.