Maarigallu Kannada series review: Supernatural thriller with heavy Kantara vibe

Maarigallu series story: In a quaint village in Sirsi, it is believed that an ancient treasure from the time of the Kadamba dynasty is buried near the Maari temple, and remains under the deity’s protection. Any attempt to retrieve this wealth begets the perpetrators rather horrendous deaths. The local landlord, Ashoka Sharma (Gopalkrishna Deshpande), a descendant of the erstwhile royal family, has been trying to decipher inscriptions on ancient artefacts, which he hopes will point him in the direction of the treasure. At the same time, Mari Gowda (Rangayana Raghu), a government official from the archaeological department also catches wind of the possibility of a treasure and enlists the help of a bunch of localities to find out. Do they find it?

Maarigallu series review: Zee5 just presented audiences one of the worst viewing experiences, when it dropped the series Maarigallu in bits and pieces. Four episodes at midnight, another two a good 15 hours later and the last one even later. And if that wasn't annoying enough, Devaraj Poojary’s show, which hit OTT on the same day as the blockbuster Kantara Chapter 1, has such a heavy Kantara hangover. Divine guardianship is at the core of the show, as are divine possession, a daiva narthaka/poojary and the now very famous ‘primordial' scream. Hell, they even got the actor who featured in Kantara as the poojary who gets possessed by Panjurli and grants the king the peace he sought in exchange for the forest land. Naveen Bondel does pretty much everything he did in Kantara too; he gets possessed, albeit by Maari, holds torches and runs into the forest and so on and so forth. All of this has now got a distinct Kantara stamp, that anything else feels like a copy that doesn't excite as much. The novelty factor has worn off already. 

Gopalkrishna Deshpande replaces Kantara’s Achyuth Kumar. He wants the treasure that he believes is rightfully his. He is not downright evil and does not wish death on those standing in his path. The actor is very comfortable as the penny-pinching rich man. Rangayana Raghu, Praveen Tej, Prashant Siddi, Ninaad Harithsa and AS Suraj go through the motions with their respective roles, that have nothing much to write about. Praveen, though, is the victim of a very bad spray tan project, to have him pass off as a hardworking man of the soil.

Also read: Praveen Tej on Maarigallu’s Kantara resemblance: The basic plot may seem similar, but the series is a thriller 

The story isn't all that bad and neither is the final twist or the making. I have seen director Devaraj Poojary’s Matsyagandha, which was a passable one-time watch. Maarigallu is in that zone, but the problem is that it has such a been-there-done-that feeling that you are never really invested in it. That said, now that all the episodes are available to binge uninterrupted, the experience may just be a lot better. 

Maarigallu series verdict: Fans of Kantara and all things divine will enjoy this one. For the rest, if you can overlook the ‘Kantara lite’ feel, it's a decently made one-time watch.