User reviews

Every frame and every detail was shot in a way that you were sent back to 90s using a time machine! For a moment I thought it was shot in 90 but then you didn't have drones to give you those beautiful shot of hills! Lead actors were so convincing in portrayal of romance and innocence that many scenes gave me goose bumps. Minute details like old bmtc bus, the movie posters, the school uniforms and other details brought back old memories of Bangalore before the IT boom!

Hats off to Roopa Rao And team. Thanks for this movie.

Don't miss it on Amazon prime!

This film doles out an intense high school love story set in the 90s of Bengaluru. It narrates the life experiences of a teenage girl who initially thinks about the world around her to be just like what she saw in the movies, only to later come to terms with the actual world.

The film has a natural & realistic charm fused into it. It beautifully unravels the harassment, pressure of education, competition for marks, childhood traumas, teenage romance etc; through the eyes of a woman. The subtlety and the fineness in the fluid story of this film is simply outstanding. You can relive your school days through this film.

This film is especially for those people who like to savour each and every moment slowly, as and when it comes. The screenplay is magical and takes its own time to unwind the viewer's subconscious mind. The cinematography is flawless with each and every moment of the nostalgic 90s captured in detail. The background score and music is also gratifying, with perfect usage of silence at appropriate places.

The entire cast of the film deserves an applause for their heart touching and realistic performance. Prakash Belawadi's daughter Teju Belawadi has given a spectacular performance as the female protagonist. Her graceful emotions will steal your heart. Nischith Korodi has given an equally satisfying performance with his genuine display of emotions.

Overall, this film is a true gem and stands amongst some of the finest timeless love stories in Indian cinema. If you're a true art film connoisseur, then you shouldn't miss this!

This move has taken sandalwood industry to a next level, it's really a feather in the cap..the actors seems to have given their best..strong and connective story! I would suggest all movie lovers to watch this movie..and thanks for the whole movie team for their efforts to create a masterpiece movie..

A wonderful movie with excellent direction wading through the complexities of a relationship between a young couple in the nineties. Depth, subtlety and realistic scenarios take you through the whole movie and you end up coming out content. A topic not explored in kannada cinema, atleast not in the way that has been portrayed in this movie. The lead characters do justice to their respective roles and take you through a nostalgic ride through your school days and that experience is worth it! Well done! Please appreciate quality cinema made by our Kannada industry and please watch the movie and appreciate their efforts.

Movie is about journey of girl through her high school. This sticks to its core and do not divert from its main subject.The story flows so good and I could feel moments felt from school days .Seems slow but keeps me indulged 👍👍

Its a love story told from a 16-year old girl point of view. I have never seen any other teenage romantic story from a female view. And, this is one of the finest example of how to use voice-overs for narration. The movie compares itself with cliche scenes from Bollywood love dramas and the girl explores that it is not the reality. Watch if you want to see a realistic love story without any dramas and overacting!!

Not a lot of movies are out there nowadays that have the effect on you the way gantumoote has had... It's truly a remarkable piece of work that will take you back to your school years and make you relive all those sweet... sweet moments... And I really want to thank the makers and everyone else involved in the making of this masterpiece... Everything about the movie right from start to finish is a heartfelt experience and the characters and the story resonates with you long after you leave the cinema hall... All the actors, the dialogue, the screenplay, cinematography are nothing short of excellence... The background score particularly stands out and shines through and through... I don't want to say anything more because I'm afraid I might give away some spoilers... Kudos to the entire team that have given it their all. On a personal note, I am truly honoured to have one of the key actors in this movie as a dear friend... Watching her on screen has brought a great sense of pride and joy in me... I would urge all of you to not miss this movie as the kind of nostalgia it creates is unheard of..#gantumoote

The director has made a gem of love in this drama.evernthough he tries to say the love between the couples..at somepoint there is some kind of missing between them.as a hero of the story the hero doesnt have role that much and moreover he still he lags.the main pillar of the story is the lady..one and only thr meeraa.she and her character provokes a cyclone in a calm sea... yet the teenager's sees a rose in a thorn..the movie is good..not upto a amarkaviya..bt a amar story of 90s

A highly relateable film with occasional laughter. Gantumoote did not bore me for a single second. This certainly will be one of the 10 films between 2010 and 2020 I would recommend to my friends.

What I liked: 1. Female protagonist character who does not rely on oh-I-am-such-a-victim or radical feminist values. 2. Female protagonist who is not a female version of a regular male protagonist. (We have seen the latter happening). 3. Strong and mature character of Meera, in which strength and maturity are not defined by conventional standards. 4. The film isn't afraid to talk about child marriages in certain homes (you will know why I said it the way I said it, after watching the film. I don't have the the kind of balls the film has). 5. Nothing is on-your-face. 6. Attention to detail. Small things like having white number plate instead of yellow for public transport vehicles, and hiding 'BBMP' with trash props on a wall where 'By order - BBMP' was written, mattered. I would have liked it even better if BTS buses were shown instead of BMTC. 7. Meera's father gets way less dialogues than her mother, despite having similar screen time, quite like urban uncles of 90s. 8. Director's cameo. 9. The school has a cool teacher who makes total sense, again relateable.

Watch it before it goes out of theatres

Its a teen love story. The highlight is how the film is taking you, a journey to the inner world of a teen girl. Her thoughts, her perspective of love narrated poetically in reel. At the end when we leave the theatre you will take her to home in heart, realisticly genuinely potrayed story which brings an emotional connection through out the watch. Kudos to the team..

There is no logic and reality. Aged actors portrayed school life, even those actors are not fit for collage students characters. Very bold romance scenes in high school life, I don't know in which part of india school students hugs & kisses publically. This story is not suitable for 90's. Dont waste your precious 2 hours of your life watching this scrap movie.

Gantumoote is one of the finest love stories of Indian Cinema. It's beauty lies in it's simplicity. The magical screenplay and subtle acting evokes emotions without melodrama. This is my most favourite Kannada film after Thithi. This is another epic which proves that content is king and language is never a barrier. A must watch for those who appreciate simple and unpretentious story telling.

Beautiful direction and casual acting. Heart touching. I would highly recommend people to watch and appreciate such work!

In Gantumoote, debutante director Roopa Rao beautifully blends a coming of age tale with an in-depth character study of her protaganist - Meera, who is also our narrator. The major portions of the movie which is set in the early 1990s revolves around an intense teen romance of Meera with her classmate Madhu. It is a romance that lingers on to create ripples through her life well into her adulthood. This teen love story is showcased with a rare sensitivity and without any frills that cry out for attention or sundry commercial compromises.

Director Roopa Rao builds the narrative of this school time romance with a good deal of poise and grace. The budding interests, and its evolution into a warm romance is captured with great care and authenticity punctuated through poetic voice-overs, several stolen glances, those sheepish looks, multiple magical moments when two sets of eyes converge to exchange private notes within a crowded classroom and the loving gazes that sets both the hearts aflutter.



The fact that she could convey the intensity of the emotional tumult within Meera as she goes through the journey of life without translating the same into melodramatic scenes is a testimony to the maturity of Roopa Rao and her mastery over the medium.

The cinematography by Sahadev Kelavadi is unobtrusive as it captures the precious moments without compromising on their innocent charm. Background score and songs by Aparajith Sris has the rythm of a summer day's gentle breeze that caresses the back of our neck to pleasently surprise us.

Roopa and her team deserve kudos for their apt casting choices for the lead pair as well as the entire supporting cast. Teju Belawadi dives into the heart of the character of Meera and aces the entire palette of emotions with those big expressive eyes. Nishchith Korodi provides a perfect foil as he rings in the right kind of boyish charm as well as the vulnerabilities of Madhu.

Gantumoote feels like a personal conversation that we have with our closest of friends. During the course of the movie, we feel similarly connected to Meera as she confides in us and bares her soul. Both the debutantes - the director, Roopa Rao and the lead actor Teju Belawadi - have heralded themselves as talents to look out for the future.

Overall, Gantumoote is a delicately crafted, deeply personal, poetic movie that surprises you often with its unique perspective and is sure to stay on with the viewers long after they have watched it.

RATING - 4/5

PS - Gantumoote is streaming on Amazon Prime Video

Nothing artificial , a very simple (love)story of a girl narrated by herself. Her dialogues are excellent, one must listen to it in the original language it was written (kannada). translated dialogues may not give the punch. Some moments her dialogues send a chill down the spine. A 1990's kid who has done schooling in Karnataka will relate to many other aspects of the film like lekhak notebook,those uniforms,buses,landline phones,teachers -the way they spoke.I felt terribly sad about the ending. I think one of the take away from this movie is to have love for any person but not attachment.

Beautiful acting by everyone. For example the maths teacher who has such a small role also has acted wonderful and his dialoges are excellent too. the naturalness of the characters is retained throughout the movie. Kudos!

Such a realistic one... There is nothing exaggerated or fantasized in it..also its journey through the perceptions of Meera is much admirable.. She has carried the character very sincerely that at times we felt the same pain she had. Meera's baggage is full of experiences and experiments. It is filled with the sweet and sour phases of life. The smile remaining on her face at the last sequence reveals her sateity of having experienced many aspects of life and also the confidence she gained through her difficulties.. Also Madhu and Meera's chemistry is very well portrayed in the movie without any non realistic sequences. When they talk about Meera's friends fear on early marriage, the harassment Meera had to face from Prajwal for not accepting its proposal and the way she overcomes all the obstructions in her life establish a obvious politics of the film too.. Its sure that the makers have put a great courage and effort to create such a beautiful one. The shots still remain in thoughts..

Making, editing, acting skills are perfect, which makes 90s kids to go back for adrenaline rush. The nostalgic feelings makes your spine chill. If this movie would have got promoted well, it could have been a blockbuster movie.

This forcefully pushed me towards a past I really don't like to remember. Not because I don't like that time of my life but because I am so embarrassed remembering how stupid I was.

This movie is more relatable to me than any other movie in this kind. I've seen many 'collage love' movies and there are many such stories in Malayalam movies I've watched where they show us the entire history of the characters.

The most touching thing in gantumoote is how the characters are developed and acted. And how it is directed. The acclaim it had received showcases how touching it was for many people.

I dont know kannada but still i enjoyed it too much with english subtitles. So realistic movies, touched 2-3 major social topic. Lovely art work

Iam overwhelmed by the beauty and depth of this film. Its the first indian movie Ive seen after long time, which narrates completely from a female perspective and deals with topics like toxic masulinity and patriachry. Its really refreshing to see movies like these and i hope there will be a lot more in near future; its also important, to have new narratives such like these to attain change about how females are perceived in society. I hope that independent movies like this one gain more publicity.

The movie is awesome. It gives the real feel to the viewers or audience. The life what she lives after he leave??? Body and breathing that's all??

Definitely a must watch movies for cinema Lovers

I watched many movie about High school love. But Gantumoote (Bag gage)Hits me different A Love - Drama movie from the generation of 80s-90s Students. The gantumoote separates all other love movies because of only reason is the movie from women and the woman story. I think every girl in our society, would have crossed the feeling of Meera that the hero will save & fight for the heroine only in movies. The situation of meera got abuse from classmates scene was a realistic one i lost that situation. I remember my college days...!. The acting of Teju belawadi was realistic ,settle the meera character remember me a long time. And the cinematography was top notch .Director ROOPA RAO diserve a large Applause. Thank you for the Film

Movie watched : 14.01.2023.

Beautifully made movie. Takes you back to teen feelings and memories from 90s.

Walks you through one teens life, experiences and feelings. Set up in 90s Karnataka, middle class family and school environment. Era of of Salman Khan's Hum Aapke Hai Kaun and Shahrukh Khans Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. The beautiful part is the direction, which does not indulge in inappropriate scenes, language, drama etc. It feels as real as it could be. No songs, no fights, no overacting, very realistic tones and dialogues, very natural acting. Loved the 90s school environment where this builds up.. test paper correction, teachers guiding students , Subtle class room dynamics and love stories.. Well-done!!

Made for the 90s kid, the movie has a timeless touch to it. Quite relevant in today's time as well, it showcases the journey of a teenager and how they tackle life without much support. Every parent should definitely watch this one !!