Harshad Nalawade’s ‘Follower’ is a superbly crafted drama about the Kannadiga-Marathi conflict in Belgaum

Now in theatres, this Marathi (with Kannada and Hindi) feature world-premiered at the 2023 Rotterdam Film Festival. It shows how an ordinary man transforms into a “hater”. The rest of this review may contain spoilers.

Harshad Nalawade’s story is set in Belgaum, a largely Marathi-speaking district that was pushed into the border region of Karnataka in the 1950s, when maps were being redrawn. Over time, this move has resulted in linguistic conflict, and we see this conflict personified as Raghavendra Pawar, aka Raghu (Raghu Prakash). As his surname suggests, he is a Marathi speaker. On the other hand, we have a Kannadiga named Sachin (played by the director). Both employ social media to further their cause: Raghu’s posts insist that Maharashtrians are being oppressed, while Sachin thinks that there is nothing wrong in wanting, for instance, shop signs in Kannada (in addition to Marathi). Raghu runs a gift shop whose sign was first in Marathi (i.e. Devanagari), and one of the film’s most violent images has him dragging the tin sign behind him on a desolate road at night. The deafening noise – tin on tarmac – could well be the soundtrack of Belgaum.

You can read the rest of the review here:

https://www.galattaplus.com/harshad-nalawades-follower-is-a-superbly-crafted-drama-about-the-kannadiga-marathi-conflict-in-belgaum/

You can watch the trailer / video review here:

Copyright ©2025 GALATTA.