Puneeth Amarnath on ‘Total Khanna Da!’: ‘A message of love, acceptance and respect from a Kannadiga’s perspective’-OxBig News Network

Total Khanna Da!, a seven-minute film in Kannada, has gone viral since it dropped online in October 2024. Puneeth Amarnath wrote and directed the film for his YouTube channel, Ideeria.

Puneeth is known for his ‘Uncle’ and ‘Manager’ series on YouTube. The founder of Ideeria, which is a digital arm of his firm, Poster Boy Art Studios, Puneeth has acted in Kannada films including KM Chaitanya’s Aadarinda,  Srikanth Kenchappa’s Narayana Narayana, the medical thriller, O2, directed by Raghav Nayak and Prashanth Raj, and Akash Srivatsa’s Shivaji Surathkal 2.

Total Khanna Da!, Puneeth says, was made as a response to Kannadigas being trolled for being chauvinists. Puneeth used this accusation as a backdrop for Total Khanna Da!, which is a peaceful message of love, acceptance and respect from a Kannadiga’s perspective.

The film stars Puneeth with Sanjana Burli (she starred in the serial, Puttakkana Makkalu ) and theatre actor Soundarya Nagaraj. Edited by Akshay P Rao (Sidlingu), with music by Aparajith Sris (Gantumoote) Total Khanna Da! is produced by Puneeth, Hariprasad and SJ Nitil Krishna for Ideeria in association with Trivarga Productions and Trikon Films.

“Over the past few years, the narrative about Kannada and Kannadigas, especially in Bengaluru, has been extremely negative. Kannadigas, who are generally known to be large hearted, hospitable and accommodating, are now accused of being rigid. We are also made to feel guilty when we want to access information or services in Kannada.”

Artistes, Puneeth said, took the peaceful route to express themselves using theatre, art and music. “Total Khanna Da! says we can be accommodative of other cultures while retaining our nativity, language and cuisine. There is no need to give up on one’s own roots, culture or language to accommodate others.”

Punning on the word Kannada in the title, Puneeth says, “Kanna means ‘to steal’ and the title aims to say Kannada as a language can steal anyone’s heart.”

The film, Puneeth says, was made to protect the future of a language in a country that holds the diversity tag. “Total Khanna Da! is an attempt to ensure the identity and rights of native speakers.”

One is not only born a Kannadiga, Puneeth says. “Anyone who has lived here for a while and accepted our culture and language as much as we accept them, even if they are not fluent in speaking the language, are Kannadigas.”

The negativity towards Kannadigas has built up over the years, Puneeth says. “It has happened slowly through multiple episodes, be it the Kannadiga reservations or cab/auto drivers or insider-outsider debates. The negative narrative has been built up to the point that people only see the negative.”

Being an observer of social media, Puneeth says, he has noticed as the hatred for Kannada and Kannadigas has grown, so has the pride in the language and the effort to protect it. “While in the past people were reluctant, today localites are vocal expressing their views. They are speaking up for themselves.”

The characters in the film, Puneeth says, are created to address these issues. “When a character calls a localite rigid, the other character points out how Bengaluru has been accommodating. We have restaurants that serve paneer and kulcha, while the number of restaurants serving local cuisine like uppu saaru and mudde are dwindling.”

Even in weddings, north Indian traditions, such as the sangeet and mehendi ceremonies are observed in south Indian marriages, Puneeth says. “We have sangeet today and wear a sherwani instead of the dhoti. When did we have mehendi? We celebrate dandiya, but rarely talk about kolata. I don’t understand where and how we are being rigid.”

His point of view: straight from the heart
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What is heartbreaking, Puneeth says, is while we have accepted other cultures wholeheartedly, we have been unsuccessful in getting our cuisine, culture and language accepted by others. “We have failed ourselves as Kannadigas, by ignoring and letting our culture take a backseat while we welcome everything else.”

While there are people who have lived here and adapted to the local culture and learnt Kannada, Puneeth says, there are those with a cultural arrogance that questions why they should learn another language when they can manage with whatever they know. “They try and impose their perspective on others. This is what triggers fights.”

The actor, who started off as a child artist with films such as Mitayi Mane and Tutturi, believes it is unfortunate, that it needs debates and protests to make these claims and demands. “There are many who can stand up for different things, but who can stand up for their language?”