In Tungabhadra, the images are limited to one place. The use of the same way of filming as well as the repeated images structure the film. They accentuate the atmosphere and character of the landscape. Water is an important recurring theme and the Tungabhadra River is as essential to the film as it is vital to the ancient capital of Vijayanagara. The film constantly returns to the river and the reflection of the enormous rocks in it. Here, the tranquility and disappearance of time are reinforced by the slow panoramic views in which reality and its reflection, the past and the present, merge into abstract patterns of light and shadow.