Rishab Shetty on the rise of Kannada cinema; ‘The success of KGF created a new path’

Rishab Shetty, the talented actor-filmmaker is currently on a high with the massive success of his latest outing, Kantara. The movie, which is an action thriller based on a folklore myth, has been receiving rave reviews from audiences. The excellent reception has even resulted in Kantara, which was not originally planned as a pan-Indian film, getting dubbed in other major Indian languages. In an interview actor-director Rishab Shetty opened up about the new rise of Kannada cinema, and how it opened a vast range of possibilities.

In the interview, Rishab Shetty expressed his happiness over the Kannada film industry finally getting all the love and appreciation, it always deserved. “People are finally recognizing us. There was a period that we consider the ‘Golden era’ of Kannada cinema. But later, there came a phase where the quality of the films somewhere went downhill. But now, the success of a film like KGF happened, and a production banner like Hombale Films has given some path-breaking films. It has created a new path for the filmmakers in the industry to explore more” said the Kantara director.

“And many big changes are happening in cinema these days. The differentiations based on languages – like Bollywood, Tollywood, or Sandalwood are slowly fading. We are becoming the Indian film industry. We made this film only in Kannada initially. Because I wanted to make this content, which is deeply rooted in this particular culture, in Kannada first. However, the entire world accepted the film so wonderfully. It was after the success of the Kannada version, people started asking us to release the film in Hindi and other languages. The audiences have started looking at cinema from a different perspective,” added that actor-filmmaker.

The movie, which is bankrolled by Hombale Films, is set in the backdrop of the Keraadi region of coastal Karnataka. Rishab Shetty, who penned the script and directed the film, has also played the lead role in it. The highly acclaimed film features Sapthami Gowda, Kishore, Achyuth Kumar, Pramod Shetty, and others in pivotal roles. The Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi versions of Kantara are now gearing up for release soon.