“Though we all stay connected in a global village, there is a local tradition and folklore for every locality, which is worth a narration. This is one such story about the tribal tradition of coastal Karnataka,” says actor and director Rishab Shetty on his latest flick Kantara, which has released to packed halls and widespread critical acclaim across the country.
Clearly on cloud nine over what he says was an ‘unexpected success’, Rishab interacted with The Hindu during his whirlwind day-long tour of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday.
The film scored high not only for its technical values, but also received rave reviews for its portrayal of the age-old traditions entrenched in the roots of the unexplored hinterland.
Quizzed on the ‘boldness’ behind his decision to veer away from the beaten track to pick up an unusually different theme that hardly fits into any particular genre, Rishab said, “I hail from this region which accords importance to our age-old traditions. The topic dealt with in this film is nothing new for us, as we have been watching and following it for years. However, we did not expect it to have such a wide reach across the country.”
Rishab initially had no plans to make Kantara a pan-India film. “Not at all. We did not have such an idea. It was meant only to be a Kannada film, but thanks to the film’s intensity, it started receiving positive talk across the country. Within days, we got down to release the movie in four more languages.”
Riding on the film’s success, the emerging star has little to say about his next venture. “At present, my mind is blank. We will decide on the next project after two months,” he said with a wide grin.
Earlier, he visited the Jayasyam theatre in Tirupati amid a rapturous welcome by fans. Rishab addressed the Telugu audience in chaste Kannada, promising them that he would learn to speak Telugu before his next visit. He was felicitated by retired TTD Deputy Executive Officer Chinnamgari Ramana, Sri Lakshmi Movies proprietor Pooja Nagisetty and city corporator R.C. Munikrishna.
