Kantara has hit theatres across India.Kannada actor-filmmaker Rishab Shetty never expected Kantara to receive so much love from all over the country even before releasing the dubbed versions of the movie in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil. The film, which released only in Kannada last month, is now running in over 2500 screens in India and has crossed the Rs 100 crore mark at the box office.
In this interview with indianexpress.com, Rishab talks about how not all Kannada films can be made as pan-India movies just because KGF was a blockbuster. Instead, he believes that like Kantara, films should be about telling region-specific stories in a way that it connects with audiences globally.
Talking about how he decided to make this film, Rishab Shetty shared, “I thought it would be a good idea to make this film as it concerns itself with nature, humanity and the divine. The movie is based on true incidents. About thirty years ago, an incident happened between a forest official and villagers. People don’t consider agricultural land just as land. It is special and has several traditions attached to it. The lifestyle in the coastal region of Karnataka or Mangalore is based on respecting and worshipping the land. In this region, people carry out agricultural activities twice in a year, and in between that there are several cultural activities that take place. It is based on folklore, traditional practices and regional beliefs.”
Through his film Kantara, Rishab Shetty wanted to showcase the conflict between humans and nature, which according to him has a global appeal. “I wanted to show the conflict between man and nature through the ritual of Daivaradhane and religious practices surrounding demi-gods in this region. This conflict between man and nature has a universal appeal. I have always believed that more regional is more universal.” Talking about why he thinks that the movie is being received with so much love even without much promotions, he said, “I think it is not only people based in coastal Karnataka, but most of the diaspora scattered around the world are watching it, connecting to it and feeling closer to their roots,” Rishab shared.
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Rishab then opened up about the much talked about climax scene of Kantara. He said, “The climax scene that lot of people are talking about, I didn’t write it. I only had four visuals in mind. The DOP had no clue how to direct it. We couldn’t explain how to execute and bring on screen the visuals we had in mind. But I believe in this energy. The ritual of Daivaradhane is known to bring a sense of equality in a community, and acts like a bridge between different stratas in the community. I believe that is what has helped me too, as even when we didn’t know how to go about shooting the climax, we did one shot and the climax scenes started flowing lucidly.”
On being asked if he felt any pressure because he was also acting in the film, the actor-filmmaker said, “I don’t think much actually. I just do it. Even while directing the film, I didn’t think much. I just wondered if it was the energy that wanted me to shoot the film this way. I have never worked on such a huge scale. This is my first. We didn’t have any body double either. I just did all of it. The Kambala race (buffalo race), and all the action sequences. I hadn’t started making this film on the scale that it has reached today.”
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Kantara is backed by Hombale Films, the production house that bankrolled KGF movies starring Yash. However, Rishab Shetty thinks not every film can be a ‘pan-India film’.
“The ritual that we’re talking about in the film, every region in India has a version of it. So, everyone who watched the film could connect to the sentiment of the film. The sentiment is what unifies the country. We didn’t plan Kantara as a pan-India film. We simply wanted to tell a story which is rooted, regional and had a core connection. We had thought that once the film releases in Kannada, we’ll dub it in different languages and drop it on OTT, so it can reach a larger audience. But that plan didn’t work out. The film spread like wildfire not only in the Kannadiga circle, many non-Kannadigas watched it and many prominent film critics reviewed it, so the word of mouth worked immensely. My first thought was that people of Karnataka should watch it, as I made it for them. Now, everyone wants to watch it, so we associated with distributor Anil Thadani and Hombale Films, who also produced KGF and KGF2, and dubbed Kantara in several languages. Because of these two forces and Vijay Kiragandur, we’ve released the film in more than 2500 screens,” Rishab said.
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On being asked if most Kannada films are received well all over the world after KGF, the actor-filmmaker said, “I don’t believe in the concept of pan-India films fully. I have always believed that stories from a particular region should be told in that regional language. Any story that is made into a film in India is an Indian film anyway. It is not north Indian films or south Indian films. It is all Indian films and then categorised into regional films. Of course, today the market has opened up. More people are watching films from certain regions than another, and want to know stories from all across the country. There are more platforms available to us today to showcase our films, but that doesn’t mean all films should be pan-India films because some stories have to be told in an intimate regional way. Some stories can be told in a bigger way, of course. KGF main dum tha. It could be told in a bigger way, in a more pan-India way. Common audience all over the world watched it and it was a superhit, but that can mislead people into making every film as a pan-India film, and that is not possible.”
Lastly, Rishab Shetty said that even before KGF, many Kannada films had a “pan-India” appeal. He said, “It is a cycle. 30-40 years ago, we had legendary movie stars like Dr Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan, Shankar Nag, and so many filmmakers. People used to watch their films here in Kannada and remake them. We’d never come to know about it. Today, that is not possible as because of the advent of OTT, regional films have got a global platform. Our films are accessible to the world, and I think that’s what is the contribution of KGF to the Kannada film industry.”