EXCLUSIVE | 'Kantara' actor-director Rishab Shetty calls Junior NTR his brother: 'Called him to my village when we were shooting and...'

Actor-director Rishab Shetty brings Kantara Chapter 1, which happens to be a prequel to the 2022 hit that surprised one and all with its craft and canvas. The film came out at a time when most of the big-budget extravaganzas were biting the dust. With the prequel, the anticipation is palpable.

In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, Rishab Shetty spoke about what contributed to the giant success of the first film three years back, calling Junior NTR to his village where they were shooting the film, and meeting the expectations of fans with his new film.

Edited excerpts from the interview

What do you feel was the reason for the success of Kantara back in 2022 when many films failed to leave a mark at the box-office?

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I think this is a question that should be answered by the audience. The whole of India is attached to its roots and agriculture. And even the folklore is a part of the Indian culture. The craft and arc that you need to make a film, the script, the dialogues the performance should be engaging. Maybe that is the reason why people accepted the first film.

Not only the script, but even the canvas and visuals of Kantara stood out. How did you prepare for that as the writer and the director?

It was very new for me. It was a huge budget for me. My third film was a film called Sarkari, it was a children’s film. We made that film in around Rs 4-4.5 crore. Kantara was made at a budget of Rs 14-15 crore so I was literally tensed. This was the first big budget film of my life. But it was just not a Kannada film. It transcended to Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu. Everything happened stage after stage. But the way people supported the movie and made it a commercial success, my big budget became really small. And that was a reason why we were able to explore the opportunity to make the film on such a big scale. I would like to thank the audience through the medium of Firstpost for giving us so much love and blessings. Now the responsibility is to tell better stories and put more effort and entertain more. We also have to study a lot more about the folklore of India.

How did people react when you narrated them the script of Kantara since it was unique, unconventional, and out of the box?

There were a lot of discussions that were happening about the next part already. Right from the dialogues to the pre production, I had prepared everything in the first 3-4 months. The first people I narrated the scripture were the producers. They are one of the biggest powerhouses of Indian cinema, and their success rate is massive (Hombale Films). They are exploring movies that are attached to the Indian tradition. So what we had to do next was a huge responsibility. We have to make sure that we do not disappoint our primary audience. The producers were really happy with my idea. And everybody knew we really had to work a lot on this idea. We had to put in a lot more effort this time as compared to our last film. The entire production team has supported me a lot. I would like to thank my DoP, my wife, my production designer, my editor.

Everybody literally shouldered me through the journey. If a director with a story in his mind goes to a cinematographer like Arvind, anything can happen in terms of visuals. He has become one of the biggest DoPs of Indian cinema. My whole team has supported me a lot, and it was a massive journey for us. We were at the location for three years. And then we were there for two years for the first part. So it became like our five year plan (smiles). We have come here in Mumbai so we are missing a lot of people from our team. Gulshan Devaiah, he has done a lot of movies in Hindi. He’s a terrific actor.

A lot of people think I have brought him from Bollywood. But he’s actually from Karnataka. He has really played his character very well. We have Jayram sir, we also have a lot of newcomers in the film, there are local artists, my village people. Most of the major technicians are the same that were there with me the last time. This was a film that belonged to us. And we get a lot of energy when you work with that attitude.

Junior NTR graced one of the promotional events that happened in Hyderabad. How does it feel when people from your industry and outside support your film and you?

He’s like my own brother. I actually called him to my Village while we were in the middle of our shoot. He came to meet me for two days and was so happy. So when we went to Hyderabad, he was the one who was hosting our event, and introducing us to all the Telugu audience. He has appreciated all of us a lot. I can talk in Hindi and Tamil but my thinking is in Kannada. I cannot speak in Telugu much. I started speaking in Kannada at the event and NTR sir translated everything in Telugu. It was a very beautiful moment for all of us.