Times of India | 4 days ago | 25-11-2022 | 02:40 am
Panaji: Rishabh Shetty, actor, director and producer of Kannada film ‘Kantara’, which is experiencing phenomenal success, said that his film is being dubbed in some foreign languages too. It has been released in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi so far. Shetty said that Konkani films can receive similar success if filmmakers identify content which has a universal connect.“It is not about language. It is about what content you are bringing to the table. If you have content which connects globally, then why will people not watch it? It will definitely do well. Marathi film Sairath did so well in all parts of Karnataka,” Shetty said, speaking at a session at the 53rd International Film Festival of India (Iffi).Goa too abounds with folk practices like those shown in Kantara, he said.“Our country is agriculture based. Everything here is connected to it. I am telling the story of folk god worship in Karnataka. But such practices are there in every part of India. Today I met the Goa chief minister, he told me that in Goa there is practice of Virbhadra,” said Shetty.He said that there is no such thing as pan-India content, and now OTT platforms have broken all limitations. More local is more universal, Shetty said.“I don’t believe in pan-India content. Pitching a film as pan India can be misleading for producers. It is better to make content in which you believe and then it should connect organically with the people.”Shetty said that though he respects the love received for his film from across India, he will prefer to make films only in Kannada in the future. He also said that direction is his first preference.“I respect the love and blessings given to me by people across India. But I am coming from Karnataka. It is my karma bhumi. I want to do films only there,” he said.Shetty said the he invested a lot of money in the film, even though it is considered a low-budget film from the commercial point of view, and that he was under tremendous pressure during its release. But the filmmaker said that Kannada people generated so much of word-of-mouth publicity for Kantara that it reached audience across India and led to the film’s success.“Cinema has no language barrier. It is emotions that connect, yet I didn’t expect this kind of success,” Shetty said.Shetty said that his family observes the rituals portrayed in Kantara every year.“Because I believed in it, the people believed in it,” he said. The filmmaker said that as an actor he was beginning to be typecast in comedy roles and Kantara helped him portray the angry young man within.
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