Jr NTR’s Kannada banter with Rishab Shetty at award event is winning hearts

Kannada film audiences have always had a soft corner for Telugu superstar Jr NTR. The actor, as it turns out, speaks fluent Kannada, a skill he picked up from his mother who hails from Kundapura. Tarak, as the actor is popularly known, makes it a point to converse in Kannada whenever possible and had even dubbed for his portions in his last big release, RRR. The actor is often vocal about his love for Kannada cinema and had personally called Rishab Shetty after watching Kantara.

For Rishab, it was an unforgettable moment, as he’s always said that Tarak is his favourite star from across the border and not just because he’s a fantastic actor, but also because of the Kundapura connect. The duo met again on September 15 in Dubai, where they were attending a popular film award event. Rishab won an award for Kantara and Jr NTR congratulated him before proceeding to have a quick banter in Kannada. Videos of this exchange between the two actors is, of course, going viral on social media. Telugu translations of the conversation are also being posted. Rishab took the opportunity to thank Taarak in person for his continued support, as he’d been the one to felicitate Rishab and the team of Kirik Party a few years ago at the same event. The Kantara maker also added that he has never seen Taarak as anything other than a Kannadiga owing to this ‘special connect’.

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Many years ago, Jr NTR made his Kannada film debut, albeit as a singer, when he lent his voice to the song Geleya Geleya in the late Puneeth Rajkumar’s Chakravyuha. Last year, when the Karnataka government conferred the title of Karnataka Ratna on the late Power Star, Tarak was one of the guests and had floored everyone with his fluent and brilliant speech in Kannada. Joining Rajinikanth at the event, Jr NTR had spoken about how Puneeth had won hearts with his charming personality and smile.