Kantara maker Rishab Shetty’s banner is looking for actors with a north Karnataka accent

Rishab Shetty is deep in the process of getting Kantara 2 on floors, but that’s not all that’s taking up his time. Turns out, his production house is gearing up to put another film together, casting for which has begun. Moments ago, Rishab put out a casting/audition call on social media, looking for fresh and talented actors for prominent roles in his banner’s upcoming project. The requirement is for the female lead, an aspiring actress in the age group of 19 to 25 years, as well as an unspecified number of male actors in the 18-60 years age bracket. The only catch is that preference is for actors with a distinct north Karnataka accent.

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Rishab’s most recent productions have been filmmaker Natesh Hegde’s film festival darling Pedro and his next, Vagachipani, which has Malayalam actor-filmmaker Dileesh Pothan in a pivotal role. It would be interesting to see which filmmaker and what kind of film and genre he has chosen to support this time. Rishab, meanwhile, is giving finishing touches to the script of Kantara 2, which is a prequel to the events of Kantara. It has been reported that the actor-filmmaker is looking at doing an origins story for Panjurli, the Daiva referenced in Kantara. The boar-form Panjurli has a lord Shiva connect, which would require massive VFX efforts.

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But given that Rishab has been taking horse-riding and Kalaripayattu lesson, the prequel’s story may not only be about Panjurli’s origin. The film is said to be made on a Rs 100 crore budget, which is 10 times that of Kantara. It was earlier said that the film would have its muhurtha on August 27, with shooting to begin thereafter, but since then, there’s been no word on the status of Kantara 2.