Rishab Shetty: Audiences are the gamechangers who welcomed rooted story telling

On September 10, 2022, Kannada actor-director Rishab Shetty was in Mumbai joining OTTplay at the first ever OTTplay Awards and celebrating talents from across the country, who had done sensational work in the OTT segment. Rishab was also feted for his contribution to Innovations in New-Age Cinema, his first ever award in Mumbai. The event came shortly after he had released the trailer of his next film, Kantara, which had sparked interest among audiences. Then, 20 days later, the film released and it literally took the nation by storm.

Released as a Kannada only film across the nation, Kantara had to be dubbed in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam within two weeks and went on to amass a whopping Rs 400 crore at the box office. In recognition of this massive feat that Rishab achieved, OTTplay honoured him yet again; this time at the inaugural edition of the OTTplay Changemakers 2023 awards. Rishab was adjudged the Gamechanger of the Year and when asked about the award, he said that the real gamechanger is actually the audience. “It is the audience that has ushered in such a big change in content consumption. During the pandemic, people were watching content across languages and geographical areas, which, in turn, changed their perspective about cinema and the theatrical experience. So, I would like to thank the audience who welcomed rooted story-telling with open arms. Special word of gratitude also goes out to the people of Karnataka, who made it possible to take Kantara across the nation in different languages. I will forever be indebted to you,” he said.

2022, was the year that the whole nation took notice of Kannada cinema, first with KGF: Chapter 2, followed by films like 777 Charlie, Vikrant Rona and then, Kantara. Rishab, though, reckons that Kannada cinema’s contribution to Indian films has been big even earlier, Dr Rajkumar. Shankar Nag, Vishnuvardhan or Puttanna Kanagal, among others. “It’s just that in this generation, a film like KGF-2 has put the spotlight firmly back on Kannada cinema. KGF forged a new path that allowed other filmmakers to follow and find recognition,” said Rishab.