Kannada film ‘Kantara’ which was released few weeks back has turned out to be a nationwide phenomenon. It was produced on a small budget of 16 crore rupees but still managed to make around 270 crores on box office. Rishabh Shetty, who wrote, directed and played the lead role in this film has been garnering lots of well deserved praises for past few weeks.
The success of ‘Kantara’ also raises questions on the continuous failure of several big budget Bollywood films as it shows that people are willing to watch good cinema, even if it doesn’t feature elaborate sets and popular stars. In a recent conversation with Hindustan Times, Rishabh shared his view on why Bollywood is struggling to bring audience to theatres and it has something to do with the influence of culture.
The actor-filmmaker stated, “Too much western influence and consumption of Hollywood and other content has led to filmmakers trying to do the same in India. But why are you trying that? People are already getting that in Hollywood, and they are doing it better in terms of quality, storytelling and performances.”
In an another recent interview, Rishabh shared that he wouldn’t want ‘Kantara’ to be remade in Bollywood. He said, “To play such characters you have to believe in the roots and culture. There are many big actors in the Hindi film industry whom I admire. But I am not interested in remakes.”
