Kantara stars Rishab Shetty, Sapthami Gowda open up on film's blockbuster success | Exclusive

The Kannada film Kantara, starring and directed by Rishab Shetty, has become a mammoth blockbuster and one of the most appreciated films in recent times with moviegoers and critics raving about its brilliant visuals, rousing music, incredible performances, perfect storytelling, and epic climax.

In an exclusive conversation with DNA, the film's leading stars Rishab Shetty and Sapthami Gowda talked about how they are feeling after the film's success and shared how they never imagined the film to get so much love from across the nation. 

When we asked both of them if they anticipated such an overwhelming response to their film, Rishab said, "I never imagined such an enormous success. The concept on which I based the film, the conflict between humans and nature is a universal subject. My story was deeply rooted and regional so I had thought that this would be fresh to the audiences and would succeed, but never expected it would work so big. We should thank our Kannada people, they have supported us like anything. They are doing so much word-of-mouth publicity among the non-Kannadigas and making them watch the film in the theatres. And after watching the film, even non-Kannadigas are giving such positive reviews."

Rishab even shared how he developed the idea for Kantara as he added, "Basically, I have shot the entire film in my village. I have seen and followed the rituals and the culture seen in the film since childhood. I wanted to bring these traditions in front of the people through the cinema."

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For the film's leading actress Sapthami Gowda, Kantara is her second film after she made her debut after she made her acting debut in the 2019 crime drama Popcorn Monkey Tiger. She shared her happiness of receiving immense love at the start of her career and said, "It feels overwhelming sometimes because I never expected this to ever happen in my career so early. It's still very difficult to digest and I am still taking it all in but I am really happy and really, really proud that I got to be part of this film. Today, when it has reached this scale, I am very grateful actually."

After seeing the thunderous response to its Kannada version which was released in the theatres on September 30, the film is now being released in Hindi on October 14, in Tamil and Telugu on October 15, and in Malayalam on October 20. Kantara is bankrolled by Vijay Kiragandur under his banner Hombale Films.