The Biggest Compliment Kantara Director Rishab Shetty Received In The US, “They Said It’s Their Story”

Actor-director Rishab Shetty’s Kantara Chapter 1, a prequel to his National Award-winning film Kantara (2022), opened to stellar box office numbers and rave reviews. Steeped in the tradition of coastal Karnataka, Bhoota Kola (a vibrant spirit-worship ritual from the Tulu-speaking communities of coastal Karnataka), Kantara 1 blends folklore, myth, and religious belief with cinematic grandeur. In an exclusive conversation with NDTV’s Deepak Bopanna, Rishab Shetty talks about how he conceived his film for the rest of India, unfamiliar with the tradition of Bhoota Kola, and how he depicted the story without causing any hurt to religious sentiment.