Kishore on Kantara’s Murali: I am a director’s actor; I am too lazy to prepare myself for roles

The actor believes that the writers and filmmakers he works with do most of the work as far as his characterizations go

Kishore in a still from Kantara

Kishore is a busy actor across the south film industries, especially in Tamil cinema, and has branched into Hindi shows and films too. He has worked with the who’s who in all these industries and done several memorable roles. This made actor-filmmaker Rishab Shetty, who worked with Kishore on the upcoming Kantara, wonder what method the actor follows in preparing for his roles.

“Truth be told, I am a lazy actor. I leave the preparation to the writers and directors that I work with and trust their vision of how they want the character to be. In that sense, I am a director’s actor. Having said that, I guess, at some sub-conscious level, you tend to start visualising the character – how he should be. I don’t go on set with a fixed idea of how I think the character should be presented, because that will only result in conflicts with whoever created that role, whether it is the writer or the director. With Kantara, I wanted to see how you (Rishab) would present the conflict between your Shiva and my Murali, who are both inherently good men. Telling a story with a hero and a villain and pitting good against evil is easier. Kantara has a nice clash and one that is relevant to today’s times,” said Kishore in a one-on-one conversation with Rishab for the promotions of Kantara.

The film, produced by Hombale Films, is set to open in theatres on September 30. With music by Ajaneesh Loknath and cinematography by Aravind Kashyap, Kantara also stars Sapthami Gowda, Pramod Shetty and Achyuth Kumar in pivotal roles. Set in a mysterious forest the tale is rooted in the culture and traditions of coastal Karnataka and is being released in Kannada only across the globe, with English subtitles.

On September 30, Kishore will put Kantara in competition with another of his films, the Mani Ratnam directorial Ponniyin Selvan.

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