Rishab Shetty as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj: Proud of actor, say Kannada fans, but not of choice of role

Instead of playing Shivaji Maharaj, whose story has been adapted for the screen umpteen times, netizens say Rishab Shetty should have brought Mayura Varma or Immadi Pulikeshi to life

Kantara star Rishab Shetty’s most recent film announcement – that he is set to play Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in a screen adaptation by Sandeep Singh, the producer of movies like Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, Main Atal Hoon, PM Narendra Modi, Sarbjit, Aligarh and Mary Kom, among others – has divided netizens.

Netizens want Rishab Shetty to play Karnataka heroes; not Shivaji

Rishab’s fans back home, in particular, believe that the actor-filmmaker is on a mission to take the Kannada film industry places, with his career choices. The fact that he is playing Maharaja Shivaji, though, has not gone down well with most of them. Reacting to Rishab’s social media post about the upcoming film that will be in theatres tentatively in January of 2027, most wrote that they’d rather see him play the great kind Immadi Pulikeshi or Mayurva Varma, rather than Chatrapati Shivaji.

They also wondered if the film will show that Shivaji plundered parts of Karnataka and who, according to some historians, fell at the feet of Belavadi Mallamma, when her forces held him and his troops at bay for 27 days. The need of the hour, felt most, is to bring the tales of Immadi Pulikeshi, Mayura Varma, Krishnadevaraya, and Madakari Nayaka to the screen. Rishab, they say, should focus on hitherto untold stories, especially from Karnataka.

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In the last 100 years, there have been at least 50-52 film adaptations on Chhatrapati Shivaji or important segments of his life, in Marathi and Hindi, including during the silent movie era. There have been multiple TV shows as well on the subject, which is also why netizens are not too keen on yet another version. In fact, one fan is very confident that this will remain an announcement and that the film will not get made.

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Fans are also pointing out that during the promotions and subsequent success of Kantara, Rishab had highlighted the need to tell rooted stories of the land, and yet, he has chosen to be the face of a story from another land.

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