Bigg Boss Kannada 9: Winner Roopesh Shetty admits he went on reality show to build his brand image

When Roopesh Shetty went into the Bigg Boss Kannada house for the first-ever OTT season, his objective was clear – build his name into a marketable brand. A popular RJ in Mangaluru, Roopesh managed to build a fairly good fan base back home with the Tulu crowd, after the success of his directorial Girgit, which was a do-or-die project for him, and literally rewrote his fortune, running 200 days in theatres and making massive profits.

Despite this, though, Roopesh remained a relative nobody in Kannada cinema and had a string of flops to his name. “Earlier, when I used to do films, it would not reach audiences and flop at the box office. People did not even know me, even though I was doing Kannada films. Even when we were presenting films with good content, the reach was severely limited. One of my objectives behind going on the show was to give my films more visibility. I have won both the OTT and ninth season with the support of people and today, the love I get when I step out is on a different level. Today, my fan following is not limited to Mangaluru. People from across Karnataka have supported me and I am hopeful that when I do Kannada films in the future, the reception to it will be a lot better,” he said in an interaction with Filmy Junction Studios.

Roopesh added that in the time since he began doing films, he has realized that just because he has been doing lead roles, he does not become a hero. “You have to be able to bring people to theatres. Also, instead of having 100 people come to see you as hero, getting lakhs to see you do a good character is a better option. But by the time I had that realization, it was too late and I had to figure out my own path if I were to survive in cinema and that is how I wrote, directed and acted in Girgit,” he explains.