Kantara: Rishab Shetty says he wouldn’t know what to do if he had Rs 200 crore budget

Rishab Shetty is, undoubtedly, the most wanted man in Indian cinema today. Everyone’s in awe of the success he is crafted with his rooted, ‘mannina kathe’, Kantara, which also means he’s flying across the country talking to media, actors, filmmakers about how his film came about, among others. These are busy days for Rishab, who is savouring all the attention his film is getting.

Kantara, which released in theatres on September 30 in Kannada only with English subtitles, was an instant hit. Audiences were mesmerized by his story-telling, especially in the last half hour or so, making it a divine hit. Within days, the team had to dub it in other languages too, owing to demand and Kantara had a good run in those markets too, amassing a whopping Rs 400 crore worldwide. That’s no mean feat for a small film that was made with a budget of about Rs 20 crore only.

Considering that Rishab was able to present a visual spectacle on what most would consider a miniscule budget, the obvious question is if he would have done things differently if he had more money at his disposal. Speaking to Ira Singh for a Netflix special interview, considering that the Hindi version of Kantara is now available on the platform, Rishab addressed this saying, “Kantara, for me was a high-budget film, my last production was made at 10% of this amount. But the film took on a life of its own and became a pan-India phenomenon, so much so that what I thought was high became low budget after all. If I had Rs 200 crore as my budget to make Kantara, I would have no idea how and on what to spend that money. We have spent on what the story demanded. Whatever money has been spent on Kantara can be seen onscreen. Let’s say I had Rs 200 crore as budget, I could still not shoot the Kambala race from a helicopter to justify costs; the camera would have to be placed on the ground.”