Raj B Shetty: I had the courage to make a rooted film only because of Rakshit Shetty

Ever since the release dates of Raj B Shetty’s Toby and Rakshit Shetty’s Sapta Sagaradaache Ello were announced, the big buzz in industry circles and among audiences was – ‘Are the two actor-filmmakers in competition?’ Toby was coming to theatres on August 25 and Sapta Sagaradaache Ello on September 1, only a week later. From the moment these whispers came up, Raj has been going to town about how he could never be in competition with Rakshit.

In fact, when Raj announced Toby’s release date, Rakshit had other plans for SSE and there was no scope for an overlap. But due to certain circumstances, the plan changed to what it is now. During the trailer launch of Toby on August, Raj took the opportunity to address this issue yet again at a public forum. “Rakshit and I can never be competition. I am one of his biggest fans. The day Rakshit made a film called Ulidavaru Kandante, it gave a filmmaker like me the confidence to make a film in Mangaluru Kannada,” said Raj on stage. He added that there is no question of competition when you are constantly inspired by Rakshit. The fact that Rakshit was on the stage of the Toby trailer, exhorting people to watch Raj’s film, when he has a movie coming out only a week later, speaks volumes of the kind of person he is, said the latter.

Read also: Raj B Shetty on Toby and SSE release gap: I will never be in competition with Rakshit Shetty

& Toby: The Raj B Shetty school of cinema helped me become a director, says Basil Chalakkal

Raj plays the title role in Toby, a film that he wrote based on a story by Dayanand TK. The film also stars Gopalkrishna Deshpande, Deepak Shetty, Samyukta Hornad and Chaithra J Achar in pivotal roles. Raj’s regular collaborators Midhun Mukundan has scored the music, while Praveen Shriyan handled the camera. Direction was handled by Raj’s long-time associate Basil AL Chalakkal. The film is being presented by KVN Production in Karnataka.