Kannada actor Kishore hopes the response to ‘Kantara’ will encourage Kannada filmmakers to explore new content in different ways
Kannada actor Kishore hopes the response to ‘Kantara’ will encourage Kannada filmmakers to explore new content in different ways
For an actor who is a part of two consecutive hits – ponniyin selvan And Kantaras – Teenagers are taken aback, almost unaffected. Since he has been working in the film industry for a few years, hit and miss has become a part of the deal. “Yeah, success helps. It really helps (laughs). But I’m not feeling anything special, I’m glad- for the makers and the team.” There have been good movies that he hoped would do well at the box office but didn’t. The alchemy of multiple factors results in huge successes of, “That’s what’s going on in my mind!”
While Kishore Mani Ratnam is one of the many actors in the film ponniyin selvanHis role as an honest forest officer, Murali, in KantarasHe is being praised as one of the highest-grossing films of Kannada cinema. It is a story that resonates with him, as he too lives in the Bannerghatta Reserve Forest near Bengaluru, near a forest. He understands what it takes to be close to someone. The story’s inertia in the local culture was another factor that attracted her to the film, written and directed by Rishabh Shetty.
Rishabh Shetty and Kishore Kantara are on opposite sides in one of the highest grossing films of Kannada cinema. photo credit: special arrangement
Previously worked with the team – ulidavare kandanthe And Katha Sangam – He was sure about how the film would be. “My character is that of a forest officer, who wants to uphold the law. He gets into conflict with a group of people living away from the forest and it eventually becomes a conflict of ego between the two. It becomes something along the lines of ayyappanum koshiyumThough I don’t know whether we have attained the maturity of that film or not.”
How it turned out and the reception left him happy and Kishor is hopeful that such films will shape the future of Kannada cinema. To a suggestion about the revival of Kannada cinema, he replied, “If we can call the success of a few films a revival, then yes. One or two films doing well is not enough. It doesn’t matter to the industry. , it has to be developed collectively.
Kantara Effect
“hope this ( Kantaras) sets the trend of discovering new material. I wanted to use the local language in my film Laughter:Based on the life of Veerappan. The producers were not ready as they were apprehensive about the acceptance. with KantarasRishabh is able to do this with the support of a production house like Hombale, which has the resources and access. People will now see the potential and explore such topics.”
He is happy with the ‘good break’ and is hopeful that Kannada cinema will be like Malayalam cinema if he makes such films. “We have a great literary tradition like Malayalam cinema. We somehow lost our way but we are finding our way.”
Like Malayalam cinema, the film industry of every regional language has or has gone through a particularly flattering phase. “There were attempts to make good cinema, even in Kannada by producers like Girish Karnad and Girish Kasaravalli, which were not in the mainstream. And as long as you stay away from the mainstream, movies are not considered. There was no bridge between commercial and parallel cinema. Tamil had directors like Mani Ratnam, Balachander and Balu Mahendru. Anyway, we’re finally on track…”
Farmer’s Touch
He calls himself an ‘amateur farmer’ who takes up farming when he has time. He does natural farming. An offshoot of a romantic idea in his mind while in college. “I always wanted to live near a forest, a mountain and a reservoir. And I found a property which has a hill, a forest and a stream, in which I have built my house. The land is uneven but beautiful. He admitted that he realized the need for farming early. Their ‘crop’ is a food forest. Also known as an edible garden, edible plants are planted together to mimic how an ecosystem functions. “This is done keeping in mind the available resources, without any additional inputs, it maintains itself like a forest.”
He is the first and one of the few actors from South India to have achieved success in the Hindi content OTT space – Amazon Prime’s family man and netflix shows He, In both he landed unexpectedly. One was through an audition via phone, and the other was when director Imtiaz Ali called him after watching an interview with the actor. The self-confessed shy actor was initially hesitant, but took up the Amazon project because he felt it would make him ‘marketable’ later when he made a film.
‘Pan-Indian’ OTT space
family man A pan-India project – was one of the first projects involving actors from across the country. A label that they find ‘trouble’ and limiting. “I’ve stopped worrying about it. ‘Pan-Indian’ is essentially the kind of film or material that is set in an urban backdrop. Kantaras Not there. It’s very local, but has reached a wider audience.”
“It becomes difficult when you are associated with a film. I was called Kanteo teenager for a long time. I think it’s disrespectful to the movies or the work you’ve done before. If you’ve been cast in a movie, it’s because of the movies you’ve been in before: hits and flops. Those are the steps that led you to this. I am not in favor of the word All India. But if it works, so be it.”
Not new to Malayalam films, has been a part of films like Kishore Thiruvambadi Thambani, good deen, pulimuruganAnd Djibouti, The actor was in Kochi for a look test for a Malayalam film, “an exciting project rooted in indigenous culture”. The film is a supernatural thriller based on a Malabar folk tale, written by Unni R. This will be cinematographer Keiko Nakahara’s first Malayalam project. his other movies are tanhajik And marie como,
after that Kantaras Proposals have started pouring in, “It happens after success, and that’s a good thing. They would like to use Rishabh in all the films and have started calling me too ( laughing,