Actor Rishab Shetty, who is gearing up for the release of Kantara: Chapter 1, says he never wants to bother himself with making a distinction between a big and small film, and it is the audience who has the final say on it.

In his pre-release interview on the YouTube channel Galatta Plus, Rishab addressed a question about whether he would focus solely on making big films following the success of Kantara. He said, "It is the audience who decides which films are big and which ones are small. Take Su From So, it is a modestly made film. With the audience's acceptance, it became big. Similarly, audiences have the power to cut several big films down to size."

Kantara: Chapter 1 is the prequel to the blockbuster 2022 film Kantara. The prequel traces back the history of Shiva's father and the Daiva tradition, which is entwined with the Tulunadu culture.

Written and directed by Rishab Shetty, the film also stars Rukmini Vasanth, Jayaram, Gulshan Devaiah, Rakesh Poojari, Hariprashanth MG, Deepak Rai Panaje, Shaneel Gautham, and Naveen Bondel.

Kantara: Chapter 1, produced by Vijay Kiragandur and Chaluve Gowda of Hombale Films, has the returning crew members of cinematographer Arvind Kashyap and music composer B Ajaneesh Loknath, with editor Suresh Mallaiah replacing KM Prakash and Shobith Shetty.

The film is releasing worldwide on October 2, on the occasion of Dusshera, in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, Bengali, and English.