Rishab Shetty shoots Kambala race for Kantara

Even as Rishab Shetty is receiving plaudits for his work in Raj B Shetty’s Garuda Gamana Vrishaba Vahana, the actor-director is quick to get back to his next, as he has finished shooting almost 85 per cent of his upcoming directorial, Kantara.

Based on human versus nature conflict, Kantara is backed by Hombale Films and features Sapthami Gowda in the female lead along with Kishore, Achyuth Kumar, Pramod Shetty, and Prakash Thuminad in important roles.

Rishab, who is currently in Kundapura, shared with CE that Kantara is turning out to be a film on a big scale, and is now heading towards shooting the climax of the film. “We needed to shoot the portions at different seasons, and we began with some major portions during the rainy season, and later covered some action sequences,” explains Rishab, who added that the film is set in the 90s period, and the team created a mysterious forest-like setup in his hometown of Keradi. “We have completed 65 days of shoot and are left with another 25 days. We hope to complete shooting the entire film by the end of March.”

The interest in Kantara was piqued by the poster that featured him as a raging farmer racing his bulls. Rishab reveals that he recently filmed the Kambala race, which will be one of the highlights of Kantara. He also mentioned undergoing training to be a Buffalo jockey. “Since this is a period film, I had to go by the traditional Kambala race, which involved me to stand on the wooden blocks and hold the buffalo by its tail while racing. We had a lot of rehearsals before we shot the race portions. Since I come from the same town, I had experience with agriculture. I am glad that I managed to do this sequence myself without having to get a body double,” says Rishab.

The actor-director is targeting July as the release date of Kantara. “Every stunt in this action thriller is being done without using body-double,” says Rishab, who hints that the film will be an adrenaline rush, and have elements of fantasy. Kantara will have music scored by Ajaneesh Loknath and cinematography by Arvind Kashyap.