Rishab Shetty detailed the numerous wounds he received while filming the action scenes for his blockbuster Kantara in the Kannada language.
In a recent video posted by Netflix, Rishab Shetty, the director and star of the Kannada language smash Kantara broke down a few crucial passages. The viral success is available to stream on Netflix and Prime Video in its original Kannada and Hindi versions. Since its theatrical release a few months back, Kantara has brought more than Rs 400 crore at the box office.
Shetty discussed the film’s pre-climactic combat scene in the six-minute clip and the moment’s much-liked climax, in which a ghost takes over the primary character Shiva. Despite suffering burns and a dislocated shoulder, Shetty described the physical and psychological toll the sequences had on him and how he had to improvise on the fly to complete the scene.
He spoke in Hindi as he discussed the climax. “Before the Guliga sequence, there is a fire sequence. People hit me with a fire stick. I had scratches all over my back. My skin got scratched and burnt, and there were blisters everywhere. It would not have looked real if we had tried to do it with VFX or used a body double. Nor did we have the time. I was also losing patience. I was so angry. If someone had tried to annoy me, I would’ve killed them. I was that ferocious. You will get a sense of that in the film. It’s real. I couldn’t sleep properly after going back home. It was so painful.”
His blisters popped while filming the sequence, calling for him only to wear a lungi. However, he persevered despite the discomfort because finishing the shot quickly was what annoyed him.
Shetty also talked about a previous action sequence that cost the movie twice as much money and left him hurt. He stated: “It was a nightmare of a shoot. We exceeded our budget by 100% in just seven days. My shoulder got dislocated, too, during this scene. But we just put some pain relief gel on it. We had no sense of luxury, like, ‘Oh, the lead actor is in pain so that we can call off the shoot.’ I am the director; I had to finish the sequence.”
One frequently cited the example of how South Indian movies have outpaced Hindi films this year is Kantara, which is among the highest-grossing movies of 2022. RRR, Ponniyin Selvan: I, and KGF: Chapter 2 are popular South Indian songs this year.
