Rishab Shetty working on 'Kantara' prequel's script, reveals Hombale Films
What's the story
A few months ago, it was reported that actor-filmmaker Rishab Shetty and his team are working on Kantara 2, which will delve deep into Kannada traditions and folklore. Now, its production company Hombale Films has revealed Kantara 2 will actually be a prequel and Shetty is already working on its script. To recall, Kantara—which was released in September—became a tremendous hit in multiple languages.
Context
Why does this story matter?
After releasing in Kannada on September 30, Kantara was dubbed and released in other languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Hindi, following the rave reviews that the film received from fans and critics as well. The positive word-of-mouth reviews helped it have a successful theatrical run, and Shetty—who was both the male lead and the director of Kantara—became an overnight star in the country!
Confirmation
Shetty is currently invested in film's research
Hombale Films co-founder Vijay Kiragandur told Deadline, "Rishab is writing the story now and has gone to the forests of coastal Karnataka with his writing associates for two months to conduct research (sic)." "He plans to start shooting in June, as a portion of the shoot requires the rainy season, and our intention is to give the film a pan-India release in April-May 2024."
Scale
Makers aspire to keep 'Kantara 2' authentic
Kiragandur also shed light on the scale of the multilingual pan-Indian prequel. He said, "Kantara was so successful that whatever we do next has to be big, as expectations are high. We'll add a few names to the cast but we want to keep it authentic and similar in style and substance to the first film." We can seemingly expect a substantial budget, too.
Team
Meet the cast and crew of 'Kantara'
To recall, besides Shetty, Kantara also starred Kishore, Achyuth Kumar, Sapthami Gowda, and Pramod Shetty in important roles. It was bankrolled by Kiragandur under the Hombale Films banner, who also bankrolled the KGF franchise. Ajaneesh Loknath was the music director, while Arvind Kashyap was the director of photography. KM Prakash and Pratheek Shetty worked as editors. Read our review of Kantara.