‘Kantara’ star Rishab Shetty opens up about playing Guliga Daiva in the film: ‘The experience will remain inside me as a spiritual journey’ – Times of India

In an interaction with Zoom Digital, Rishab said, “When I started shooting for Kantara, I did not think so much. But, by the time we were nearing the end of the shoot, playing the character became extremely difficult. I received a lot of injuries while doing the action scenes, but I could not stop until I had finished the film.”

Elaborating further, he added, “There are parts in the film when the lead character is seen in full Buta Kola festival garb, an animist form of worship, dancing to evoke the divinity and Rishab says that since he did the Kola for both his father’s character and his own, it was doubly difficult. However, the actor maintained a certain decorum while he shot the scenes. “We shot for the scene for 4- 5 nights and I survived just by drinking coconut water. We respect these traditions of ours and I felt I should honour them while performing the act. It was almost like a vrat for me.”

Spilling some beans on performing the divine dance in the film, Rishab averred, “Woh ek experience hai. Mera experience. (It is an experience, my experience). I do not want to share it. It will remain inside me as a spiritual journey. It felt like there was a beautiful energy inside me.”

Further, the actor went on to say that he wrote the character thinking he wanted to play it, before signing off by stating that ever since he was a child, he wanted to act in films and this was the kind of character he wanted to portray on screen.