Kantara 2 teaser release: Rishab Shetty roars in blood-soaked avatar in first look

The teaser of Kantara Chapter 1, as the film is being called, begins with the iconic roar of the deity Panjuluri Deva, and a sequence from the earlier film in which the protagonist Shiva (played by Rishab Shetty) rushes into the clearing of a thick forest. As he gets circled by a ring of fire, a voice asks if he can see the "light" that will help to look both into the past and the future. Then he looks towards the moon and is gradually introduced in another Parashuraman like avatar. 

We then see a fiery, blood-soaked Shetty with long matted hair inside what seems like an open deep cave holding an axe in one hand and a trishul in another. Even as spear wielding men are about to attack him.

The teaser suggests that the prequel will take the audience further back into the story during the reign of the Kadambas. Kadambas were an ancient royal family from Karnataka who ruled northern Karnataka and the Konkan from 345 to 540 CE. And legend says that Trilochana Kadamba emerged from Lord Shiva's sweat.

It’s still not clear what the storyline of this chapter 2 will be but in the social media post, the makers ask viewers "to step into the land of the divine".

Kantara, which Rishab both directed and acted in, revolved around the immersive retelling of a folklore. He was seen in a dual role as Shiva and his father, a Daiva Kola performer and is the story of a man possessed by the Panjuluri Deva to rid the village of evil. The film, which also had to do with the rights of indigenous people on the land where they have lived for generations, ends with Shiva disappearing into the forest to meet his father’s spirit.