'I am done with making festival-type films': Rishab Shetty after winning National Award
Shetty said though his films premiere at festivals, wins awards, they don't get any platform after that and difficult to recover costs; 'I am done with festival films', he added
In a candid interview, actor-director Rishab Shetty, who is flooded with congratulatory messages on social media for winning the Best Actor Award at the 70th National Film Awards, admitted on Friday that he will not make "festival type" films anymore.
Speaking to PTI on the sidelines of a press conference organised for winning the Best Actor Award for his portrayal in the Kannada film ‘Kantara’, the actor said that though his films premiere at festivals and win awards, they don't get any platform after that. It becomes difficult for them to recover their costs, he added.
"OTT platforms do not buy Kannada content, so we are forced to put it on YouTube channels. I am done with that. We don’t get any recovery from such films," complained Shetty.
Shetty said he has done three such festival films so far.
"Couple more are in the pipeline – ‘Pedro’ and ‘Vagachipani’. I produced these films because they gave me everything. I wanted to give something back to it. I think I am going to see how it goes in the future," he added.
Incidentally, ‘Kantara’ also won the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment Award. The national awards were announced by feature film jury head Rahul Rawail in New Delhi on Friday. The awards celebrated the best films made in 2022.
Not expecting to win the award
Shetty said he was neither expecting to win the award nor excited about winning it.
"I just do my work, but 'Kantara’s' win should go to every team member involved in it. I am just a face of it, but there were a lot of technicians who gave their best for the film. I want to thank the people on their behalf," he added.
Shetty also thanked the Kannada audience. "They are the ones who took the film to the pan-India platform," he said.
Kannada films bag a lot of awards
Kannada film industry is one of the big winners this time. Apart from Best Actor and Best Popular Film, it also won the awards for Best Action Choreography (‘KGF Chapter 2’), Best Debut Director (Non-Feature Film) Basti Dinesh Shenoy for ‘Madhyanthara’, Best Editing (Non-Feature Film) for Suresh Urs for ‘Madhyanthara’ and Best Arts Culture Film for Kannada documentary film ‘Ranga Vibhoga by Suneel Puranik.
Hombale’s ‘KGF Chapter 2’ also won the Best Kannada Film Award.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Union Minister for Steel, H D Kumaraswamy, posted congratulatory messages on 'X'.
"I hope your achievements will inspire all other artists in the film industry," Siddaramaiah said.
(With inputs from agencies)
