Kantara: Before Rishab Shetty played Shiva, THIS late actor was first offered the film

Masterpiece film Kantara is going down the books of Indian cinema because of the magic it has created at the silver screens. There is no denying that a word of mouth is not enough to sum up the experience that the film gives you until you have watched it. Goosebumps is the synonym for this flick. The script which hits the right mark but adding to it is the acting. Rishab Shetty who is the maker of this epic is also the male protagonist of the film. People can’t stop raving about him in the film, the way he portrayed the character, represented the culture, traditions, and dance is phenomenal. But did you know, it wasn’t Rishab who was about to play the character. The film and the lead part was first offered to none other than the late actor from Kannada industry, Puneeth Rajkumar.

Puneeth Rajkumar was offered the lead part in Kantara

In a recent interview, Rishab revealed that Puneeth was narrated and first offered the film before he took the charge of playing the lead. He said, “Everything happened in the span of one eye blink. He became quite enthusiastic about the project not long after I told him the narrative. He desired to investigate various narratives. But he continued to avoid Kantara in favour of his other tasks. He requested me to continue with the film without him one day when he called me. He warned me that I might not be able to complete the film that year if I waited for him.”

Rishab shares about his last interaction with Puneeth and discussion on Kantara

Rishab was present at the Bajarangi 2 pre-release event just two days before Puneeth passed away, and the late actor asked him about (Kantara). Rishab recalled saying, “He asked me about the project and urged me not to stray from my original concept for the movie. I showed him a few still photos from the shoot, and he expressed his excitement to see the movie.”

About Puneeth Rajkumar

Puneeth suffered a heart arrest and died on October 29. The Karnataka government presented Puneeth with the state's highest civilian honour, the Karnataka Ratna, on Tuesday, which also happened to be Kannada Rajyotsava day.

Kantara

Kantara is taking over the screens of other Hindi films like Ram Setu and Thank God and is still running strong. The flick which released in September and made on a budget of less than 17 crores is inching closer to Rs 200 crores box office collection worldwide.