India’s Hombale Films Reveals Details Of ‘Kantara 2’; Rishab Shetty Scripting Hot Prequel On Kannada Studio’s Ambitious $370m Slate

20.01.2023 - 18:33 / deadline.com

EXCLUSIVE: India’s Hombale Films, the studio behind mega-hits Kantara and the K.G.F. franchise, has confirmed that Kantara 2 will be a prequel that delves into the backstory of the folklore that features in the first film. 

Kantara star and director Rishab Shetty is currently scripting the highly-anticipated Kannada-language feature, part of an ambitious slate across four South Indian languages announced by the Bangalore-based studio, which recently pledged to invest Rs30bn (U.S.$370m) in films and series over the next five years. Shetty will again star in and direct the film. 

“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 for the film,” Hombale Films founder Vijay Kiragandur told Deadline.

“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 or May next year.” 

Released last September, Kantara became a huge sleeper hit across India, initially taking off in its original Kannada-language version, then snowballing when versions in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam were also released. Produced on a budget of Rs160m (US$2m), the film went on to gross Rs3.97bn (US$48.8m) in India and overseas. 

Prime Video acquired Indian and select international rights to the South Indian language versions of the movie, while Netflix has the English and Hindi versions in some territories. 

Deeply rooted in the traditional folklore of coastal Karnataka, Kantara revolves around the conflict between a group of villagers, whose land is under the protection of a local deity, and the forestry department that is trying to claim the land for the