Rishab Shetty, in his latest video, shared interesting detail about the Guliga sequence in his film Kantara. He also revealed that he was quite angry while performing the scene.
The climax scene
Rishab Shetty, the director, and star of the Kannada language blockbuster Kantara broke down a few key things in a new video shared by Netflix.
In the 6-minute video, the 39-year-old spoke about the film’s pre-climax fight sequence, as well as the widely-appreciated climactic scene in which the lead character Shiva is possessed by Guliga Daiva. Shetty described the physical and emotional toll that the sequences took on him, and how he had to improvise on the spot to get the job done despite having burned his skin and dislocated his shoulder.
Discussing the climax, Rishab says, “Before the Guliga scene, there is a fight scene. People hit me with a fire stick. I had scratches all over my back. My skin got scratched and burnt, there were blisters everywhere. If we had tried to do it with VFX or used a body double, it would not have looked real. Nor did we have the time,” Rishab says.
“I was also losing patience. I was so angry. If someone would’ve tried to annoy me then, I would’ve killed them. I was that ferocious. You will get a sense of that in the film. It’s real. I couldn’t sleep properly after going back home. It was so painful,” he adds.
Here’s the video:
The Guliga sequence
The 39-year-old, while speaking about the Guliga sequence, revealed that he is someone who believes in the powers of Panjurli himself. Talking about filming it, he shared, “It was an experience that can’t be described in words. I myself believe in Guliga and worship Panjurli. I worshipped, surrendered myself, and then prepared to film the sequences. I have been watching the ritual since my childhood. I have watched several videos of the performance, and even watched those who perform it in real life to take notes as a writer.”
Rishab then added that the sequence was written in the script in just one line. He said, “But this sequence of Guliga, which forms a part of the climax of the film, was written in just one line! It was not elaborately penned down. I had four visuals in my mind, which I had shared only with the DOP. So till the first shot, much like the audience, my crew did not have an idea of what was going to happen. After filming all four visuals, we got into the flow.”
The actor also revealed that the screech of Guliga and Panjurli was his across all the languages. He said, “The scream- in every language, it is my voice that has been kept. We did not change it during dubbing. I tried to recreate what was done during Daiva Kola, but it never came out perfectly. We can only try, we cannot reach that level.”
