Kannada actor and director Rishab Shetty is feeling overwhelmed these days, as his latest directorial venture, Kantara, has become the talk of the town. Viewers and industry insiders have been praising it galore, including actors Shilpa Shetty Kundra and Anushka Shetty.

Rishab never expected the film to do “this well”. Hence, the makers didn’t dub it in any other language initially. “The film is about man and nature’s relationship. It’s a part of Karnataka’s folklore. So, I wanted to present this to people in my original language. But then, the demand started for other versions as well. On Twitter, people would message me, ‘Hindi, Telugu, Tamil mein release karo, isko pan-India karo’. Mujhe pan-India mein interest nahin tha, to begin with,” says Rishab, contrary to the current trend of pan-India films doing well.

The 39-year-old adds, “There are no language barriers now. There are no regional languages; it’s Indian cinema, isiliye itna pyaar mil raha hai Kantara ko.”

Rishab, who played the lead role in the film, released the film in select theatres initially. The fact that the film was received well prompted the makers to expand to more theatres. “People have promoted the film so much on social media. It is all word of mouth. Logon ka taste badal raha hai. They have begun to get conscious of Indian traditions,” says the Kirik Party (2016) director.

He has spent 18 years in the film industry and he likes how things are changing: “It’s not as if I have worked only for this (good box-office numbers), bas ab thoda balance ho raha hai.”