As Kannada actor-filmmaker Rishab Shetty prepares to release his home production Laughing Buddha in theatres on August 30, the big question is if he’s been able to do any business – OTT, satellite, etc., prior to the release. And the answer to that is that despite the clout he enjoys today on account of the success of Kantara, Laughing Buddha is heading to theatres with zilch pre-release business.

Speaking to a bunch of Kannada film aficionados during a recent X Space interaction on Laughing Buddha, Rishab said that he was releasing Laughing Buddha with “0 pre-release business”. This, he adds, means that everything now hinges on the theatrical business that the Bharath Raj M directorial is able to garner. “The Kannada film industry is currently not in a position to demand pre-release business. Even big-ticket films are finding it difficult to strike deals. It’s something that we have to come to terms with,” Rishab says.

Rishab Shetty on OTT platforms not taking Kannada films

The Kantara maker, though, does not want to blame OTT platforms for this and explains the rationale behind this. “Just because one film did well for them, a platform cannot go behind every movie being churned out in the industry. They need a proper follow-up, in terms of a good release every month, which works out well and is appreciated by audiences. They obviously have done their research and have evaluated what their return on investment will be from the Kannada film industry,” he adds.

Taking the example of his own film Kantara, which began as a Kannada film and eventually got universal appeal, Rishab wondered how many other such movies the industry has. “There may be films that got good reviews and a few of us liked, but can we, in all honesty, say that these were genuinely outstanding films? If they were really so good, they would not have to go running behind the platforms; it would be the other way around,” he reckons

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