Rishab Shetty: With no OTT and satellite deals, Laughing Buddha’s budget is an issue

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Laughing Buddha, the Pramod Shetty-led film produced by Rishab Shetty, heads to theatres on August 30. Written by director Bharath Raj M specifically for Pramod, the film got its backing from Rishab because he believed in the strength of the story. Laughing Buddha has Pramod as a slightly overweight police constable, Govardhan, and revolves around the police station he’s stationed and certain incidents that take place that change his life around.

Rishab on the budget of Laughing Buddha

Initially planned as a small-budget film, Laughing Buddha eventually required much more funds. “Back when we were making the film, the budget did not seem like a major issue. But now, at a time when Kannada cinema is literally struggling with satellite and digital rights hard to come by, it is a problem and we hope that audiences watch the film and support it,” says Rishab in a conversation with RJ Mayuraa.

Leading man Pramod elaborates explaining the higher budget of Laughing Buddha, “When you try and portray something as realistic as possible, audiences tend to think that it is made on a low budget. The perception is that we would not have had to spend much, when the reality is the exact opposite. Shooting in a set or studio is, comparatively, much cheaper than doing so in natural settings. Also, if you want to shoot your film a certain way, there are costs involved in the technology used. All of this adds up to production cost.”

Laughing Buddha was a film that Bharath had pitched to Rishab even before they collaborated on Hero, but it was then pushed ahead. In fact, Rishab was to do a role in the film, which he could not, eventually, as he got busy with Kantara. The role, subsequently, went to Diganth.

Talking about why audiences ought to watch the film, both Pramod and Rishab reiterate that police stories involving an investigation around a particular case are dime-a-dozen, but what Laughing Buddha does is explore the hitherto unseen side of the personal lives of police personnel.