Kantara star Rishabh Shetty poses with AB de Villiers; South Africa cricketer was seen promoting the film

With the release of Kantara, an actor-director who has dominated the box office for more than a month, Rishabh Shetty has established himself as a celebrity throughout India. He recently shared a video with South Africa cricketer AB de Villiers  

The tremendous success of his most recent movie, Kantara, which is still dominating the box office one month after its release, has dramatically increased the fame of Kannada actor and director Rishabh Shetty. Rishabh met the renowned South African cricketer and Royal Challengers Bangalore player AB de Villiers on Thursday (Nov 03) while on the road for the nationwide Kantara advertising campaign.

Rishabh Shetty shared a video of himself and AB de Villiers giving Kantara a shout-out, “It’s a Match! Met the real 360 today. The Superhero is back to the roots again to #NammaBengaluru," Rishabh captioned the video.

As soon as they viewed Rishabh's video with their favourite cricket player, RCB supporters were unable to remain quiet. AB de Villiers confirmed his retirement from all forms of cricket in November 2021.

Kantara, directed by Rishab Shetty, has been performing remarkably well at the box office ever since it opened in theatres on September 30. According to reports, the Rishab Shetty-directed and Rishab Shetty-starrer Kannada movie has made more than Rs 305 crore worldwide. The movie (in all of its languages) is now aiming for a global gross of Rs 350 crore.

The film, which was released on October 14 in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam, has received praise from all corners. A number of well-known people have praised the movie, including Prabhas, Dhanush, Anushka Shetty, and Shilpa Shetty.

Ram Gopal Varma had praised Rishabh and compared him to the demigod figure in Kantara. “In the film industry now, @Shetty_Rishab is like a Shiva multiplied by Guliga Daiva and the villains are the 300 cr, 400 cr, 500 cr budget filmmakers who are being killed by a heart attack called #Kantara collections.”

Not just that, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union minister Piyush Goyal praised Rishab Shetty's 'Kantara' for capturing the rich tradition of Tuluvanadu and Karavali. 

While the speech of Shri Piyush Goyal is trending on Twitter, the ministry posted - "Kantara is a low-budget film that showcases the culture of Karnataka. It has grossed nearly 20 times its investment. Investors and industry is attracted to India and the state that has very progressive policies: @PiyushGoyal

Honourable Nirmala Sitharaman, India's Minister of Finance, has also seen the film and praised its calling it the rich history of Tuluvanadu and Karavali. Sitharaman took to social media to share a photo with volunteers and well-wishers and lauded the film and its writer, director, and actor, Rishab Shetty. She continued by writing the caption -"With a team of volunteers and well-wishers watched #KantaraMovie in Bengaluru. Well made @shetty_rishab (writer/director/actor).👏 The film captures the rich traditions of Tuluvanadu and Karavali. @rajeshpadmar @SamirKagalkar @surnell @MODIfiedVikas @KiranKS @Shruthi_Thumbri"

Kantara was released in Kannada and Hindi on September 30th and October 14th, respectively. Rishab Shetty wrote and directed the film. The film is produced by Vijay Kiragandur and Chaluve Gowda under the banner of Hombale Films and stars Rishab Shetty, Sapthami Gowda, and Kishore Kumar G in major parts.