<p>My journey till now has been an interesting one. Since the beginning, I was a man of dreams. Though my aim was to be an actor, I soon realised that it wasn’t easy to get noticed in the industry without any contacts.</p>.<p>In 2005, I completed my diploma in direction from Government Film and Television Institute, Bengaluru. I took baby steps into the industry by working as an assistant director with A M R Ramesh in ‘Cyanide’. I worked as an assistant in a couple of films after that. </p>.<p>Soon, I started writing. I wrote and directed the film ‘Ricky’, a movie on the prevalence of naxalism in India. I acted in it too. It was a different project where I learned a lot.</p>.<p>After ‘Ulidavaru Kandanthe’ didn’t work out commercially, the film’s team was not sure how ‘Ricky’ would turn out. The producer interfered a lot in the filmmaking process too. He was initially happy with the film’s story but afterwards, he felt that the film did not have commercial elements in it. </p>.<p>Unnecessary elements like songs and comical scenes had to be introduced to make the film commercially workable. I worked on 16 drafts of the film but still, there were changes. There was a clash of thoughts and since I was debuting with the film, they were worried the film would not work. </p>.<p>This was the only reason I decided to work on ‘Sarkari Hi. Pra. Shaale, Kasaragodu’. I had worked with children in ‘Ricky’ and I wanted to do something absolutely original. I felt good working with children and I wanted to work on a film for them. Issues in government schools were being discussed then and during the post-production work of ‘Ricky’, this thought came to my head. </p>.<p>Somehow, it took a little longer. Rakshit Shetty was working on ‘Kirik Party’ and that project took off first. Over a while, we understood that it is important to justify one’s story. </p>.<p>I had slowly dropped my dream of working as an actor. I received several roles but none of the projects took off. When hero roles did not take off, I agreed to work on villain roles too. But even those projects got stalled either because of financial or other issues. </p>.<p>The director saw some of my Dubsmash videos and got interested in casting me in the movie ‘Bell Bottom’. I loved the character Detective Divakar; he’s very close to me. His story and mine are similar; we both love old films and more.</p>.<p>Divakar is influenced deeply by Dr Rajkumar’s detective films, he’s funny and not a phenomenal detective like Sherlock Holmes; he’s more of a ‘Johnny English’ guy. </p>.<p>I am sporting a retro look in the film. The film’s song ‘Yethake’ has received a lot of attention. We had some funny moments while shooting the song. In the song, a passerby drops a goldfish on the road, while Harripriya is drinking water. I rush to the spot and hold the fish in my hands, while she spits the water out of her mouth. She and I have been friends from my ‘Ricky’ days and I teased her about the scene many times. </p>.<p>Directing films gives a bigger kick compared to acting in them. After ‘Bell Bottom’ releases on February 15, ‘Katha Sangama’ will release. I am also acting in ‘Nathuram’.</p>.<p>I am always looking forward to exploring Rishab Shetty more.</p>.<p class="byline"><strong>Rishab Shetty </strong><br /> </p>
<p>My journey till now has been an interesting one. Since the beginning, I was a man of dreams. Though my aim was to be an actor, I soon realised that it wasn’t easy to get noticed in the industry without any contacts.</p>.<p>In 2005, I completed my diploma in direction from Government Film and Television Institute, Bengaluru. I took baby steps into the industry by working as an assistant director with A M R Ramesh in ‘Cyanide’. I worked as an assistant in a couple of films after that. </p>.<p>Soon, I started writing. I wrote and directed the film ‘Ricky’, a movie on the prevalence of naxalism in India. I acted in it too. It was a different project where I learned a lot.</p>.<p>After ‘Ulidavaru Kandanthe’ didn’t work out commercially, the film’s team was not sure how ‘Ricky’ would turn out. The producer interfered a lot in the filmmaking process too. He was initially happy with the film’s story but afterwards, he felt that the film did not have commercial elements in it. </p>.<p>Unnecessary elements like songs and comical scenes had to be introduced to make the film commercially workable. I worked on 16 drafts of the film but still, there were changes. There was a clash of thoughts and since I was debuting with the film, they were worried the film would not work. </p>.<p>This was the only reason I decided to work on ‘Sarkari Hi. Pra. Shaale, Kasaragodu’. I had worked with children in ‘Ricky’ and I wanted to do something absolutely original. I felt good working with children and I wanted to work on a film for them. Issues in government schools were being discussed then and during the post-production work of ‘Ricky’, this thought came to my head. </p>.<p>Somehow, it took a little longer. Rakshit Shetty was working on ‘Kirik Party’ and that project took off first. Over a while, we understood that it is important to justify one’s story. </p>.<p>I had slowly dropped my dream of working as an actor. I received several roles but none of the projects took off. When hero roles did not take off, I agreed to work on villain roles too. But even those projects got stalled either because of financial or other issues. </p>.<p>The director saw some of my Dubsmash videos and got interested in casting me in the movie ‘Bell Bottom’. I loved the character Detective Divakar; he’s very close to me. His story and mine are similar; we both love old films and more.</p>.<p>Divakar is influenced deeply by Dr Rajkumar’s detective films, he’s funny and not a phenomenal detective like Sherlock Holmes; he’s more of a ‘Johnny English’ guy. </p>.<p>I am sporting a retro look in the film. The film’s song ‘Yethake’ has received a lot of attention. We had some funny moments while shooting the song. In the song, a passerby drops a goldfish on the road, while Harripriya is drinking water. I rush to the spot and hold the fish in my hands, while she spits the water out of her mouth. She and I have been friends from my ‘Ricky’ days and I teased her about the scene many times. </p>.<p>Directing films gives a bigger kick compared to acting in them. After ‘Bell Bottom’ releases on February 15, ‘Katha Sangama’ will release. I am also acting in ‘Nathuram’.</p>.<p>I am always looking forward to exploring Rishab Shetty more.</p>.<p class="byline"><strong>Rishab Shetty </strong><br /> </p>
