Shetty narrated Kantara as a fight between man and nature, and the narration lasted for just about a minute and a half, Gowda recalls. “When Rishab narrated the story, even he didn’t know that Kantara would turn out to be such a massive film. He first told me about the role played by Kishore, a forest officer who is a man for nature — someone who believes that he should protect the forest. Then, there is Rishab Shetty, who plays Shiva, representing his village people, who do not care much about the government’s rules for the forest. And there is an ego clash between them. This was his narration and that forms the crux of the film. Along with that, he brought in the fantasy elements and the community’s culture,” explains Gowda.
And the producer remembers feeling a spark in the script when he listened to the film’s narration. He says it is always love at first sight for him when it comes to scripts. “I go by my first intuition. I do not hear narration twice or thrice and give it a thought. Instead, I choose it based on that spark, whenever I feel that this is a story that needs to be told,” notes Gowda.