After Kantara, Rishab Shetty has been ecstatic. The actor-director was “overwhelmed and astonished” when he recently received a letter of praise from Kamal Hassan, one of his heroes, according to Shetty.
In the letter, Kamal claimed that because “a film like Kantara stays in your mind and blossoms,” he was unable to understand the movie right away. The Vikram actor continued by saying that if he had discussed the movie the same night he saw it, he would not have been able to go into great detail.
The letter further reads, “I am a godless man, yet I understand the need for one in most. I truly believe compassion is lacking in the gods depicted in most of our mythologies. We of the Dravidian stock are a matriarchal society. That is seen in the last scene of your film where the god behaves like a mother rather than the testosterone father that he started as.”
Kamal went on to further compare Kantara to M. T. Vasudevan Nair’s Malayalam classic Nirmalayam (1973). He also said how Rishab is hailing from a rich lineage of such films. Rishab sharing the letter, wrote, “It means a lot to receive such a lovely message from Legend of Indian Cinema. Too overwhelmed and awestruck to see this surprise gift from Kamal sir. Thanks a ton for this precious gift sir (sic).”
However, the letter didn’t go down well with many on Twitter, who criticised Kamal Haasan for claiming to be belonging to Dravidian stock and appropriating Kantara film into the Dravidian fold. A user wrote, “Appreciation letter or appropriation letter? Would he have written this if the film hadn’t appealed to the masses? Rishab, as a Kannadiga, must not fall into this trap. This letter hints at soft appropriation of Karnataka into their Periyarist Dravidianism. We are different! (sic).”
Also read: Rishab Shetty quiteating non-veg 20-30 days before Kantara shoot
