Rishab Shetty recalls he and Rakshit Shetty gave away their film’s tickets for free: ‘People sold them to buy booze’

The year 2022 has been particularly a successful one for the Shettys of Kannada film. While Rishab Shetty is basking in the success of his blockbuster Kantara, his friend and colleague Rakshit Shetty also had a hit in 777 Charlie earlier this year. In a recent interview, Rishab revealed that things may be going swimmingly for them now but there was a time when they had to resort to giving away tickets of their film outside theatres, and people still wouldn’t come. Also read: Kantara’s Rishab Shetty touches Rajinikanth’s feet to take blessings. See pics

Rishab and Rakshit became friends when the former worked as a clap boy and assistant director early on in his career. Rakshit himself was trying to establish himself as an actor at that time and the two became friends. In 2016, Rishab made his directorial debut with Ricky, starring Rakshit in the lead. The film had a disappointing outing at the box office.

In a recent interview with Siddharth Kannan, Rishab spoke about his and Rakshit’s friendship. “We are friends, more than brothers. We are emotionally connected and professionally too. We didn’t start out very well though. There were hardly any opportunities. The films we did were not working,” he said.

While he didn’t name Ricky, Rishab recalled how there was a time when he and Rakshit would stand outside a theatre screening their film to give tickets away to people. “We used to stand outside theatre screening our film and request people to go watch it, giving tickets away. But those people would sell the ticket for ₹10 to buy booze. That was also a time we faced. But now, our work is being appreciated by people and everyone is supporting,” the actor-director added.

Kantara was originally released in Kannada on September 30. The initial positive reaction to the film across India led the makers to released dubbed versions in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam two weeks later. As of October 31, the film has made over ₹250 crore worldwide. 777 Charlie was released in June to positive reviews. The film made around ₹103 crore worldwide. Both films are in the list of the highest-grossing Kannada movies of all time.