Rishab Shetty

Prashanth Shetty (born 7 July 1983), known professionally as Rishab Shetty, is an Indian actor, director and producer who works in Kannada cinema. He is known for his critical and commercial blockbuster, Kantara, which he directed and also starred in as the main lead. He is the recipient of several accolades, including a National Film Award, two Karnataka State Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards.

Early life
Shetty was born on 7 July 1983 in Kadri neighborhood in Mangaluru City of Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka. He did his schooling from Kundapura in Udupi district, Karnataka and later joined Vijaya College, Bengaluru to pursue B.Com. He started his theatre journey by doing yakshagana plays in Kundapura. He actively participated in plays while studying in Bengaluru. He was appreciated for his work and success in these plays encouraged him to pursue acting as a professional career.

Career
After his college, Shetty worked in several odd jobs like selling water cans, real estate and did hotel work while also parallelly trying his chances in movies. While working he also acquired a diploma in film direction from the Government Film and TV Institute in Bangalore. He started working in film industry as a clap boy, spot boy, assistant director etc. He met Rakshit Shetty while working in the industry, they became friends later on.

His first major role was in Tuglak (2012). He played a small role of a police officer in Pawan Kumar's Lucia and then played an important role in Ulidavaru Kandante, which was directed by Rakshit Shetty. Then in 2016, his directorial debut Ricky starring Rakshit Shetty received an average response at the box office. In the same year, he directed Kirik Party, which was an industry hit in Kannada cinema, at the box office. After Kirik Party, Shetty directed Sarkari Hi. Pra. Shaale, Kasaragodu, Koduge: Ramanna Rai, which received critical acclaim and won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film.

He debuted as a lead actor in Bell Bottom (2019) which was a well received. Rishab Shetty's major role after Bell Bottom was of Mangaluru-based gangster Hari in the film Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana (2021). The film was a commercial and critical success in which the performance of Rishab Shetty and Raj B. Shetty was widely appreciated by critics.

He then appeared briefly in two films, Mishan Impossible and Harikathe Alla Girikathe (both in 2022), the former being is his Telugu film debut. Shetty collaborated with Hombale Films for his directorial Kantara in which he was also the lead actor. It was Initially released only in Kannada and was later dubbed into other languages, after receiving critical success. Kantara is the second highest-grossing Kannada film of all-time worldwide. At the 54th IFFI 2023, he won the IFFI Special Jury Award.