Pan-India Star’s Lineup: Promising but Risky

Rishab Shetty is one of the most promising and influential actors in the South Indian industry and after his recent success in Kantara, he has become countrywide popular.

Kantara certainly was a game changer for the actor and as he prepares for a tough yet exciting list of projects ahead, it will be interesting to see how these films turn out to be.

Kantara’s sequel is in the works featuring Rishab Shetty and will be exploring the origins of the first part. It is scheduled to release on October 2nd, 2025. Now as exciting and thrilling as it sounds, sequels are quite risky to execute and are mostly overshadowed by the first installment.

The same can’t be said for Kantara: Chapter 1 as the plot and performance equally depend on its success. However, it will be tough to beat the popularity of the first part given the bar set by it. Another huge film in the works for Shetty is Jai Hanuman in which he will be playing Lord Hanuman under the direction of Prasanth Varma.

Prasanth Varma also directed the iconic Teja Sajja’s HanuMan which was a huge hit at the box office. However, his recent work as a writer was underwhelming in Devaki Nandana Vasudeva. Being the Director and writer of Jai Hanuman, it remains to be seen how the film turns out to be.

In addition to these titles, Shetty recently announced that he will be acting in a biopic titled Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. On paper, the film is huge as it captures the raw essence and history of Shivaji Maharaj.

One major loophole might be from the director’s side as Sandeep Singh will be helming the project. Known for producing films like Aligarh, Jhund, and Bhoomi, the director has also produced some forgettable biopics like PM Narendra Modi, Main Atal Hoon, and Swatantrya Veer Savarkar.

Having one film under his name as director, 2023’s Safed which was another disaster on the OTT, it might be a tough task for Rishab to establish his dominance as Shivaji Maharaja.

As a hectic list of projects awaits Rishab Shetty ahead, only time will tell if fate and hard work will favor the 41-year-old.