Kantara Chapter 1 DoP Arvind Kashyap: Safety Was Prioritised, 1000 People Evacuated When... - EXCL

Rishab Shetty returned to his roots with Kantara Chapter 1. The mythological drama was shot in the forest of Kundapura in Karnataka. With the scenic beauty came safety hazards. In an exclusive interview

with Zoom, Kantara Chapter 1’s Director of Photography, Arvind Kashyap, said the film was 90% shot on camera and VFX was only used to clean the visuals.

Safety measures on Kantara Chapter 1 set

Talking about safety measures on the sets of Kantara Chapter 1, Arvind told us exclusively, “There were many big elements and safety was always the priority for us, and even for all the crew. We would do extreme rehearsals and would foresee what could go wrong. During the rehearsals, we focused more on physics to understand risky areas. We had a clear idea of what would go wrong and accounted for it while shooting.”ALSO READ: Kantara Chapter 1 Composer Ajaneesh: Rishab Recorded Shiva-Shakti Dialogues; Had To Be Divine Not Scary | EXCLHe further added, “If we knew that something could go wrong in unpredictable zones, we planned it in the right way. If a particular area was risky, we made sure nobody was around during the shot. Fight masters who worked with us prioritised safety. Even they were given enough time to plan action sequences and safety measures. It was a huge crew, and you can't control thousands of people when you are doing a sequence, because everyone is going to have a mind of their own. We had to account for all of it and production also played a very important role.”

Communication despite zero network

Arvind further explained, “They had a lot of line producers and local health officials for safety. There was no mobile network. We communicated using walkies. During night shoots, we had almost 20 people standing across our pathway at potentially risky locations. They were always there throughout the night and would be waiting for us.”

Evacuating people

Recalling an incident, he shared, “There was one particular time when it started raining out of the blue and they got everyone out, almost 1000 people and 100 vehicles out within 10 minutes, and if that hadn’t happened, anybody inside would have been stuck inside for almost three days. There was no way out. All comes out of the planning and accounting for anything that might go wrong.”Kantara Chapter 1 is directed and written by Rishab Shetty, who also plays the protagonist. The film is running in theatres successfully.