Actor-director Rishab Shetty appears in a fierce avatar in the trailer of Kantara: Chapter 1, dropped by Hombale Films on Monday.

The two-minute-53-second-long video features Shetty as a warrior who strives to save the inhabitants of a forested land from a ruthless and tyrannical ruler (played by Gulshan Devaiah). According to a legend, the villagers believe that a divine messenger will arrive every time evil threatens to take over humanity. Shetty's character appears to be the saviour of the helpless subjects being butchered by their king.

Actors Hrithik Roshan, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Siva Karthikeyan and Prabhas unveiled the trailers of RKantara: Chapter 1 in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu, respectively.

The pan-India movie from Hombale Films is the prequel to the 2022 National Award-winning film Kantara, also written and fronted by Shetty.

Shetty is set to reprise his role as the protagonist in Kantara: Chapter 1. Rukmini Vasanth and Jisshu Sengupta also play key roles in the upcoming film. The prequel is written and directed by Shetty. B Ajaneesh Loknath has scored the music for Kantara: Chapter 1.

The film tells a fictional story inspired by the traditions and conflicts surrounding human-forest relationships in coastal Karnataka, specifically focusing on the practice of Bhoota Kola.

Kantara: Chapter 1 is scheduled to release in theatres on October 2.