Kannada audiences are ready to watch their favourite creators on the big screen now, shares Samarth Kadkol

After Edagaiye Apaghtakke Kaarana, director Samarth Kadkol returns with an experiment — a film led by content creators. Samarth’s constant consumption of digital content, especially stories rooted in his home turf of North Karnataka, driven by raw, real themes, sparked the idea. “That thought became Hubballi Hunters, my upcoming horror comedy featuring four popu lar content creators — Naman Arora, Sumit S, Chetan Mar ambeed and Pavan Kulkarni — in the lead. During the shoot, we saw something incredible. From a five-year-old boy to a 60-year-old woman, people waited for over two hours just to take a picture with them. In a world where au diences don’t have the patience to finish a 10-minute video, this surprised us. It reassured us that this experiment is worth it,” he says.‘THE AIM IS TO BREAK CASTING NORMS TO COURT THE SOCIAL MEDIA GENERATION’ Samarth believes the Kannada audience is ready for this shift. He cites the recent Telugu film Little Hearts, which featured content creators in key roles. “Content creators command a massive following. Even their small-town live shows go housefull. That shows their crowd-pulling capacity,” he explains.Samarth admits he spends considerable time scroll ing online to understand what resonates with audienc es. “Today, everyone — college students, working profes sionals, even our parents — consumes social media con tent. Regional humour, in particular, has become hugely popular. Being from North Karnataka, I wanted to root the story there and bring in the flavour and spontaneity that these creators are known for. The biggest advan tage their improvisational skills. They don’t just stick to the script; they add moments organically,” he says.'WE CAN CONVERT SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIENCES INTO THEATRE-GOERS'r Samarth, moving away from formulaic filmmaking is essential to tap into newer audiences. “The challenge today is to create content that feels fresh and relevant. I want to create new templates for filmmaking. If we intelligently use digital trends and stay relatable, we can convert social media audiences into theatre-go ers,” he says.