The actor-filmmaker on his origin story, his take on pan-Indian films, and more…
Edited excerpts:
“I started writing short films for me to act”
Though I came from a business family, I wanted to be an actor. At one point, I acted in a few short films to make a profile of myself, but none of the characters were good enough to show to someone. So, I started writing short films so I could play a character in my own work. I’ve not worked with anyone as an assistant director. I’ve only watched and loved films and learned to make films.
“Not everybody is Prashanth Neel”
Not everybody can make KGF. Prashanth Neel made KGF after doing Ugramm in which he already tried that format once. In KGF Chapter 2, he only got better at it. I think bringing that scale, dreaming so big, and also keeping the audience hooked is a talent. And not every film has to be pan-India. You might try and walk on Prashanth Neel’s path but that’s not going to happen for everyone. There has to be a particular reason why you want to do a pan-Indian movie. In the case of Charlie 777, it’s not that we wanted to go pan-India. We believed that there are dog lovers throughout the country, and after watching it, we realised people also get emotional and that if they can travel with the main character, and at the end even if they don’t love dogs, they’ll start adopting dogs, which is also good for the society. And then when the word-of-mouth turns out good, a lot more people would watch it.
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