Director of Yevade Subramanyam, Nag Ashwin says the change in Telugu film industry had begun with the Tamil dubbed films working at the box office, also with the straight Malayalam films and an occasional Telugu film striking a chord with audience. “There was a whole generation of directors who wanted to make Shiva, Happy Days, they all ended up making same kind of action, steady cam films..but something was missing. Now I wouldn’t say traditional education..it is the exposure. My story Yevade didn’t have a precedent…I wasn’t sure how people would take the subject. but I decided that the approach, any subject can be made to appeal to people by how you tell the story. It could have been told in a philosophical, serious way and a comic way. My inspiration was older Telugu films that had an important message as to why the film was made and how they would be relatable and not stand out as an art film. There were apprehension definitely, it was not about going to the mountains, it was just about the fact that I was consciously telling the story. I didn’t force a song or a fight, and people almost said it in a innocent way..petteyandi oka fight. May be I could have done that but I chose not to do that because I felt there was no requirement. It was real, went with the story. That is the only risk I took in respect to that.”
He adds, “I have been writing a script for a while..it is at a stage where I am finishing it and I am pitching it to people. a subject has to keep me excited for a year and a half.I have to live with it for that period. This is somewhat like a fantasy ..I like films like Star Wars and Patala Bhairavi. I want to make fantasy in a way that it is not too childish, amateurish, too many sets..not about how they talk weirdly, it should be totally about the characters and their world. it is so difficult to create a neutral sort of a world. it is so normal for them. We are all on the same page when we watch it..be it Americans or us.”
