Nag Ashwin is another Hyderabadi who followed his heart and found his calling in cinema. As his debut film Yevade Subramanyam hits the screen soon, the young man talks of his evolution as a writer and the process that led him to make what he calls a happy movie.
“I like writing but narration is not my skill. I’m from the Hyderabad Public School and would write a lot and ran my own magazine in school and a website. I was more into extra-curricular activities as I wanted to find an audience. Later I chose mass communication and journalism, worked in media and then got into event management and in a call centre. The most important thing was to try something new. Most of the time I don’t like what I write until I get the flow. There is a lot of unfinished stuff and I ponderwhy am I writing. When I feel it is important for the story to finish, I give it an ending,” he says.
Ashwin liked cinema since childhood and it was always a different world to which he had no access and connection. He belonged to a family of doctors. He wrote stories in college and once it got selected for a radio programme, it boosted his confidence. He recollects, “I met director Shekar Kammula who was making Leader and I started working as an assistant director. I was working as a film editor, editing his promos. I also worked on Life Is Beautiful and then I came up with a small production house called Prana Films for talented people who didn’t know much about films and I began getting work for them. There were short filmmakers and those who made videos. Some of them became editors and cinematographers. Prana became a conservatory and contacts started working out.”
He adds, “Meanwhile one of the stories I was working on with producer Priyanka Dutt was taking time and I had a small thing in mind which became the story of Yevade Subramanyam . I told Nani and he too thought the story was interesting. It didn’t fit into any genre and it just felt like a happy movie. I had travelled in almost every train in India. I like to put myself in lot of situations. One day I was reading the papers Leader about an eclipse due after 90 years. I just got into a train to see it.”
The story of Yevade Subramanyam is about a young man Subramanyam. The director describes him as a selfish, guy who aspires to be on top.
He observes that a film is hard to make, so many things have to come together and there is a new issue every day. He avers, “Kudos to Nani, the producers and crew, actually no one would do it. The shooting was in Doodh Kashi. Everest camping always piqued my interest. I went for a recce with my cameraman and we never thought if it was possible. Imagine a crew of 20 people standing at the foot of a mountain and they would look up at me. I would just say it is nothing and let us move. The cameramen wanted to return home but a week later in Hyderabad they were missing the mountains.”
