Rahul Yadav Nakka became a hat-trick producer with ‘Malli Raava’, ‘Agent Sai Srinivas Athreya’ and the recent horror-drama ‘Masooda’. As his Swadharm Entertainments completes five years of existence, Rahul Yadav speaks about his vision. As someone who believes in hard work and diligence, the producer abides by honesty and discipline. Thanking everyone who has made his journey successful, the talented producer talks at length about his career in this interview:
My banner Swadharm Entertainments turns five this December 8. I never imagined that I would provide a platform to so many new and promising talents with my first three projects.
I am very happy that the audience’s trust in ‘Masooda’ has been retained. I don’t believe in numbers and budgets. When the story of ‘Masooda’ came my way, I knew that it was a story that needs to be told and that had so much potential. I believed that telling the story honestly will impress the audience and help me make money. That has been my guiding philosophy since ‘Malli Raava’, my first movie.
When unknown cast members are part of a film, the film is categorized as a small one. ‘Masooda’ has been made with high technical values. Such a film can’t be called a small one.
Since my first movie, the number of theatres has always gone up on Day 2 compared to Day 2 due to positive ‘word of mouth’. That is the case with ‘Masooda’ as well.
With big-star movies, the publicity is huge and the audience start coming to theatres in big numbers from Day 1. But with films like ‘Masooda’, you have to be extra-cautious with how you do publicity. Unless the content is very good, they are not going to work at the box-office. I am as mindful of promotions as I am while making a film.
We have gotten used to fast-paced entertainment. In ‘Masooda’, it is a drama where Gopi’s character has to be established properly so that his timidity and his daring in the second half look meaningful. Without proper drama and character establishment, the second half wouldn’t have worked well.
The graph in the second half of ‘Masooda’ has been criticized by some. The graph before the climax has to slightly go down for the climax to be impactful. It happened even in the case of ‘RRR’ and ‘Baahubali’.
I believe in reading a bounded script. Only then will I be able to gauge the depth of the story. For ‘Masooda’, just the search for locations took many weeks. Usually, horror movies are made in limited locations. For the Peer Baba scenes alone, we shot in six locations.
I entered the film industry accidentally. After my Engineering, I went on to study for civil services exam. I later entered the realty sector. I wanted to set up a pharma company. Somehow, I got in touch with Gautham Tinnanuri, whose ‘Malli Raava’ script impressed me. That’s how I became a producer. When I wanted to enter the film industry, my father was not supportive. I told him I needed just a chance to prove myself. The reason behind my success are my family members, including my wife and children. My father filled me with strength during the making of ‘Malli Raava’.
My resolve since ‘Agent Sai Srinivas Athreya’ has been to introduce five directors. I will do it for sure. And my journey will continue even after that. If there is a right story, I wish to work with actors like Nani, Naga Chaitanya, Sesh and Naveen Polishetty. As for my next project, nothing has been finalized as yet.
I watch the movies of all heroes. Personally, I have always been a fan of Venkatesh garu.
My aim is to make good films. And those good films should fetch profits for me. I am not into quantity but quality. There are about 30 unread scripts lying on my table.
When you are working with new directors, you need to go for workshops so that you have an idea as to how the combination scenes are going to work out.
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