Overwhelmed and grateful

For director Saagar K. Chandra, the release of Appatlo Okkadundevadu, and the consequent praise coming his way, all feels like a dream. After all, he has spent nearly two years on the film.

“Believing you have a good film in hand is one thing. But when your belief becomes reality and the work is appreciated, the high you get is totally different. Our aim was to tell an out-of-the-box story in a low budget and we managed to achieve that. I feel so grateful,” shares the director whose first film Ayyare (2012), starring Rajendra Prasad, was received well by the critics but didn’t really make an impact at the box office.

We ask him why the delay in his second film, and he replies nonchalantly, “I sure did want to be back soon. But not all things work out the way we plan. There were projects which didn’t work out. But I am glad that I am back and my film is being talked about. If I managed critical acclaim with my previous film, this time I was able to reach out to the audiences,” he states.

Appatlo Okadundevadu is a pseudo reality period film set between 1992 and 1996 and traces the life of two men who meet by the twist of fate. Naxalism, mafia and cricket are some of the themes which he explores in the film. The title itself is very interesting. He shares, “All of us must have come into situations where someone is narrating a story from the past and says, ‘Appatlo

Okadundevadu’ (there used to be a guy), and that in itself was an intriguing concept for me. They say, ‘He could have been a great guy’, ‘He could have achieved a lot’. That’s how the idea came up.”

As clichéd as it might sound, since the release of the film, Saagar’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing. “It’s all very overwhelming. Some renowned people from the industry contacted me personally to appreciate my work. I am really flattered and feel thankful for all this. It makes me want to work harder for my next,” says the director on a parting note.