A promising start

Lord Krishna and his concept of ‘Dushta Shikshana, Shishta Rakshana’, was ingrained into the mind of director Chandra Mohan very early in life. “My father, a devotee of Krishna, would read the Bhagawad Gita every single day. While I never really prayed, I think there was an influence somewhere, and Krishna stayed with me. And that’s probably why Sharwanand’s character in Radha has major traits of the God in him,” he shares as he starts a conversation about his directorial debut.

Krishna is known to get things done through his play of words, instead of wielding a weapon. “And that’s exactly how Sharwanand’s character is designed. He deals with situations as if they are mind games. My story is all about ‘what if Krishna was a police officer’,” he explains.

But reaching the point of making the debut was no easy task for Chandra Mohan, who came into the industry in 2001, with the hopes of becoming a director. In fact, even before that, he knew this is where he was meant to be. “When I was in school, I was in awe of the world of films. I never fared well in studies and hated school books. I could spend hours working on a script but studies never attracted me. My mom often used to joke about how if I put the same interest and hard work in my studies, I would fare very well. But for me, films were always the real deal. When I put in effort for a film, it doesn’t seem like hard work at all!” he reminisces, adding that the support of his friends and family, especially wife Swati, helped him to keep going all these years.