Rearing to go: Mahi V Raghav

Director Mahi V. Raghav is mighty chuffed with the positive response to his recently released film Anando Brahma, a small budget horror comedy starring Taapsee Pannu. This was his second film after his debut as writer director with Paathshala. 

“I don’t need to wait three years again to make another film,” he jokes, talking about how things have been post the release. “Once you are hit hard with a failure like Paathshala, you become fearful and cautious. If not for yourself, you want to prove a point to the people who believe in you. And I think that really helped bring out this film,” says Mahi.

While many enjoyed his film’s idea of ghosts fearing humans, a concept never seen before in a Telugu horror comedy, Mahi is already ready to move on. In fact, he is presently discussing the film’s remakes in several other languages, including Hindi, Tamil and Kannada. 

“I would love to direct this film in Hindi. In fact, the initial idea was always to make the film in Hindi. But I wanted to first make it in Telugu because after my earlier failure, I first needed people to believe in my capabilities. That’s how ‘Anando Brahma’ happened,” he explains, adding, “However, if we do sell the rights and I can’t direct it, I would still want to be involved in the creative process of the film. This is the case for any other language too. I have lived with this story for three years and know exactly how to rework the plot and script to make the film better. When selling the rights, I will make it very clear at the outset.”

What are the future plans though? “I will try something new yet again,” he concludes.