Debutant director Sharath Singam is set to captivate audiences with his suspense thriller N.E.S.T., featuring an ensemble cast including Phani Sivaraju, Mani Shashank Kolisetty, Badri Kalepalli, Puli Dharani, Santhoshi Damidi, Anu Ravikumar, and Sudeep Taneti in lead roles. The film, shot entirely in the United States, recently unveiled its first-look poster, showcasing the actors in intense and intriguing avatars, hinting at a gripping storyline. Originally made in English and now dubbed into Telugu, the movie follows detectives from a cold case unit as they uncover disturbing clues to decode a loop code, racing to save a victim from a figure out of history bent on revenge. With successful premieres across the U.S. and positive feedback from celebrities, including actor Aravind Krishna, N.E.S.T. promises to be an edge-of-your-seat thriller. The film features cinematography by Phani Sivaraju and Sudeep Taneti, a background score by Bharadwaj Venkata, and editing by Karthik Palle.
Here is our exclusive interview with director Sharath Singam. In this conversation, he shares the background story of N.E.S.T.
What is Nest all about? Brief synopsis if you will.
The plot of the story of Nest is built upon the very relations of the characters. It's an emotional arc of a story knitted very tightly like a web circle of a kid's family. You might think it’s a domy drama on the perimeter, yes, but at the middle there is an unusual linkage that holds every other element down in a complex manner ‘a’ unique moment.
How did you get the inspiration to make ‘Nest’?
The inspiration to the plot was from this idea of stories that are self-containing, and run in circles. The plot is that of detectives making efforts to gather all necessary pieces of information yet the plot never develops further, rather peels back to keep the audience in excitement. It is a case of a jig-saw where all the pieces aren’t in place and both the policemen and the audience need to work out where the pieces fit in.
I know you shot in the US, so how difficult was it for you to work on the casting?
Filmmaker: The entire movie was cast in the US and in this case the OTT platforms appear to have realized the need of going global in their content. Even though the movie is in English, considering other Indian languages we are also trying on Telugu dubbed version for wider audience acceptance.
You mentioned screening the movie in multiple cities. How has the response been?
Yes, we held shows in seven to eight cities and the response has been fantastic, In fact, fans have been able to connect with the story, which is good since we hope to have more screenings and distribution.
You are from Secunderabad. What was your first stirrings towards cinema like?
Yes, I was born and brought up in Secunderabad and was involved in many out of school activities including celebrations. It was a little hard to go down to the place in the beginning because of other responsibilities but i never lost that spark. I soon began to go out meeting people and practicing more. After that, I went to Ireland and then it was all real rather than just in my head.
How long did it take you to write Nest?
It took around 4-6 months to finish the script. At that time, I was working with a gentleman who had the right technical set up and other resources. We completed the film in 33 days and post-production took almost a year to finish.
