28 April 2023
Hyderabad
After two hits on the bounce, writer-director Mahi V Raghav is making his OTT debut with Save The Tigers, which streams on Disney+Hotstar starting Thursday. Mahi is credited as Creator on the show. In an exclusive conversation with idlebrain.com, the director spoke about what happened to his passion project Syndicate, Save The Tigers, difference between writing for a series and writing for movies, why Telugu OTT space hasn’t churned out a world-class show, Yatra 2 and his future assignments among other topics.
You’ve announced Syndicate long back. What happened to it?
It didn’t materialize. I took a year to write it and a year later COVID-19 hit. Post the pandemic, there were other reasons like the scale of the film; it needed a much larger cast. And to do that it needed another two years from me. On an average, you need two or two-and-a-half years to survive on a big film these days. Later, I went on to write another story which is a social satire (Siddha… Lokam Ela Undhi Nayanaa); a dark comedy. I wrote and directed it. It should come out in the next few months. What has happened in the last three-four years is that I have done four projects and all of them are coming out in the next four months. There is another crime drama, Shaitaan, which I’ve done for Hotstar. That will be out shortly.
There were rumours of you approaching Nagarjuna and Venkatesh for Syndicate…
Basically it needed a bigger cast. We needed at least Rs 80-100 crore to mount a project of that scale. It was an action drama. But we couldn’t mount it.
Are you planning to revive it in the future?
I don’t know. Once you move on with the story, whether we tell it or not, I’ve told it to myself. For me to again be excited about the same story, which I’ve written a few years back will be difficult. Maybe I’ll let go of it to some other director who might want to direct it.
Save The Tigers is an interesting title. What was the thought process behind it?
Firstly, we wanted to catch the attention. And secondly, men always thought they were the tigers. At least that’s what they think in their head. It’s about three couples, their fights, nagging and conflicts, so we thought why not name it as Save The Tigers? Also, considering the changed power balance and equation between a wife and husband in their relationship these days because of economic independence and literacy, we thought how it would be about Saving The Tigers.
Let’s talk about the show…
It’s a slice of life comedy. I wanted to do a sitcom kind of material and this is one. It’s about three couples, their day-to-day struggles, conflicts, confrontation and drama wherein we find humour. It’s not a great novel idea or anything. It had an umpteen number of takes on it like Kshemamga Velli Labhamga Randi and F2.
The show seems to highlight the concerns of men with their respective spouses. Weren’t you worried about being labeled as a misogynist?
No, no! It’s not about female bashing. Neither is it slapstick. There is no victim or there is no culprit in a relationship or in a marriage. They both are equally victims and culprits. There is no innocent one in that. Nothing to do with gender at all. You can find equally stupid idiots and equally wise people in either gender. I mean when you see the show, you’ll relate to it. There is no outright female bashing or kind of like that. But there is a sense of humor and some lines where the men vent out their frustration. And equally women have a list of complaints to make on men. So neither of them is a saint.
Let’s talk a little bit about your profile for the show….
I’m not the principal writer of the show; Pradeep Advaitham is. I’m more the creator and producer of the show. When it comes to the web space because of the volume of the content and the whole logistics part, the showrunner or creator is in charge of the whole writing process and how it is executed. That’s how it works because practically it is not possible for me to direct eight episodes. You will see in web space for every episode there will be a different director. A creator is someone who keeps in mind the overall objective and keeps the tone of the show intact.
Were you involved in the writing process?
I’ve been, but more as a creative supervisor. They would pitch in their ideas, while I would chip in with my stuff.
Comedy is tough to write, right?
For me comedy is always something which I’ve loved. Every now and once I go back to that genre. I don’t find it hard.
Is there a difference between writing for a series and writing for movies?
Oh, there is a huge difference. Movies are done in the perspective of the protagonist/hero and maybe there is one subplot but when it comes to a series, there needs to be multiple characters and multiple subplots. Every episode needs to have a start, middle and an end. Villains will also have huge subplots as well. For the writer, the longer format is a blessing. A good writer would enjoy writing a longer format.
What was it like adapting to the series writing-wise?
I think this is the first one; we’ll have to figure out. Our learning of writing is only from watching shows like whatever we watched on Netflix and other platforms. We are the first generation web series makers. It’s going to take a couple of cycles for both the platforms and filmmakers to adapt to the new thing and learn from as we go by.
Priyadarshi and Abhinav Gomatam have an uncanny sense of comedy timing. How much have they helped the script?
When you give them the material, they really add a lot more. You can’t be very rigid when you are making comedy. You’ve got to give them material, you need to be open about it and you need to let them express themselves. Let them get in their own strength of how they pass and how they express themselves. In terms of directing comedy, it’s slightly different from other genres.
Telugu OTT space has been on the rise for the past three years but barely there has been a world-class show. Why do you think so?
One reason is we never had a great long format unlike the West, which had the advantage of great television. All the shows we are talking about –Breaking Bad, House of Cards and Game of Thrones – have been TV series. We never had great TV. For us, the transition was directly from films to OTT. That’s one major setback in terms of adapting to the longer format. The second is we don’t have literature. At least in Telugu, literature stopped long back; it’s not an active thing. So it is very difficult to create original content keeping in mind these two limitations. And three, we are all first generation. One blind leading another blind. The platforms are blind, we are blind. We are all trying to figure out how we make this or adapt to the new change.
Yatra 2 is due for a long time. When is it happening?
It’s never been due. I wanted to do a couple of projects before I got back to it. With Yatra 2, there is definitely something which I’m keen to make but I need to get clarity on the cast and logistics etc etc. There are lots of things which even I’m not very clear about at this juncture. It will be known in the next three-four months.
If it happens, will you time it for AP assembly polls just like the last time around?
(Smiles) I don’t know… I might if everything falls in place. The reason being that it’s not because it is going to make a huge difference for anyone; it’s going to make a huge difference for us to get more eyeballs and more viewers to the film at least because of the season.
What else are you working on?
There are four projects in development in the OTT space. We have two more shows this year. Maybe one or two shows at least next year. Films-wise, the other one, Siddha… Lokam Ela Undhi Nayanaa, has to be released. I’m currently writing one. Only after I complete it, I can figure out what will be its timeline. It’s a drama.
-NAGARAJ GOUD
