1931. The first Indian talkie. Less than a decade later, the first Indian colour film. 60-odd years onwards: the first Indian movie to use VFX in 1998.
Coming soon: A pathbreaking, homegrown science fiction film?
South Indian filmmaker Nag Ashwin is looking to make it happen. An unprecedented $600 crore budget. Futuristic sets. VFX. De-ageing. High-tech vehicles especially made by Mahindra for the movie. All to tell the tale of a saviour – the final avatar of Vishnu reimagined in dystopian times – who rises to vanquish evil.
Marked by many firsts, Ashwin’s journey in Tollywood has been truly one-of-a-kind. His debut, Yevade Subramanyam, was the first Indian film to be shot at the Everest Base Camp in Nepal. A thought-provoking coming-of-age film – capped with sentiment, friendship, love, comedy amidst the snow – that presented a novel visual narrative vastly different from high-voltage action dramas popular in Telugu cinema. It proved to be a success.
His next feature, Mahanati, was the first biopic produced in South India. It took the theatres by storm, prompting production houses to hatch a slew of biopics to cash in on the phenomena Ashwin ignited. The film received the Best Feature Film in Telugu at the 66th National Film Awards in 2019.
Now, he’s helming what is being called the biggest Indian science-fiction film, Kalki 2898 AD. Starring a slew of veterans – Prabhas, Kamal Hassan, Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone. With a background score by Academy Award Winning composer Hans Zimmer. A meld of dystopian and divinity. Premiering at Comic-Con and set to release sometime this year, will Ashwin’s magnum opus reassure audiences of human ingenuity in the age of generative AI?
To Ashwin, the rise of AI doesn’t endanger his imagination. To him, tech is a vehicle helping him cruise to higher cinematic ground, with lesser fiction and larger impact. He’s driven not by algorithm, but instinct. A penchant to tell stories that scratch beyond the surface. No wonder he rejected his family legacy of becoming a doctor, going against the grain to embrace filmmaking.
At SYNAPSE, Nag Ashwin will decode his creative arc. How he’s redefining storytelling with technology. And address the bigger questions. What makes a maker? The role of tech – special effects or more? And is adopting AI the only way to stay ahead of the curve in the creative industry?
