Nag Ashwin: We made Mahanati out of pure love and admiration for Savitri

How Savitri overcame her humble beginnings and a prolonged struggle for a breakthrough and went on to become India’s first female superstar, makes for a fascinating journey indeed. And director Nag Ashwin believes Savitri’s life story is one that needs to be told. “I’ve been wanting to make a film on Savitri for a long time. Her journey traces the history of Indian cinema. She began acting at a time when drama companies were shutting down and the audience for theatre was dwindling. It was only later that studios started coming in and we saw a boom in Indian cinema. Savitri was there through all this. She acted opposite some of the biggest actors of the time, including NTR, ANR and Gemini Ganesan. For a small girl from nowhere to become one of the biggest female superstars is an incredible story,” Ashwin explains.

The filmmaker, who had previously helmed the 2015 film Yevade Subramanyam, says a whole lot of research went in while making

Mahanati

. “We touched just about everything. There have been four books written on her, which we studied. We also listened to radio shows on her. There were interviews given by legends like NTR and ANR, where they spoke about Savitri and that helped us understand more about what she was like as a person. We also visited her family and they gave us tremendous insights into Savitri’s life. We also took references from her movies, and we tried to use the same background, same cars, etc.,” Ashwin
explains.

Despite the extensive research that went into the film, the young filmmaker said that it was impossible to fit everything into the film. “It’s difficult to fit the whole life story of any regular person, let alone a life as dramatic and tumultuous as Savitri’s. Given a chance, I’ll make a TV series on Savitri so that every aspect of her life can get covered,” he says.
Nag Ashwin admits that making biopics on legends can be a tricky proposition. “If I was a viewer, I would either love the film or hate it. But making a biopic on Savitri’s life is a huge responsibility for me. It may still evoke extreme reactions from the viewers. But we’ve made an honest film. We haven’t done this for commercial reasons, but because of pure love and admiration for Savitri, and I think that genuineness will come across when the audience watches the film,” the director adds.