It was a pleasant surprise for director Radha Mohan when I pointed out that it’s been 20 years since he debuted with Azhagiya Theeye (2004). “I wouldn’t have realised it hadn’t you mentioned it. It’s been very eventful and I’ve learned a lot.
Being a part of this industry for so long by itself is quite a big deal and I’m happy for it,” smiles the filmmaker, who is making his OTT debut with Disney+ Hotstar’s Chutney Sambar starring Yogi Babu in the lead. Excerpts from a conversation: What prompted you to make your web-series debut at this stage of your career? In the world of entertainment, web-series has become an inevitable medium and I have been wanting to do one for a while now. Unlike a film, a series needs a bigger story.
When this story came up, the idea was to make a film out of it. It’s a story that can only be headlined by Yogi Babu and if not for him, I would have dropped this project. When he said he liked the story, I started developing it and then the tie-up with Hotstar and Vels International came up.
When they broached the idea of turning it into a series — a format I have been eyeing for a while — I took it up. We also felt when there’s an influx of murder mysteries, something breezy and comical would be a welcome change. As the screenplay structure is different, we worked on the story, added more characters and made sure there was a hook at the end of each episode.
A still from ‘Chutney Sambar’| Photo Credit:@disneyplusHSTam/YouT.