When 24-year-old Ashwin Saravanan started writing the supernatural horror film, Maya, he never thought he would direct a star like Nayanthara in his debut venture. Now, the man looks confident and content.“I was a trainee for a couple of months in a leading software company and then quit my techie job. For a year, I spent all my time writing at home. I approached many producers and finally, Potential Studios agreed to fund the film. I guess they saw the fine content in the story,” he says.
As a person who has always been fascinated by horror stories, Ashwin wanted to direct one. “I was totally inspired by James Wan who directed The Conjuring. Even as a child, I was fascinated by serials like Marmadesam,” he adds. So, was he happy directing Nayanthara? “Maya is definitely Nayanthara’s film. She is a thorough professional and has done a fabulous job. She gets into the mood of a scene just like that. You don’t have to explain things to her. She knows exactly how she has to deliver her best,” says Ashwin.
“I didn’t write the script having Nayanthara in mind. But when the production house suggested me her name, I was happy to go with that. We shot for 35 days in and around Chennai,” adds Ashwin.
Talking about the story, he says, Nayanthara is the female lead of the film, which is a woman-centric horror thriller. “The plot revolves around Nayanthara’s character and her relationship with a child. When we think of ghosts, one set of people believe in it and the other set usually don’t. I have always had this on my mind as to whether they exist or not. We have two approaches for this. Emotional and logical. I have implied both the approaches in my story,” he explains.
So, how did he go about the title? “Maya means illusion. Hence, we felt this would be apt, we named it Maya,” he tells DC.“Initially, when I started, I was apprehensive of the whole process and felt insecure if I could get a renowned star to act in my film. But Nayanthara loves horror films, she eventually agreed,” he says.
With a host of horror films getting released, how is his script different from the others? “When I started writing this story, the only horror story which was released was Pizza. And when we were shooting, slowly, the other films got released. Maya is a serious story and will be an extremely engrossing experience for the audience,” he smiles.
