Pavan Sadineni had impressed us with his web series Commitmental last year. He followed it up with another film Senapathi which will be hitting AhA on the 31st of this December. The director has immense potential, is a great writer too and very soon he will be directing his fourth film. Soft spoken and a man with clarity, Pavan Sadineni in a conversation with Y.Sunita Chowdhary of Klapboardpost.com, draws comparisons and similarities between the OTT platforms and a theatrical release. He also sheds light on Senapathi, albeit a brief revelation.
“There isn’t much difference between web series and cinema. If a story has an extension, it would be around two hours plus script and if it is important and impactful then it has to be made into a second part. If a concept has a big span in terms of casting and time, it needs to be explored. Also because it hasn’t reached a level it needs to be in and some parts are good and others fall flat. The writing is crucial, it has to be strong and not everyone is giving importance here,” says the director. Many projects for OTT platforms are hitting the floors but not many get the recognition or notice from the people. The reason he cites is, after the project is set, the people concerned are going for combinations and shooting swiftly, they are anxious that they will be late or miss it. “Most of the people set up the project and immediately shoot. With a bad content and great combination and even if the content is mediocre, there is a scenario that works. In India, we are not completely ready, we are just coming up, taking baby steps in OTT. At the end of the day logistics matter. In cinema, only script writers will be in the meeting but in OTT, marketing people will also be there,” quips Pavan.
The producer’s problem is with the numbers, the director is bothered about audiences, it’s his dream to show it to a larger audience and a max audience. In OTT, on phones people are watching and it has become global. He elaborates, “I am happy and all I need to do is make good content whatever the platform or theater is. It is the same discipline you follow when you make web films. There are budget constraints because it is going on a regional level. Be it a dialogue or kissing scene, there should be a need in the script. Unfortunately people use creative liberties in other forms and I’m not into it. Initially, the liberty was misused, whether it was needed or not. As a filmmaker we are getting carried away and filmmakers who have sensibilities are hesitant to step into OTT. It is just the starting phase, things are slow, people are waiting and enquiring which new film is releasing on which platform. Going to the theater is investing energy and people are not ready for that. They are happy to watch it in the comforts of their house.”
He adds, “We shouldn’t be doing web series or web films just because we have time. The feeling has to come from deep within that a story needs to be told. We get mediocre content if we do it, just because we have time. The focus should be 100 percent. Very few people are giving importance to content, no one is giving time to writing. If you spend quality time on production then everything will be brilliant which is what I did with Senapati. This is a web film and AhA approached me and the latter tied up with Goldbox. I had already worked for Commitmental in AhA. This has been inspired by a Tamil film, drawn parallels and more than 60 percent of the script has been changed. The gist of the story is that everyone is a Senapati to our own lives, we have to guard our own lives. We have to be protective and cautious and yes, if our life is a king, this film shows us how to safeguard ourselves i.e the role of a Senapati. A Senapati tells us if we are moving on the right path or wrong path.”
Senapati is a serious crime drama with a beautiful family angle. A police officer loses his gun and how he gets it back is the story. It has an intriguing narration. Pavan Sadineni was super excited to do something like this. He says he was unconsciously bracketed into rom com, and he is a thriller person. Naresh Agastya is the main lead along with Rajendra prasad. Gyaneshwari, Rakendu Mouli, Pavani Reddy, Harshavardhan are part of a huge ensemble cast. “We finished the entire project in twenty days. The film begins with a Harikatha and passes on a message that you protect your own life, no one will come to do that for you. Losing a police gun, a series of murders keep happening. How he has to sort it out and get back the gun is the gist. Rakendu Mouli and Pavan did the dialogues. The former also acted in it. Vasant and Hussain Shah Kiran gave the additional story and screenplay. The DoP is Vivek and Shravan Bharadwaj is the music director. Rajendra Prasad had delivered a 12 pages scene in a single take. It will be an iconic scene,” says the director.
