Mahavatar Narsimha director Ashwin Kumar: ‘Nothing of this level has been attempted before in India’ | Interview

Ahead of the release of Mahavatar Narsimha, director Ashwin Kumar opened up the vacuum of such stories that are being made into a big screen experience.

Kleem Productions' Mahavatar Narsimha, presented by Hombale Films, arrives with a lot of promise. While it is a standalone film, the makers recently announced the ambitious Mahavatar Cinematic Universe, which will unfold through several films over the coming years.

Director Ashwin Kumar talked about the process of bringing the story of Mahavatar Narsimha to screen.

Ahead of the release of Mahavatar Narsimha, HT sat down with director Ashwin Kumar to talk about the legacy of the story, the process of creating the character sketches for the big screen experiences, and more. (Excerpts)

‘Its almost a dream come true’

The trailer of Mahavatar Narsimha was unveiled a few days ago, and received positive response from fans. Ashwin comments, “The response to the trailer has been overwhelming. My inbox has just been filling up, and a lot of heartfelt gratitude to everyone who's really loving it. The fans have really been standing up for it. Yes, it's almost a dream come true, and it's almost so surreal to be experiencing this.”

Watch the trailer here:

On this note, Ashwin says, “I believe that there has been a vacuum of our ethnic, cultural and heritage stories coming to the big screen, which they truly deserve. But somehow, unfortunately, these films have not been made to be seen on that kind of scale. But it's about time we change it, because it is quite apparent the kind of vacuum and the kind of demand that's there. I feel it's our onus as creators, as producers, as directors, to really bring it forth. Because this is also not just a film, it's the echo of our ancestors and our land and our history. It needs to be brought back, so that the virtues really get, you know, embedded forward into the generations.”

Ashwin went on to talk about his memories of encountering the story for the first time as a child. “The earliest memory of this story basically comes to me from my mother telling me about the story as a child, or even perhaps even reading the Amar Chitra Katha, which we were really fond of as children,” he adds. “It's rather unfortunate that it is not as revered in this newer generation. So that is my earliest memory. But I also do remember back in 2008, a lot of my friends and devotees were having this kind of an argument about understanding the Shastra and the Puranas. We were discussing the story of Prahlad, and the conclusion was that this kind of story should really be told on a big screen, and it really deserves that kind of treatment. And lo and behold, I'm the one who's been trying to do this, and it's just a poetic ending to that little escapade that I had.”

The theatrical poster of Mahavatar Narsimha.

‘The journey has been a labour of love’

On being asked about the collaborative process with the animators and the sound designers on the project, the director adds, “The journey has been a labour of love, completely through and through. Each frame meticulously rendered has been nothing short of a miracle. For it to come together as one harmonious unit is something of a miracle in itself. Nothing of this magnitude has been attempted before in India.”

“So all the animators were basically my actors. I call them warriors because they understood the vision and enacted it. They bought life, they put soul into the characters, and they gave it their all, not looking at the time it took to get to the best. Being there and understanding the vision of where we need to go. Even the sound designer… to understand the soundscape that I'm looking at, the visual, and the escape that we needed to create. The music director, Sam CS, has given such a wonderful score, almost divine in its scope in the film,” he adds.

“Later, it was reproduced by the Macedonia orchestral… the symphonic plate that is in Europe, and it was done so fantastically, with the same notations rendered so meticulously. Yeah, it's a dream come true,” says Ashwin.

Was there any aspect of the character sketch of the film that he was particular about? Ashwin notes, “The idea was to make it as close to the depictions in the Shastra, because that was our go-to source to keep it as close to the divine foretelling that we call the Puranic tales. So they were understood, read by me and meditated upon. I am an artist myself, so I would sketch, and along with two other artists, we would create.”

“We would keep creating these characters till it really would portray those features that are mentioned in the Shastras, and even the iconography of India, which has been there for thousands of years. We have to pay our homage to everything that's been out there. Studying the artwork of the Buddhist text, the Southern text, and all the other texts, and bringing them into one design that is universal. Such as the Prahlad Maharajas, his face, his innocence and his peace that you see on the child's face. That had to be present. So yeah, it was challenging. But it was very beautiful,” he concludes.

Mahavatar Narsimha is directed by Ashwin Kumar and produced by Shilpaa Dhawan, Kushal Desai, and Chaitanya Desai under the banner of Kleem Productions. The film will be released in 3D and in five Indian languages on July 25.