Exclusive! I've rebooted myself as a director; Raymo feels like my first film: Pavan Wadeyar

Ten years ago, Pavan Wadeyar gave up a stable career in software to pursue his passion for cinema. He spent a few months assisting Kannada filmmaker Yogaraj Bhat, before embarking on his debut directorial debut, Govindaya Namaha, with Komal and Parul Yadav in the lead. The comedy, which did reasonably well at the box office and is best remembered for the hit number Pyarge Aagbitaithe, had its share of trouble in retaining movie halls back then, when it was displaced by the late Power Star Puneeth Rajkumar’s Anna Bond.

The film, though, was a great launchpad for its maker, Pavan, who then went on to direct its Telugu remake, Pottugadu as well. He followed that up with the big hit Googly, which had Rocking Star Yash and Kriti Kharbanda in the lead. Pavan then went on to work with Puneeth on Ranavikrama, yet another hit in his kitty, but then had a few years of professional decline.

“I can’t believe it’s been 10 years in the industry for me. Raymo, my next release, is my eighth directorial, but it’s a film that I worked on as if it were my debut. After Googly and Ranavikrama, I made a few movies that didn’t give me the result I expected. Recapping the last 10 years feels like a whirlwind to me. From an ordinary software professional, I went on to not only get into films, but also have three back-to-back hits. But what came after that was a phase of box-office failures, which I would like to believe boiled down to inadequate marketing/promotions. For instance, the reviews for my film Jessie, were amazing, yet it tanked at the box office. I really expected it to do well, especially since there was also a great deal of interest in its remake rights. During the release time of Nataraja Service, demonetization happened and the distributors went ahead with the release. Perhaps it was my mistake as well to have allowed that, because unless and until I said yes they would not have released the film,” he says.

The filmmaker adds that this phase got him to introspect his craft as a writer and filmmaker. “I began looking closely at the kind of subjects I was writing and choosing to bring to the screen, the actual making, etc. In the process, I believe that I have updated myself as a filmmaker and the first product after this ‘reboot’ of sorts is Raymo ,” he says, adding, “If I were to judge myself on a scale of 1-10, I’d give myself a 10 today, which, incidentally, took me 10 years to get to that point.”

One of his biggest learnings over the years, says Pavan, is the changing dynamic of film promotions. “Back when I started out, a film would get its due based on the star power or the perceived quality of the movie, based on the media interviews and advertisements. Ever since social media became a big thing, the dynamics of film promotions also changed. Now, people will decide to watch the film only if they like the teaser or the trailer. Raymo, I believe is a film that will appeal to audiences across age groups,” he says.

Meanwhile, after a brief stint as an actor, Pavan has restricted himself to behind the camera, expanding his horizons as a producer, though. Pavan and his wife Apeksha have backed filmmaker Sagar Puranik’s Dollu, which has been doing the rounds at film festivals. “I was very impressed by the subject of the film and have always been in awe of the realistic craft and filmmaking followed by directors like Sagar. This is something that doesn’t come naturally to me. I am far too flamboyant in my filmmaking style. I am looking at releasing the film directly on OTT and am in discussion for this,” he signs off.