Director Pallavi Gangireddy: Anya’s Tutorial pulled me out of my comfort zone, was drawn to the drama in the story

It’s life coming full circle for Pallavi Gangireddy, who has been associated with Telugu OTT platform aha since its inception. The former creative producer for aha is turning a director with Anya’s Tutorial, a horror show that’ll stream on the same platform. With story and screenplay by Sowmya Sharma, Anya’s Tutorial is headlined by Regina Cassandra and Nivedhithaa Sathish.

It was during the pre-production stages of aha’s Locked that Pallavi pitched the idea of Anya’s Tutorial to Allu Aravind and it went considerable changes after feedback came in from various quarters. Surprisingly, Pallavi herself isn’t a big fan of the horror genre and believed there was no point buying a ticket to be scared in a theatre. However, destiny had it that she would make her debut with a horror project.

“The fact that it pulled me out of my comfort zone was a major reason I took up Anya’s Tutorial. While Sowmya was telling me the story and bringing in the horror elements, I was hooked more to the drama quotient. I am thankful to aha and Arka Media for ensuring top-quality production standards for the show. As a debutante, I got every technician that I had asked for,” she said.

“I can’t wait for audiences to watch Nivedhithaa in it. It has been a lot of blisters and bruises for her during the making but she has risen above them so well. Regina Cassandra has delivered a fabulous performance. I am grateful to my DOP Vijay K Chakravarthi, editor Ravi Teja Girijala, composer Arrol Correli for being my pillars of support. I hope I did justice,” Pallavi added.

Anya’s Tutorial is produced by Shobu Yarlagadda and Prasad Devineni under Arka Meda. Abhishek Raghav, Tirumala and Nagendra are the art directors and Geetha Gautham is the costume designer. The show, whose trailer was launched by SS Rajamouli recently, streams on aha this July 1.