Nag Ashwin says he was angry as a kid when Chiranjeevi’s Aapadbandhavudu didn’t fare well at the box office

Nag Ashwin has always been a filmmaker who has lent a helping hand to his friends, assistants and other members from the fraternity in the hour of need. Earlier this week, he was also part of the relaunch event of Telugu cinema’s iconic banner Poornodaya Movie Creations. The banner now has another wing, Srija Entertainments, that will produce content-driven, entertaining films on modest budgets.

Srija Entertainment’s first production is a film titled First Day First Show, written by Jathi Ratnalu maker KV Anudeep and directed by Vamshidhar Goud and P Lakshmi Narayana. While conveying his happiness about Poornodaya’s return to Telugu cinema, Nag Ashwin claimed it’s very rare for a banner to produce so many high quality films like Sankarabharanam, Sagara Sangamam, Swathi Muthyam one after the other. Among all the films produced by the banner, he called Aapadbandhavudu his favourite.

“Aapadbandhavudu is my most favourite film in their banner. I remember I was in school when the film released and liked it so much. I was very angry when I realised that the film didn’t perform too well commercially. I was livid how such a good film couldn’t click at the box office. I am happy I’m able to help the future generation of an iconic banner like Poornodaya in some form. It would be a dream to direct a film under the banner some day. I wish the best for Srija Entertainments,” he said.

The Mahanati filmmaker lavished praise on KV Anudeep for helping his friends, assistants through his success and called him a terrific storywriter. He wished the best for medico-turned-filmmaker Vamshidhar and said that he was an integral part of team Jathi Ratnalu during the making, promotions and called him a very creative person. Nag Ashwin is currently filming Project K, a sci-fi film with Prabhas, Deepika Padukone, Disha Patani, Amitabh Bachchan in the lead.

Earlier at the event, Sriram Edida, son of Poornodaya’s founder Edida Nageswara Rao, said that his better half always wanted Nag Ashwin to direct a film for their banner after being spellbound by Mahanati.