Debutant filmmaker Krishna R.V. Marimuthu says it's love for cinema and creativity from a tender age that brought him and actor Naga Chaitanya together for the forthcoming Telugu action-thriller "Yuddham Sharanam".
Chaitanya and Krishna have been childhood friends and share extreme love for cinema.
"Both of us have been in creative collaboration from childhood. We were in a band together. From Class 7 or 8, we have been talking about doing movies together," Krishna told IANS, and added as a youngster he was more interested in music.
Eventually, Krishna took a liking to writing.
"He chose acting and I started writing. I wanted to try my hand in cinema, and I ended up working as an assistant director to A.L. Vijay and Krish.
"Chaitanya and I were always in touch, bouncing ideas and were waiting for the right project to collaborate. I believe our love for cinema brought us together," he said.
"Yuddham Sharanam" is slated for release on Friday.
Talking about the film, Krishna said it's a story of a boy-next-door and what happens when he's pushed to the edge.
"What happens when a happy-go-lucky guy is forced to fight for his survival? What really got Chaitanya excited is when his character decides to stand up for himself, he undergoes a very organic transformation. The whole process takes time and audiences will really like it," he said.
The film also stars Lavanya Tripathi, Srikanth and Revathy.
Asked if working with Chaitanya was easy because he's a close friend, Krishna said: "Friendship made things difficult for us because it meant bigger responsibility. On the bright side, we could talk about things openly and address our problems easily."
"I had to remember I was working with a star and I had to keep his image in mind. I was very conscious about this part which pushed me out of my comfort zone. Nevertheless, Chaitanya would make me feel comfortable," he added.
Srikanth, most popular for his character roles, plays the antagonist in the film.
"Since I come from Tamil background, my knowledge about Telugu actors and their work was limited. But I did my research and found out that Srikanth has played a few roles with negative shades and he was terrific in them, especially where he played a corrupt cop," Krishna said.