Seven years after her last directorial project, Aishwaryaa Rajinikanth will be returning to the director’s chair with Oh Saathi Chal. It is the filmmaker’s first Hindi language film. In a recent interview with Hindustan Times, Aishwaryaa opened up about what kept her away from direction for seven years and how she sees the relationship between Bollywood and Tollywood.
The 40-year-old director said that it was due to her children with former husband and actor Dhanush, Yatra Raja and Linga Raja, that she wanted to pay more attention to them. “I took a break as I wanted to spend more time with my sons,” she said. As her two sons have now turned 15 and 11, Aishwaryaa feels that she has more time on her hands and can focus on work better.
With superstar Rajinikanth as her father, Aishwaryaa confessed that she has never given a thought to the idea of working together with him. She told Hindustan Times, “I am enjoying and loving the experience of being his fanatic fan. But if an opportunity comes up, who in their right senses would say no to that?”
Aishwaryaa has directed movies like Mariyappan, 3, and Vai Raja Vai which came out in 2015. Since then, she focused on her domestic life and it is only now that she has made her gradual return to direction. Last month Aishwaryaa released a music video for the song Payani which is directed by her. Promoting her daughter’s work, Rajinikanth had tweeted, “Happy to release Payani, music single directed by my daughter Aishwaryaa, who is back to direction after a long gap of nine years. I wish you the very best always, God bless, love you.”
Happy to release #Payani , music single directed by my daughter Aishwarya , who is back to direction after a long gap of 9 years. I Wish you the very best always @ash_r_dhanush .. god bless .. love you .. https://t.co/x7jUP4upId
— Rajinikanth (@rajinikanth) March 17, 2022
Sharing her thoughts on how the south film industry has grown to a pan-India level, Aishwaryaa said, “Indian cinema as a whole has evolved organically and the audience has been a great reason for this.” Aishwaryaa added that the audience has given filmmakers the freedom to think creatively and encouraged new and different kinds of content, which she strongly feels is the way forward.
