Aishwaryaa Rajinikanth opens up on what kept her way from direction for 7 years

Filmmaker Aishwaryaa Rajinikanth is set to return to the director’s chair, seven years after her last directorial, the Tamil film Vai Raja Vai (2015). She will be helming a film, titled Oh Saathi Chal, which also marks her Bollywood debut. Sharing what kept her away for so long, the 40-year-old says, “I took a break as I wanted to spend more time with my sons (Yatra Raja; 15 and Linga Raja; 11) who were growing up way too fast.”

Aishwaryaa says that several offers to direct Hindi films kept coming her way, but she wasn’t “in the mindset to work”. She adds, “It feels great to be back. Now my children are old enough and I seem to have more time in hand for myself.”

She says that she’d love to work with actors Hrithik Roshan and Ranveer Singh in the near future. But has she ever felt the urge to cast her father, superstar Rajinikanth, in her films? “I honestly haven’t given it a thought or worked towards it. 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?” she says with a laugh.

The 3 (2012) director finds the exchange of talent between Bollywood and the South film industry “healthy”. Talking about the pan-Indian spirit of the film industry today, she says, “Indian cinema as a whole as evolved organically and the audience have been a great reason for this. They have given filmmakers the freedom to think out-of-the-box and encouraged new and different kinds of content, which I strongly feel is the way forward.”

Aishwaryaa adds, “Gender bias is decreasing and more opportunities are opening up in all fields of cinema for everyone and this is where OTT is playing a huge role.”