Nagabandham editor RC Pranav on his creative process behind the film | Exclusive

The mythological action-adventure film Nagabandham – The Secret Treasure was released in cinemas on July 3. The pan-India epic is helmed by Abhishek Nama and stars Virat Karrna, Nabha Natesh and Iswarya Menon in lead roles. Ever since its release, fans have been praising it for its larger-than-life mythological world, heavily driven by its visual effects, grand production scale and action sequences. In an exclusive interview with WION, the film's editor RC Pranav opened up how he shaped the film, why he pushed for a linear narrative and much more.

WION: Nagabandham is a very VFX-heavy film. How did you get involved in the first place?

RC Pranav: I was one of the associates on the film. A colleague introduced me to the director, and that is how the journey started. The director showed me a pre-visualisation of a particular sequence, and within five minutes I edited that pre-visual sequence on his own computer and showed him. That is when he said, 'Okay, we will go ahead with you', and that is how I signed the film.

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WION: Process of being involved in the editing of Nagabandham

RC Pranav: It was intimidating in the beginning but got exciting as we went along, because the director's vision kept growing after every schedule. I was involved in every department; as a writer, I had my say in music and VFX, and I was also editing on the spot. I used to create shots in AI and tell the director, I need shots like this. He would go and take those shots accordingly. Even the teaser, I had cut it one year before it was released; I cut it on AI, and he went and shot according to what I did. So I was completely involved in the direction as well.

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WION: You have been vocal about how trailers should be cut. What, according to you, makes a good trailer?

RC Pranav: In the South, editors only cut the trailer and teaser. It is not like Bombay, where you give it to someone else. As an editor I will never allow someone else to cut a trailer, because I am the editor of the film. I know what to show and what not to show. Someone else cannot come and decide that. It is very tough. And that is exactly why Bollywood trailers end up showing you the whole film. They hand it over to someone who does not have that intimate knowledge of the footage, someone who does not know what should stay hidden and what should pull the audience in. We do not do that in the South. South trailers will never show you the whole film. We will just make you curious and leave you at that.

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WION: How was your experience of working with director Abhishek Nama?

RC Pranav: It was a great experience. He is already a very big, established producer-distributor in the Telugu industry. It is like Karan Johar directing his first film, in that sense, for Telugu. His vision was really big, and it kept growing with every schedule. He would say, I need 500 people; I need 1000 people on this set; it has to be bigger. Certain visuals in this film have never been seen before in Indian cinema; I can vouch for that because I am a cinephile, and I think I have watched everything.

“The way we have shown Padmanabhaswamy and Lord Vishnu has never been done before in Indian cinema. And he gave me complete creative freedom. He said, "This is the footage; you do what you want with it. Show me your cut. Even the trailer he completely handed over to me. He just said, "You have the responsibility of bringing the audience to the theatre. We don't have a big cast. It is all on how you cut the trailer.”

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WION: The film blends mythology, action and adventure in one narrative. How did you balance those different tones?

RC Pranav: My director already had a certain screenplay in mind. Initially he had a nonlinear narrative, but after discussions I told him, "No, we should go linear because nonlinear will not work for this particular film. It will only be exciting if it comes in a linear order. He agreed, and we went with a linear narrative where the film starts with the villain's track, what he wants, and the Brahma Kamalam, the key to open the door of Nagabandham. And then we slowly introduce the hero. There is a small girl character who tells the villain that God is watching and God will punish you, and that is when the hero enters. These are the kind of decisions we took at the edit table.