Director and producer Naveen A. Chathapuram |
Director and producer Naveen A. Chathapuram’s latest film is American Warrior, which was screened at the 55th International Film Festival of India in Goa. The cast includes Omi Vaidya, best known for his performance as Chatur Ramalingam in Bollywood film 3 Idiots. Danny Trejo, known for his iconic roles in action cinema. He plays the role of Dennis, a seasoned Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) coach, whereas Vishy Ayyar, the story’s creator, plays the lead role of Jai Kumar, Veronica Falcón as Marcella, the tenacious owner of a local gym; and Andrew Gray, who starred as the Red Ranger in Power Rangers Megaforce, as Marcus, Jai’s fierce opponent in the ring. The feature film delves into the world of MMA, follows an Indian-American protagonist’s journey of redemption, overcoming personal struggles as he steps into the ring to face both his physical and emotional battles.
Danny Trejo |
With over two decades of experience in the film industry, Naveen’s directorial debut was The Last Victim, a gripping neo-western starring Ali Larter (Final Destination, Resident Evil), Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Sons of Anarchy), and Ralph Ineson (The Green Knight, The Witch), was praised by Stephen King as a “…blood-thirsty thriller,” the film also earned a Best Film nomination at the Oldenburg International Film Festival, often referred to as the European Sundance.
Over two decades, he has produced works such as Ca$h, starring Sean Bean (Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings) and Chris Hemsworth (Thor, Extraction), the Netflix sitcom Brown Nation, and the animated film Night of the Living Dead: Origins.
Omi Vaidya |
Born in Coimbatore, India and spent his childhood in and near Calicut, Kerala. When he was 12, he moved with his family to the U.S. where he spent the rest of his youth in the suburbs of Chicago and started watching all the great Hollywood movies of the times. Naveen decided to make filmmaking a career and went to film school at Columbia College in Chicago. Excerpts:
Q. How did the idea for American Warrior come to you?
A. The story of American Warrior came to our lead actor, Vish, in his dream. At the time, he was going through certain challenges in his life. He had lost some money in his real estate business, and he pitched the story to me about seven years ago, and that’s how it came about.
Q. How was it working with Danny Trejo?
A. It was actually a dream come true. I grew up watching Danny Trejo films from Desperado to Heat. And you know, just to hear that someone like him would accept our story and show up on set was unreal. He is a very humble, very real actor, personality, celebrity person and he. He sets an example. I’ll give you an example. Like on set, he was very respectful to all the crew members from the director to the production assistants. But we went to this restaurant one day right before he wrapped and waiter came and asked him if he can take a picture and Danny obliged. Right after that, the entire staff stood in line. So about 30 to 40 people stood in line and he patiently took a picture with every single one of them without complaining. So he’s a legend and it was such a pleasure to work with him on this great picture.
Q. How difficult is it to survive in Hollywood?
A. Look, I think it’s relative. Obviously it’s probably the same to survive in Bollywood. I think the key is to keep yourself updated, be consistent and keep showing up and not get carried away by success or a small little bump. You got to keep yourself fresh and also updated with all the new technologies. People change jobs, so you need to be up to date regarding your network and relationships and then show up consistently despite failures or success because, failures don’t last long, but success equally don’t last long. So it’s just a matter of showing up and be consistent and deliver good work. That way it’s much easier to survive in the long run. One of the myths about Hollywood is that it’s a highly nepotistic, closed industry. But I found it out to be the opposite, at least in my experience. It’s a place, if you go with talent, if you go with merit, people do selflessly give you a lift, and I’ve seen that through my career over the last 20 years. There are other places where they’re very close, but Hollywood is not the case.
Q. Do you have plans to film in Bollywood?
A. Absolutely. I’d love to work in India and create something special. I’m genre agnostic, but, you know, I would need to find something compelling. Whether it’s a script, whether it’s the setting, if those things align and I get to collaborate with a great artist, then I definitely work in creating a movie in Bollywood. So looking forward to and open to that idea.
