Never thought of direction: Producer CV Kumar

Chennai, April 20 (IANS) Producer CV Kumar is gearing up for his upcoming Tamil directorial debut "Mayavan". He says the decision to wield the megaphone was not a dream he has been nurturing for a long time.

"As a producer, I was always involved in discussing story ideas with my directors. They all liked the story idea of 'Mayavan'. Director Nalan (Kumarasamy) suggested that I direct. Honestly, I was never keen on direction, but things just fell in place," Kumar told IANS.

Working on the project has been an eye-opener, admits the producer of films such as "Pizza", "Soodhu Kavvum" and "Thegidi".

"It made me realise the challenges of a director. As a producer, I remember instructing my directors to finish everything under budget. It was when I was in their shoes did I realise how challenging it is to direct and take the responsibility of everything," he said.

Talking about the project, which stars Sundeep Kishan and Lavanya Tripathi in the lead, Kumar said: "When we were discussing about the cast, we wanted someone without an image. The story is such that it doesn't need a hero. We thought Sundeep would be the perfect choice. When I discussed it with him, he also seemed very interested."

Also starring Jackie Shroff, this film is about a psycho killer.

Kumar heaps praise on his team, calling them the "backbone" of the film.

"If not for my assistants and technical crew, I couldn't have pulled this off. Even after shooting with artists, these guys would stay up all night to discuss about next day's work. It was a collective team work," he recalls.