{"id":579047,"date":"2026-10-07T22:51:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T17:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/?p=579047"},"modified":"2026-10-07T22:51:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T17:21:22","slug":"mayookha-will-impress-audiences-as-a-different-kind-of-thriller-director-shree-tej-s-k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/mayookha-will-impress-audiences-as-a-different-kind-of-thriller-director-shree-tej-s-k\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMayookha Will Impress Audiences as a Different Kind of Thriller\u201d- Director Shree Tej S.K."},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cMayookha Will Impress Audiences as a Different Kind of Thriller\u201d- Director Shree Tej S.K.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMayookha\u201d is an upcoming thriller starring Payal Chengappa in the lead role. and directed by Shree Tej S.K. Interestingly, Srikanth Kandragula, who previously produced several interesting films under the Cinema Bandi Productions banner, has changed his screen name to Shree Tej S.K. and is making his directorial debut with this film. The film is produced by Sasidhar Nalla under the Prashvitha Entertai9ment banner<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMayookha\u201d is set for a grand worldwide theatrical release on the 9th of this month. Ahead of the release, director Shree Tej S.K. spoke about the film\u2019s highlights in a recent interview.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the film\u2019s recognition at international film festivals:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur film Mayookha recently won the Best Mystery Movie award at the New York Film Festival and also received the Second Best award in the Thriller category. We never expected to receive this recognition. When we learned that our film had been selected for an award, the entire team was extremely happy. We have also applied for the Cannes Film Festival.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at our promotional content, you can notice storytelling and colour grading inspired by Korean and Hollywood films. The story is gradually revealed and reaches its peak by the second half. Today, audiences are watching a lot of thriller web series and films on OTT platforms. So, if we want to create content that appeals to them, we have to attempt something fresh and deliver it with quality. That is exactly what we tried to do with Mayookha.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On Payal Chengappa:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe initially narrated the story to actress Maheshwari, who is known for Gulabi. She listened to two stories we had and liked both of them. She eventually chose the other story. Payal has done some entertaining films in Kannada and we felt she would be a perfect fit for the character in our story. She has already reached Telugu audiences through her web series.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe believed that audiences would relate strongly to her character in this film and connect with the struggles she goes through. Payal Chengappa has delivered a wonderful performance as Mayookha. I am confident that she will receive good recognition for her performance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On what makes the thriller different:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThrillers of this kind have been made before, but what makes our film different is the screenplay and the way the story has been presented on screen. The presentation is fresh and engaging. In fact, the recognition we received at the New York Film Festival as Best Thriller gave us confidence that our attempt had worked.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we hear that there are ghosts in some cemetery, our minds are already prepared for something frightening. But if an unknown person suddenly appears in a place where we live and spend our everyday lives, that creates a different kind of fear.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMayookha is not a horror film; it is a thriller. Why does an unknown person enter the heroine\u2019s flat? What does he do? What is his relationship with the heroine? These questions drive the story and keep the audience engaged throughout. The film has a runtime of approximately two hours and ten minutes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On the title \u2018Mayookha\u2019:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMayookha means a ray of hope. By the time you reach the end of the film, you will understand why we chose the title Mayookha.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe last short film I made was also titled Mayookha. I left for the US before completing that short film. Around that time, Rajamouli garu adopted a girl and named her Mayookha. Later, while I was continuing my professional career, I narrated this story to the producer, and he liked it and suggested that we make the film.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter how good a story we write, it needs to be presented beautifully through visuals and sound to create an engaging cinematic experience. We took great care with both the visual and sound aspects of this film and have worked hard to deliver a quality product. Shibi Mathew Alex has composed excellent music for the film.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On audience expectations from Indian thrillers:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur audiences watch Korean and Hollywood thrillers and often wonder why similar films are not being made here. I believe that if we give them a product of that quality and style, they will definitely appreciate it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith Mayookha, we are not just trying to give the audience an emotional experience; we want to give them a complete cinematic experience. Our producer Sasidhar Nalla gave us complete support throughout the making of the film.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On his journey into filmmaking:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI made short films almost twenty years ago. Later, I moved to the US, where I completed a directing course at the New York Film Academy. Direction has always been my priority. However, to gain experience in filmmaking, I also developed an understanding of production.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe released films like Tantram and Sootravaakyam in Telugu. So far, we have made two films under our Cinema Bandi Productions banner, and a few more are currently in production. All of these projects have been made with new teams.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf there are good stories, we will definitely support new talent. Whenever a film becomes a hit, several films in the same genre follow. But by the time we make a film in that genre, the trend may have already changed. I could have made a love story or a family entertainer, but I wanted to try something different, which is why I made Mayookha.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI admire filmmakers such as Upendra, Ram Gopal Varma, Puri Jagannadh and Jonathan Nolan. My next directorial will be an emotional science-fiction film. It will be a clean U-certified movie.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cMayookha Will Impress Audiences as a Different Kind of Thriller\u201d- Director Shree Tej S.K. \u201cMayookha\u201d is an upcoming thriller starring Payal Chengappa in the lead role. and directed by Shree Tej S.K. Interestingly, Srikanth Kandragula, who previously produced several interesting films under the Cinema Bandi Productions banner, has changed his screen name to Shree Tej […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":579049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,11,17],"tags":[71680,71769,71682,71770],"yst_prominent_words":[47862,8910,18407,8922,9205],"class_list":["post-579047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-interviews","category-news","category-slideshow","tag-mayookha","tag-mayookha-director-shree-tej-s-k","tag-payal-chengappa","tag-shree-tej"],"read":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579047"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":579050,"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579047\/revisions\/579050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579047"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/industryhit.com\/t\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=579047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}