Director Koratala Siva is “on cloud nine” following the box office success of NTR Jr-starrer Devara: Part 1. “The audiences embraced our vision and idea, and showered us with so much love and appreciation,” he gushes.

The filmmaker reveals that the script was crafted with NTR Jr in mind: “We share a very special bond, and I’d keep pitching ideas to him.”

Talking about Saif Ali Khan and Janhvi Kapoor, who portray Bhairava and Thangam, respectively, Siva adds, “I needed someone as strong and intense as NTR Jr and Saif was always the first choice. He’s unpolluted... he comes like a layman to the sets... (And) the way Janhvi got into the skin of the character, we never felt that she’s new to South.”

Talking about picking “the right actors to tell good stories”, the 49-year-old opines, “It’s not Tamil, Telugu or Hindi film industry now; it’s Indian cinema. We need to tell the world what Indian folklore is.”

Addressing the trend of telling stories in parts, he shares, “We established the characters in Part 1. In Part 2, Vara will be seen in a different avatar, and what really happened between him and Devara will unfold,” and promises that Part 2 will be a “bigger and bloodier” experience.

Ask him if the success adds more pressure to deliver another hit and he says, “It’s part of the game.”