Filmmaker Nag Ashwin's critically acclaimed movies you must watch; take a look

Filmmaker Nag Ashwin started his career as an assistant director with the 2008 film Nenu Meeku Telusa...?. He eventually became assistant director to Sekhar Kammula for his films Leader (2010) and the Telugu romantic coming of age film Life Is Beautiful (2012). In 2015, he made his directorial debut with the film Yevade Subramanyam, which starred Nani in the lead role.

Nag Ashwin won the Nandi Award for Best Debut Director and was also nominated for the SIIMA awards in the Best Director category for the same film. He will next direct an untitled action film starring Prabhas. Read on to know more about critically acclaimed filmmaker Nag Ashwin's movies you must watch.

Nag Ashwin's best films you must watch

Mahanati (2018) [Amazon Prime Video]

Mahanati marked a turning point in Nag Ashwin's career as he received major critical acclaim for the film. At the 66th National Film Awards 2019, Mahanati won accolades including the Best Feature Film in Telugu. Nag Ashwin also received the Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu at the 66th Filmfare Awards South.

The film is based on the real-life of Savitri Ganesan (Suresh) and depicts the rise and fall of the actor which is viewed from the perspective of a journalist and a photographer, played by Samantha Akkineni and Vijay Deverakonda. The film also marked Dulquer Salmaan's Telugu acting debut. Keerthy Suresh received several accolades including the National Film Award for Best Actress in 2019 for her performance in the film. The film was also praised for its writing, Ashwin's direction and costume design.

Pitta Kathalu (2021) [Netflix]

Pitta Kathalu is Netflix's first Telugu original film, which was an anthology of four short films directed by Nag Ashwin, B. V. Nandini Reddy, Tharun Bhascker, and Sankalp Reddy. Nag Ashwin's segment is called X-Life and features Shruti Haasan and Sanjith Hegde as the romantic pair Divya and Vik, respectively. The film explores their romance in a futuristic dystopian world, where technology possess a threat to their relationship.

While the film overall received praise for exploring different concepts surrounding women in the story, Nag Ashwin's X-Life was singled out for its depiction of romance and how virtual appearances can be deceiving. The film was released on Netflix on February 19, 2021.