The ‘Okkadu’ director emphasizes on the need to take our mythology to the younger generationsWhen Okkadu director Gunasekhar’s elder daughter Neelima returned from the UK and expressed her desire to become a producer, Gunasekhar narrated a couple of scripts to her of which she chose Shaakuntalam. She told her father that the younger generation should be made aware of our mythology. She was also the one who proposed Samantha’s name for the titular role. Revealing this at the trailer launch of Shaakuntalam, Gunasekhar said, “Normally when we speak about eternal love stories, what come to mind are the Western sagas such as Romeo and Juliet. But we have a wealth of mythology back home which the current generation is not aware of and which have immense potential. It is our responsibility as filmmakers to take these stories to our younger generation.”The Rudhramadevi maker further added, “When we speak of classics in Telugu cinema, the benchmark is the movies of stalwarts like NT Rama Rao and Akkineni Nageswara Rao. Similarly, I hope Shaakuntalam would set an example to the future generation of filmmakers.”Starring Samantha and Dev Mohan in the lead, Shaakuntalam is directed by Gunasekhar and has cinematography by Sekhar V Joseph and music by Mani Sharma.