AGS Entertainment’s Archana and Aishwarya Kalpathi, in an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, discuss how they greenlight films such as Preity Mukhundhan's Blast and Pradeep Ranganathan's Love Today. Aishwarya filters hundreds of narrations by asking if she genuinely wants the characters to win. At the same time, Archana says that when a script excites them, they sign quickly, later shaping casting, scale, and commercial appeal around that conviction.
Archana Kalpathi serves as the CEO of AGS Cinema and Creative Producer at AGS Entertainment, the production house behind some of Kollywood's most successful films. Her sister Aishwarya Kalpathi is the Associate Creative Producer at the same company. Together, the sisters have been the driving force behind this year's Tamil hit Blast, as well as other significant films such as The Greatest of All Time (2024) and Dragon (2025).
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, the producers talk about the process of selecting scripts and what makes them invest in a story, especially in the case of box office hits like Blast and the 2022 commercial success Love Today.
"I would say we listen to four narrations a week," says Aishwarya, who is in charge of all the scripts the production house receives. This makes it close to around 200 narrations per year. When asked about the process of selecting a script, she says, "The first thing I look for is 'do I care about these characters? Do I want these characters to actually win?'... with this particular script [Blast], I found myself wanting her [Nila, played by Preity Mukhundhan], and her mom and dad to win."
Archana explains that when a script genuinely excites them, going forward with it is a no-brainer. "In our experience, when we love it that much, it works. And we are happy to back a script," she says, alluding to films like Blast or Love Today that have been so well recieved by the audience. "We usually sign it on the same day," she adds.
While this seems like a monumental decision to make in that short a time, Archana mentions that "?It's not that we'll decide the hero at that point. It's just the story and the director... once we love it, then we figure out how to make it more commercial and put our weight behind a story."
"When we have a young voice, we support them with good actors and excellent technicians. After we signed Blast, Subash [Subash K. Raj, the director] had a particular budget in mind, but we probably quadrupled it," she reveals.
The full interview will drop soon on The Hollywood Reporter India's YouTube channel