Hyderabad: Every few years, Shreyas Ayaluri had to start over—a new city, a new school and new friends. That was life as the son of an Indian Air Force officer. But amid all the change, one thing remained constant: cinema. “I didn’t even realise it then, but the cinema was how I made sense of the world. It helped me adapt, learn languages and escape when I needed to,” he recalls.
Despite this deep connection, filmmaking never seemed like a viable career. “It felt like you either joined the Air Force or did engineering,” he says. So, he took the safer route, completed a degree in mechanical engineering and landed a corporate job. But it didn’t last. “I completely hated it.”
Cinema had always been present—Hollywood blockbusters, Bollywood dramas and the ritual of watching films with his father. But it was during a break in Hyderabad that his path changed. A friend spotted his flair for writing and nudged him towards advertising. Though he lacked experience or a creative degree, Shreyas dove in.
The turning point came when he saw his words on a city billboard. “That’s when it hit me—I don’t want to write ads. I want to write for films.” In 2018, Shreyas moved to the U.S. to study screenwriting.
His first screenplay Amuse Me, a romantic comedy, won multiple awards. Then came The Serene Place, written in frustration during the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike. A close friend read the script and insisted it be made into a film. It struck a chord with audiences, winning the Audience Choice Award at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Film Festival in 2025.
“It was special,” he says. “When you create something personal and people connect with it, there’s no better reward.” But the journey wasn’t easy. “As an Indian writer in Hollywood, the first hurdle is language. You always feel one step behind. You need to be delusional and laser-focused. There’s no plan B,” he says.
His parents were his strongest supporters. “For the longest time, my dad would tell people I wrote ‘content’. I hated that word. But after I won my first award, that changed. Now he introduces me as a screenwriter.”
To aspiring Indian writers, Shreyas offers this advice: “Be delusional. Be stubborn. Keep showing up, no matter what. That’s the only way.”
What began as a love for films has now become his life’s work—driven by courage, discipline and staying true to his voice. And this time, Shreyas isn’t just watching the story unfold. He’s writing it.
