KUALA LUMPUR, Oct. 14 -- Gautham Vasudev Menon took about 4,000 fans on a nostalgic journey through his 25 years in cinema on Saturday night, in a first-of-its-kind, cafe-style concert built around storytelling and the enduring songs from his films.

Rather than simply handing the stage to his singers, the filmmaker stayed at the centre of it for almost the entire three-hour show at The Arch Galeries, narrating the stories behind the music as it was performed.

He set the tone from the start, opening with a line from Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken. It was a fitting choice for a director who has spent his career carving out a storytelling style that is distinctly his own.

The evening's title, Ondra Renda - 25 Years of GVM, comes f...