Nishabdham, starring Anushka, Madhavan, Shalini Pandey, and Anjali in prominent roles will be premiering on Amazon Prime on October 2nd. Hemant Madhukar will be making his directorial debut with the suspense thriller and here’s the transcript of our telephonic conversation with him.
The film was almost entirely shot in USA. Was it easy to work in foreign locations?
We shot the film in quick time. It took us around 55-56 days to wrap up the shoot. But the location scouting, finalization of technical crew, supporting artists, and other pre-production works were carried out for around an year. The audience will be thrilled after watching the locales in the film.
The trailer got a great reception from all quarters, did you personally receive any special compliment?
Many directors personally called me through the phone. Puri Jagannadh, Linguswamy Bobby, and Jayam Raja were a few of them. They appreciated the technical brilliance in the trailer.
Did you manage to complete the film with pre-set budget, or did the expenses cross your initial expectations?
To be frank, we wrapped the film in a budget less than what we had initially anticipated. The budget does not go beyond estimates if the number of working days are relatively low. The same happened with Nishabdham as we shot the film at a brisk pace.
Kona Venkat has well-placed contacts in USA, did this help you in the production process?
Kona garu does have contacts in the USA. But we put in our hardwork to scout locations for this film. It was a team effort and we all worked really hard to trace out iconic locations for shooting.
Tell us about your future projects
I worked on two scripts. One is a complete action entertainer and the other one is an action-oriented thriller. I am planning in such a way that my future projects are bilingual or trilingual. This will bring uniqueness to the industry as a whole and that is my aspiration.
Are you planning a get together on October 2nd which marks the release of Nishabdham?
Yes, we are planning something of that sorts, but there are a few complications. Madhavan is in Dubai, while Anushka is in Bengaluru now. Anjali is shooting for Pawan Kalyan’s film. We are planning to watch the film together, let us see how it goes.
The trailer suggests that the film is a murder mystery, can you explain the genre of the film?
This film has thrilling elements, it has horror, it is more like a multi-genre film that will keep the audience hooked all the way through.
There was a talk that Anushka was against OTT release, can you elaborate on it?
Anushka was always focused on the quality of the film. During the post production we received an offer from OTT platforms. The producers, Anushka, and I contemplated the choices and decided go ahead with OTT release. We don’t know when the theaters will reopen and that is the reason why we opted OTT release.
It was said that you initially planned to make a silent film without any dialogues, but had to make some changes later, is that true?
I wrote the script a long while ago and I did plan to make it without any dialogues. But as the star cast got bigger, we changed our plans and rewrote the script to accommodate dialogues. But the set-up remained the same and Anushka plays a deaf and mute lady in the film, as planned initially.
Recently, Mohankrishna Indraganti who directed V said he was against OTT release as the audience would be missing theatrical experience, did you feel the same as well?
Definitely, yes. Films that are made for theatrical experience need to be watched in theaters. Thrillers need to be certainly watched in movie theaters. But under unforeseen circumstances, we will have to adopt to the situation and act accordingly. Nevertheless, the audience will enjoy the film if they watch it with good sound systems or headphones.
Interview By Harish