Director Rahul, who earlier did films like Jithan 2, is all set with his next, another horror thriller, titled 1 AM. It has newcomers Mohan and Sashwatha in the lead and is about how the younger brother takes revenge on the culprits, who rape and kill his elder sister, with the help of a ghost.
Talking to DC, Rahul says, “Most of the movie's cast including the hero, Mohan — who is studying VisCom — and crew (like cinematographer Arun and composer Karthik) are college students and it was a challenging task to work with the young talents.” Yet another interesting thing is that the film is devoid of songs, romantic scenes and action sequences. “I wanted to narrate it without any cinematic frills so that the seriousness of the subject is felt,” Rahul says. Though he was not forthcoming about the actress who plays the ghost, we found out it was his heroine who has been portrayed as the one with supernatural powers.
He also shares a spooky experience of the film’s team while shooting in a bungalow near the beach on ECR — “We did not know at that time that a family of five — a older couple, their son and daughter-in-law and their kid committed suicide in the opposite house to our bungalow. There's a scene where the heroine jumps from the terrace and dies. While I was waiting downstairs with the cameraman, Sashwatha was on the terrace. It was shot at night. As she looked down from the terrace, she saw a woman like figure standing between two pillars and just could not continue. Realising that something went wrong, I rushed to her and saw the same figure and it was spine chilling! After a few minutes, it vanished and we somehow finished the scene and left the venue.”
Though he got a clean U certificate from censors, it may not get the tax exemption from the government, owing to its English title, but Rahul is unperturbed. “My title is very apt for the script. And I am confident that it will be a hit,” he says.
