The teaser of director Karthik Subbaraj’s upcoming thriller Mercury was released on March 7 by actor Dhanush on Twitter.
Very happy to release the teaser of Karthik Subbaraj’s #Mercury - A Silent Thriller starring ace dancer-actor-director Prabhudeva. A Silent Film after so many years! Congratulations to the whole team.https://t.co/uWhe9uM320
— Dhanush (@dhanushkraja) March 7, 2018
Touted to be a silent thriller, dancer-actor-director Prabhu Deva is seen playing the antagonist. The film also stars Sananth Reddy, Deepak Paramesh, Anish Padman, Shashank and Remya Nambeesan in lead roles.
The trailer begins with a fallen sign board that reads, “Warning. No trespassing” with an abandoned building in the background. There’s also a memorial headstone that reads “In memory of 84 people who died in this town due to mercury poisoning - 1992”.
With mysterious sounds in the background the symbol used to represent the first planet in the solar system - Mercury, takes up the screen. The line “When life is at war, the most powerful scream is silence” summarises the genre of the film - a silent thriller.
Set on a hill station, complete with foggy visuals, the teaser has strong references to the Kodaikanal mercury poisoning incident.
Although too early to tell, the film’s trailer bears resemblance to the 2016 Hollywood edge-of-the seat crime thriller, Don’t Breathe. The Hollywood film has a visually impaired antagonist who is extremely sensitive to sounds.
After his debut film Pizza in 2012, Mercury will be director Karthik Subbaraj’s second thriller. The director gained a lot of appreciation for his previous thriller and hence, expectations for this film are high as well. Santosh Narayanan has composed music for the film and Tirru, who has worked in films like 24 and Krrrish 3, has been roped in to work on the film’s cinematography.
Actor Prabhu Deva was last seen in Gulaebaghavali that released last year and has a number of films like Yung Mung Sung and Lakshmi, lined up for release. His last directorial Action Jackson released in 2014 in Hindi.
The '80s film Pushpaka Vimana, starring Kamal Haasan and Amala Akkineni in lead roles, is among the few films which have had no dialogues at all.
Towards the end of the Mercury teaser, we're told that this is a “no language” film releasing in all languages. The film will be out this April on Friday the 13th.