Filmmaker Ashwin Saravanan, who has already raised the bar in Tamil cinema’s thriller genre with hits such as Maya (2015) and Game Over (2019), is gearing up for his latest horror thriller to hit the screens on Thursday, December 22. Connect, starring Nayanthara, will be released in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi languages. The film is set in the backdrop of the COVID-19 lockdown, when a mother realises that her child has been possessed by a spirit. With all road connectivity stalled, how the family navigates the situation by seeking help from an ‘expert’ online forms the crux of Connect. Apart from Nayanthara, the movie features actors Anupam Kher, Satyaraj, and Vinay Rai among others.
“Inherently, thrillers make for a visceral film experience. With all those extreme emotions, there is always scope to evoke very strong reactions in the viewer. For this reason, I believe, these films make for great theatrical experiences for the audience,” Ashwin says in an exclusive interview with TNM. Further expanding on his inclination towards making thrillers, Ashwin says that the story idea should first inspire him and excite him to turn it into a movie. “For example, in Game Over (starring Taapsee Pannu), the whole idea is of this person getting three chances to survive a home invasion situation. That is where the whole film started for me. Such elements compel me to explore a story idea further,” he says.
The filmmaker says he wrote the story for Connect in 2020, amid the lockdown. “The lockdown period had left me anxious. I was scared for my family, while simultaneously going through many other emotions. Connect came from all these feelings I was trying to process at the time. The script was completed during the lockdown, but the shooting began by the end of 2021, after the lockdown ended. We wrapped up by the beginning of this year,” he says.
On casting Nayanthara, popularly known by the moniker ‘Lady Superstar’, the filmmaker says he has respect for her as an actor because she always puts the script first. “It is a great pleasure working with her.” Besides, the movie is being bankrolled by Rowdy Pictures, founded by Nayanthara and her real-life partner, filmmaker-producer Vignesh Shivan. “Nayanthara is also the producer for the film, which made it easier for me to get my vision across to her and make the film the way I intended to,” he says.
It was also not very difficult to get Anupam Kher on board, says the filmmaker. “When I gave him a brief of the script on video call, he was immediately convinced. He could relate to the film’s premise. He understood what we were trying to do and that’s why he came on board,” he says.
That said, he usually does not have an actor in mind while writing the script, he adds. “All of those factors are finalised only during the casting process.”
Ashwin’s protagonists are often women, one of the several aspects of his filmography that has garnered him appreciation over the years. This, however, was not a choice, but mere chance, says the director. “The gender of the lead character is always determined by the story. Maya is a story about motherhood, so obviously only a woman can play that character. Game Over, on the other hand, is about a survivor recovering from the trauma of sexual assault. So, it’s the story that determines who the protagonist should be.”
Meanwhile, the 98.5-minutes-long Connect is also going to be an experimental endeavour, as it is coming without any interval. The film doesn’t have an interval because it does not require one, says Ashwin. “We had initially screened the movie to the production house without any break. They liked the experience and wanted the audience to have the same as well. So we went ahead with this plan to retain the same excitement and watching experience,” he explains.
As the movie was set in the backdrop of the lockdown, separate houses were designed for each important character, who were staying in different places as per the script. “Eventually, all of those were compiled together for the film,” shares the director.
After Connect though, Ashwin is prepared to finally take a break. Newly married to his co-writer and girlfriend, Kaavya Ramkumar, he says he has decided to wait for a while before taking up new projects.
Watch the trailer of Connect here: