‘This is a career-defining role for Trisha’

Ad filmmaker Sundar Balu will make his feature film debut with Trisha-starrer, Garjanai. Refuting that the film is a remake of Anushka Sharma’s NH10, he says it’s a travel story. “It’s about the life of a western dancer who embarks on a journey to Kodaikanal. What happens to her when she comes by a group of criminals is the story.”

He remembers how he convinced Trisha to star in this project. “When I approached her, she asked me if it was a ‘ghost’ film. I then spoke about the film for an hour. She wasn’t sure as she felt that the second half seemed written for an ‘action hero’. I told her that I trusted her to pull it off, that she’s the hero of Garjanai.”

He says he is amazed by her dedication on the sets, and is confident that the film will show a new side to her. “Garjanai will be a career-defining role for her. She has performed the action sequences without a double, under the guidance of stunt choreographer, Supreme Sundar. During the second half, there’s a ‘comic fight sequence’ involving a CG bear. The audience will find lots to relate with the character and the conflicts she deals with,” he says.

On getting Trisha to do such a novel role, he cites the example of Madhavan. “Until he did Thambi, nobody knew he could do action. Similarly, we’ve only been seeing Trisha play female leads in male-dominated films. Here, she’s doing things that she has never done in her career.”
He says her roles in Thoongavanam and Kodi motivated him to write a separate story for her. “It has been a pleasure to work with her.” Garjanai has music by Amresh Ganesh. Vamsi Krishna, Vadivukkarasi, Madhumitha, Amit Bhargav are playing supporting roles.  
“With the exception of a song, shooting is complete. We’re planning to release the film in May. I consider this film to be the beginning of Tamil cinema’s long-pending dream of showing strong women,” he says.