First-time director Satish Chandrasekaran is starting his career with Darling 2, a horror comedy built around a supernatural incident from his life.
Chandrasekaran was on a road trip with five friends in 2012 when they experienced frightening events at the resort where they were staying overnight.
“That night each of us experienced strange situations there but for fear of being ridiculed by the others, we did not share it,” Chandrasekaran said. It is only when one of them could not bear it any longer that the seriousness of the situation hit the group. The following day they left the resort.
Using this incident as the plot of Darling 2, Chandrasekaran wrote his script.
“What if the friends had stayed on at the resort? How would it have affected everyone?” he asks.
Playing the five friends are Kalaiyarasan, Hari, Kaali Venkat, Arjunan and newcomer Rameez Raja. A love story has been woven into this horror tale. Newcomer Maya — a dentist by profession — plays Aisha, a Muslim girl living in Vaalpaarai, where the story is based.
Munish Kanth plays a forest officer who is an avid fan of Rajinikanth and calls himself Valpaarai Varadan.
Darling 2, though a sequel to Darling (the G.V. Prakash starrer), is an entirely different story from that film.
“Darling 2 is a test of friendship,” says former engineer Chandrasekaran, “on how the friends deal with their buddy possessed by a ghost.”
Cinematography is by Vijay Kartik Kannan. Radhan is the music composer. Darling 2, produced by Studio Green, releases on April 1 in India.
