Policeman sagas are not new to Tamil cinema, but Karthick Naren’s upcoming film Dhruvangal 16 is a little different.
The trailer reveals Malayalam actor Rahman as a policeman who is investigating a case about three incidents occurring on one day — a missing person, a murder and an accident.
“This is the story of a disabled policeman and his psychological state of mind,” says the 22-year-old debutant director from Coimbatore.
“Rahman is Deepak, who loses his right leg in an accident during an investigation. Five years later, circumstances force him to revisit his past. It is about the redemption of a wounded soul.”
“Dhruvangal 16 refers to the extremes of emotions,” Naren added.
Rahman sports two different looks in the film — one before he is disabled and the other after. Naren said Deepak is not the stereotypical policeman, flexing his muscles and intimidating people.
“Rahman’s performance is subtle,” he said.
It was not easy convincing Rahman to play an ageing policeman, said Naren, since the actor has played many policemen characters in his three decade-long career.
Naren’s engaging screenplay made Rahman sign on. With a tagline saying “Every detail counts”, Naren warns viewers not to miss any moment of the film.
Age might just be a number but when it came to making his first film, this young director soon realised that producers did not take him seriously.
“No one was keen on listening to anything beyond a one-line narration,” Naren recalls.
Dhruvangal 16 got going after his father, Dr M.N. G Mani, Chief Executive Officer of the International Council for Education of People With Visual Impairment, came on board as producer. Naren’s next challenge lay in casting for the lead role.
“The actors I spoke to were not keen on playing a 50-year-old man,” he said.
Look out for UAE resident Ashwin Kumar, who made the audience sit up with his performance in Malayalam film Jacobinte Swargarajayam.
The supporting cast includes Prakash, Delhi Ganesh, Santosh Krishna, Karthik Rajan, Praveen, Yashica, Bala Hasan, Vinod Varma and Sharath Kumar.
