Ajay Gnanamuthu impressed with his debut film, a horror thriller titled DeMonte Colony. Now he’s back with another edge-of-the-seat story.
Titled Imaikka Nodigal (Vanishing Seconds), this police story marks the debut of Bollywood’s Anurag Kashyap as an actor. The acclaimed Gangs of Wasseypur filmmaker plays the antagonist — a serial killer who is being pursued by Central Bureau of Investigation officer Anjali Vikramadityan, played by Nayanthara.
Atharvaa plays Vikramadityan’s younger brother, Arjun.
Gnanamuthu, a former assistant of director Murugadoss, said that his story is narrated from the police’s side. “It’s about the cat and mouse game played out between the police and the killer,” he said.
He wanted an unknown face to play the antagonist, someone who was a good performer too. He met Kashyap, who was impressed with the character sketch of the villain and agreed to play the role.
“The villain is cunning and menacing,” said Gnanamuthu, “one who can induce fear with his smile.”
The film’s highlight is its stunt sequences. Atharvaa in a multi-dimensional role performed the stunts himself. For one scene he had to climb down an iron ladder from a 15-storey building.
“Getting down was not difficult but at every floor I was asked to wait for some time, till the crew made arrangements for the next shot. Looking down from that height was terrifying,” Atharvaa said.
Once, he had a pigeon for company and shooing away the bird was not easy. Watch out for action scenes on a bicycle performed by stunt actors from Hong Kong.
Raashi Khanna is paired opposite Atharvaa while Vijay Sethupathi has a cameo.
Imaikka Nodigal releases in the UAE on August 30.
