Director: Jayaprakash Radhakrishnan
Cast: Jayaprakash Radhakrishnan, Anand Sami, Misha Goshal, Ashwathi Lal
Lens is a small budget hostage drama dealing with digital voyeurism. The film had made it into several international festivals before its theatrical release. Though many are not aware that there's a movie titled ‘Lens’, which is releasing in K’town, but it came to spotlight when ace Vetri Maaran picked up the film and released it under his home banner Grassroot Films.
Aravind (Jayaprakash Radhakrishnan) is a software professional who has an addiction to online sex chats via Skype. It comes at the cost of ignoring his wife Swathy (Misha Goshal). One day in the absence of his wife, he gets an invitation for sex chat from a mysterious girl called Nikki, but to his shock, he realizes that the caller is actually a man named Yohan (Anand Sami) with a bald pate.
Yohan threatens Aravind to watch him commit suicide; otherwise he would upload the secret sex activities of the latter on YouTube. Who is Yohan and why does he threaten Aravind? This is the story, and it moves at a riveting pace. The interval puts on the breaks and the 2nd half opens with a flashback that later connects Yohan and Arvind.
In keeping with the present trend of youngsters coming out with out-of-the-box themes, Lens too undoubtedly stands out for the first of its kind revenge drama that it is. Jayaprakash Radhakrishnan who doubles up as the director and the lead actor does a fine job understanding the sensitivity of the subject and handles it without going overboard.
Except towards the end where it goes preachy, Jayaprakash effectively brings out the message of the lust for voyeurism in the digital world and its consequences in a strong manner. His hard-hitting dialogues compliment the screenplay. Despite being an adult film, the director did not indulge in sleazy scenes to provoke the audience. That the film was edited for 28 minutes by Vetri Maaran before release is definitely a plus.
Anand Sami does an equally impressive act, but in the flashback scenes, he could have been more emotive. Ashwathi Lal playing Angel - the speech impaired wife of Yohan - fits the bill. Misha Ghosal and others are adequate. GV Prakash’s BGM goes well with the mood of the film; Kathir’s cinematography adds value to the proceedings.
Though not meant for family audiences, the film needs to be watched by today’s internet savvy generation. It is very much relevant!
