All about the chills

Horror movies are always a subject of interest to the audience and movie fanatics. Amudha, the Tamil movie directed by P.S. Arjun, has been on the radar ever since its spooky trailer was released three months ago. The trailer has already received over one lakh views and gives an idea of what the movie will offer. Arjun has high hopes for his debut movie and feels it will be a fresh experience for the audience.

Arjun joined Infosys as an HR professional after his graduation. Later, he moved to ING Vysya as an Operation Executive and finally left it to pursue his dream of becoming a movie director. “My love for Tamil movies sprouted after watching movies like Roja and Gentleman. I was always passionate about movies, but the dream became serious after watching Kannathil Muthamittal. But I was always connected to movies as I worked as a freelance film critic. Amudha is the name of the central character in Kannathil Muthamittal,” he says.

Arjun asserts that his movie craze has led him to visit many sets. “One interesting thing is that I used to be imitate Vijay during my college days. I studied in Coimbatore and during the temple festivals, I’d be there sporting Vijay’s trending fashion,” he quips. He has been in the movie industry for 9-10 years and had been trying for a producer for his movie since 2011. The writing for Amudha began in 2015. “The project was first planned with Manju Warrier. Then the plan was to rope in Lena. Unfortunately, these didn’t work out. I had done an English short movie called Zug Zwang on a budget of Rs 25,000 and it was premiered at two international film festivals. Shriya Sree, who is the lead heroine in Amudha, was also a part of the short movie and it was through her I met Shafeeq, the producer of the movie. He was impressed by the quality of the short movie and Amudha was on.”

He affirms that the movie will be a psychological thriller. The Tamil movie industry has been recently flooded with a lot of horror movies but he wanted to make a movie different from the usual horror ones. “‘This movie is devoid of ghosts and paranormal activities. But the movie has a series of scary moments. The first half of the movie will be a suspense thriller and the second half will go into the crux of the story, with the horror mood. The technical team of Zug Zwang helms the anchor for the movie too. The movie also has newcomers in the lead roles. It will be a logically thrilling one that is sure to induce a scare in you,” he wraps up.