‘It is important to trust your cast and crew’

Milind Rau and actor Ajmal visited us after a long day of promotion and still look enthusiastic. The film went on floors in September 2019 and premiered on Friday on Disney+Hotstar and has opened to a tremendous response. Actor Ajmal plays the antagonist and has been lauded for his performance ever since the release of the trailer last week. “The technical team fell in place for me for Netrikann. Having RD Rajasekhar as the DOP and Dhilip Subbarayan as the stunt choreographer is half the job done. They know what the scene requires and how to enhance it. Having worked in commercial films with Rajini and Ajith, Dhilip’s presence did a world of good to the film,” Milind begins. Adding to his point, Ajmal says that Milind gives everyone creative liberty and creates room for all of us to improvise. “Milind trusts his actors too as much as he does with his technical crew. When I feel like I want to do something different, I discuss it with him and he would be open to it. That is what helped me to deliver a neat performance and the trailer stands as solid proof of it. I am overwhelmed with the response. People celebrated the trailer as they would for an opening day in the theatres,” Ajmal adds.

Milind reacts to Ajmal’s statement and says, “Coming from Mani Ratnam’s school and having watched him from close quarters, I ensured that my team gets the complete freedom on the sets. Even if my assistants come to me with input that I feel would work for the film, I hear them out as well. It is important to trust your team. As far as Nayanthara’s performance, she stunned us all on the sets. Playing a visually impaired person looked so easy when Nayanthara did it. She took inputs and went about the character in her own style. The maximum we did was one or two takes.” Moreover, the film that was started in September 2019 was stopped in 2020 due to the pandemic. “When we resumed the shoot after six months, the actors had maintained themselves well despite the lockdown. When we edited the portions, the continuity was perfect,” adds Milind.

The film is an official adaptation of the Korean thriller Blind. “Milind gave me a pen drive and asked me to watch the film. I had a lot of learnings and unlearning from the original. I brought in my own inputs to the role so that it resonates with our audience,” says Ajmal.

Milind’s previous film Aval was produced by Siddharth and Netrikann is Vignesh Shivan and Nayanthara’s Rowdy Pictures. “It’s a joy when your producers are creative. I am lucky that way. Siddharth even co-wrote Aval with me. When I narrated Netrikann to Nayanthara and Vignesh, they said that they would be happy to produce the film,” concludes Milind and heads off to supervise the last-minute release work.