Trisha did the unthinkable for The Road: Arun Vaseegaran

CHENNAI: Debutant filmmaker Arun Vaseegaran meets us as the post-production of his film titled The Road is taking place in full swing. Trisha Krishnan headlines the movie as her character in the posters looked clandestine. Brimming with confidence about the storyline and the way the film has shaped up so far, Arun says, “The Road is based on real-life incidents, which took place on the highways in Tamil Nadu. In fact, it happens even today and the subject will stay relevant to the audience.” Divulging more on the topic for which Arun did an intense research. “It took me three years and several visits to police stations and libraries so that the story has depth in it. The movie revolves around a few incidents on highways and how one such person is impacted by it,” he opens up.

Trisha

It was this research that helped Arun bring Trisha on board the project. However, he clarifies that The Road, produced by AAA Cinemaa isn’t a female-centric film. “When I set out to make The Road, I wanted an established actor to play the role. The film has equal weightage for the antagonist and it was Trisha, who liked the idea. Moreover, she is an actor who would look for clarity from the director on the sets. She would ask various questions about a scene and would want to know the relevance to the story. As a director, my research helped me to clarify her queries and she agreed to be a part of it. Initially, she couldn’t allocate dates for the film. However, I am glad that she eventually came on board The Road,” says Arun with a smile.

The unit shot in live locations across Madurai, Chennai and Andhra Pradesh. Arun lauds Trisha’s cooperation and calls her a director’s actor. “This is a film that cannot be shot inside a set. We had to shoot it on highways. So, we shot for a few days in Chennai and then shifted to Madurai, followed by Naidupeta in Andhra Pradesh. It wasn’t an easy task to shoot a film outdoors with someone of Trisha’s stardom. Thousands gathered in Madurai to catch a glimpse of her as she was shooting in the temple town after Ghilli. We thought we could heave a sigh of relief in Andhra Pradesh but the crowd was two times more than what it was in Madurai. Despite the stardom that she enjoys, she did the unthinkable by shooting in dangerous terrains. We hired a few junior artistes, who were once history sheeters. She interacted with them and got to know about them and the motive behind the crimes that they committed. Also, we shot in the middle of May during the agni natchathiram. She was undeterred by the heat and was committed to the project,” he explains.

The film has Shabeer Kallarakkal, who played Dancing Rose in Sarpatta Parambarai as the antagonist. “Not many knew it was him who played Dancing Rose as he donned a completely different makeover in that film. The thing with Shabeer is that if he has a comedy scene for the day, you can see him joking around on the sets. If he has to be furious for a scene, that is how he is with everyone even off the camera and apologises to the unit in advance. It was fun shooting with him,” says the filmmaker.

Arun says the makers are planning to release the film at the earliest. “We are in the final stages and are looking for the right slot in the next few weeks to release the film,” he concluded.