Though Lakshmy Ramakrishnan had contacts having been an actor and director, she chose to cast a new face in Nerungi Va Muthamidathe
She’s a well-known face on the big screen, having played mom to several K Town heros. With Aarohanam, a 2012 Tamil drama, actor Lakshmy Ramakrishnan decided to go behind the camera and wield the megaphone. Encouraged by the response to her debut directorial venture, she’s now ready with her second, Nerungi Va Muthamidathe (NVM).
“It’s actually four stories woven into one movie,” says Lakshmy. Starring newbie Shabbir and Piaa Bajpai, the supporting cast includes Thambi Ramaiah, Sruthi, A L Azhagappan, Y G Mahendra, Viji Chandrasekar and Ambika. Despite her large list of contacts in the industry, Lakshmy preferred to cast a newcomer as her hero. She says, “I originally wrote the script thinking that I’d cast a big hero. But I discovered that I didn’t have the patience to wait for big stars to give their dates. So I went for a new face.”
Shabbir plays a lorry driver. The crime thriller is spread over 45 locations, with the spotlight on exploring of relationships. “It’s only in a crisis that we realise the value of resources and relationships that we otherwise neglect. NVM focuses on that,” says Lakshmy.The film shows how a petrol crisis unleashes a chain of events in various lives. “Shabbir is the second hero. The lorry plays the lead, around which the story revolves,” says Lakshmy. “Shabbir managed to drive the lorry skilfully in the tough rural terrain, at the height of summer, that I forgot he was an actor and not a lorry driver!” she says. Whenever the unit encountered problems while shooting, the cameraman A Vinod Bharathi, rose to the occasion. “He managed to improvise and accommodate each of my demands for camera angles. It was tough because at the last minute I would change my plans and decide to shoot from another angle if I felt I wasn’t getting the impact I wanted,” says Lakshmy.
Newbies Madley Blues have scored the music for NVM, which is produced by AVA Productions.