Director Madhesh on upcoming Tamil horror film Mohini: Will not bore public with a forced message

Following the debacle of Mirattal, which starred Vinay in the lead role and released in 2012, director Madhesh is now gearing up for the release of Mohini. Led by Trisha Krishnan, the long-delayed film is releasing this 27 July after a six year gap. Madhesh was a long-standing associate of director Shankar during the initial phase of his career and had worked on blockbusters such as Gentleman, Kadhalan, Indian, and Mudhalvan before he ventured out with his directorial debut Madurey in 2004, starring Thalapathy Vijay. [caption id=“attachment_4806771” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Trisha Krishnan in a still from Mohini. Image from Twitter/@trisha_karthick[/caption] In this exclusive chat with Firstpost, Madhesh talks about working with Trisha in her first dual-role film, physically demanding stunt sequences and why Mohini is a challenging project for him. “Mohini will not bore the public with any forced message or be a bog-standard horror film. It will be a complete package with all commercial elements like horror, comedy, songs, fights, great visuals, and romance intact,” says Madhesh. While Trisha’s previous film Nayaki sank at the box-office, the industry is eagerly waiting to see if the Ghilli actress can prove her detractors wrong this time when Mohini hits the screens alongside Vijay Sethupathi’s comedy entertainer Junga. “Despite opting for a commercial treatment, the film also has an interesting story and screenplay with a scientific approach. Mohini will be Trisha’s first action film, and we have shot about 80 percent of the movie in London. Though she initially had apprehensions about the fight sequences, she performed all the physically demanding stunts by herself and didn’t use a body double. There is no need for her to take these risks because just a song sequence is enough for her fans, yet she wanted to do this. The audiences can see some extra footage of her stunts sequences during the end credits,” said Madhesh. Talking about the extensive use of visual effects in the film, Madhesh explained, “Tamil audiences love grand visuals and effects, and they have always embraced such films, for instance, Baahubali. As a filmmaker, I could sense the power of visual effects, and I felt horror is the genre where I could use the full potential of VFX. Mohini will be a stylish horror film and will be a new genre for the Tamil audience. The film revolves around a real-life incident which the viewers will easily connect with; epigenetics theory is the other crucial part of the film. So Mohini will not be just another horror film. It will definitely be value for money.” Madhesh also heaped praise on composer duo Vivek-Mervin, who has scored the music for the film. “I totally enjoyed the song ‘Nenjukulle Nee’ from Vadacurry. When I felt the need to work with a person whom I have never worked with, I wanted to experiment with the talented duo Vivek-Mervin. They have delivered great music and in fact, we have finalised some of the tracks in their first try itself. Any technician can be a gift to work with, if he matches your wavelength and Vivek-Mervin are one such fine team.” “Mohini is a challenging project for me because I have never worked on a film in this genre. It was quite an elaborate process to get the needed approvals to shoot in foreign soil and just after we started this project, we saw two significant strikes in the industry. So the anxiety levels were high. I think I can quickly pull off a mass or romance film than a film like Mohini. But after I saw the movie, it was indeed a relief,” said Madhesh, adding that the audience’s response to the trailer boosted his confidence further. Produced by S Lakshman Kumar of Prince Pictures, Mohini also stars Jackky Bhagnani, Suresh, Ganesh, and Poornima Bhagyaraj in pivotal roles. Trisha plays the role of a chef-cum-food blogger in the movie. On a concluding note, Madhesh spilled some beans on his next film. “My next project will be a full-on mass film; the scripting work has already started, and we are planning to go for a leading mass hero for this film. The announcement will be made soon after Mohini’s release.”