With her second Tamil directorial "Nerungi Vaa Muthamidathe", actor-filmmaker Lakshmy Ramakrishnan is breaking all stereotypes attached with women filmmakers. She says she's testing herself with a commercial film aimed to please the masses.
"This film is my test to see whether I can cater to the general public's taste. There are so many ways to make a film, but eventually it's your judgment about whether this is the way your film will appeal to masses, which finally matters. That judgment decides the success of your film," Lakshmy told IANS.
Lakshmy, who made her directional debut with a highly emotional "Aarohanam", feels making a commercial film is not a challenge for a woman.
"It's a big leap for me. 'Aarohanam' was a very small film, but this film is big, has so many actors and locations. It has parallel stories. When I started to shoot, it looked so challenging but now I'm enjoying making this film so much," she said.
"I realized it always looks big and challenging until you start it. Once you start it, everything becomes easy. Now, we've almost completed the film with just about ten days of shooting still left," she added.
Four parallel stories run within the film and Lakshmy says shooting them was a challenge.
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"Shooting these parallel stories was like making four different films. Each story is a film on its own, and they had to be condensed. All the stories had to be blended into the main narrative organically. It was a challenge to maintain the culture of all the four tracks and characters," she said.
Giving in to the commercial aspect, Lakshmy has tried her hands at a fight sequence for the film.
"We have a fight sequence and I'm so excited about it. It's a very realistic fight scene, quite different from what we usually see in films. But it was choreographed with the help of a stunt master. We also have four songs," she said.
What differentiates "Nerungi Vaa Muthamidathe" from "Aarohanam"?
"Technically, my second film is a lot of different from my first. A lot of equipment that we've used, are first time for me. It's been a great experience. We hope to use heli-cam as well to shoot some important scenes. I got to experiment as well as freak out," added Lakshmy.
"Nerungi Vaa Muthamidathe" features Piaa Bajpai and Shruti Hariharan in lead roles. It's based on a recent petrol crisis in the state.