Y.Sunita Chowdhary
We saw Caarthick Raju’s film Ninnu Veedani Needani Nene last year. Now he is all set to return with a Tamil-Telugu bi-lingual titled The Chase. Speaking to Klapboardpost.com, the director states that the film has many high emotions running and it will make everyone cry. “I guess this emotional thriller might be viewed on a streaming platform. Once the dubbing is done, we shall decide if it can go to the theatres or for the OTT. I haven’t yet wrapped up Nenena with Regina in Telugu. Since I had time during the lockdown, I made this (The Chase). This is about a girl (Raiza Wilson) who does research on birds. She spends time on a tree house and from there she does her research by observing birds. One evening when she is about to go home, her vehicle gets stuck on the way and she notices a child is in danger. She tries to help her and she gets into trouble and is attacked. What happens to the child forms the crux of the story.”
The story happens against the forest backdrop in one night. It apparently begins at seven in the evening and finishes at five in the morning. The heroine is armed with a Ph.D in Biology and does research on birth. Every day she goes through the same route through the forest and returns home safely by evening and that particular evening she encounters a problem. The director loves thrillers and likes to write stories on relationships; he came across stories in print and real life about how children are being kidnapped, brutalised and wanted to tell a story and even alert parents that they shouldn’t be leaving their children alone. He says, “Children are innocent, they are treasures for any parent. These days we get to read horrible things about children being abused and many crimes afflicted on them. For the past two years I have been hearing so much, it has affected me. The parents go through so much trauma when something happens to their children.”
The forest where the film was shot is Dindigal in South Tamil Nadu, it is near Tirumalai. It is a beautiful place and Caarthick Raju did the entire shoot during the night. According to him, it isn’t a tourist location, it has pepper, spices and coffee plantations. He further says, “There are so many bison in the forest, they were very friendly and it never interrupted our shoot. The village comprises only 500 people and we didn’t disturb anyone. We went as a crew of 34 people without any huge paraphernalia. No tracks, cranes, trolley but just one gimbal was used. We all got tested for Covid before we went for the shoot and every few days we would get tested for fever and ate food made with spices that helped in giving immunity. We would begin shooting from six in the evening. All permissions were taken.” The director’s previous film was also shot in a forest. Apart from being a visual treat, the film will tell you how important a girl child is to our lives. It has Telugu television anchor and actor Anasuya Bharadwaj, Harish Uttaman, Satyam Rajesh, Madhu Nandan. The little child is Monica and we saw her in Khaidi (Khaaki in Telugu). She is ten years old and is a fantastic actor.
