Challenging to make space film within commercial set up: Shakti Rajan

Director Shakti Soundar Rajan, who is currently busy with the post-production work on Tamil cinema's first space film "Tik Tik Tik", says it was challenging for him to explore the genre within the commercial cinema format.

"In this genre, to crack a story that everyone understands is really tough. What's even more challenging is to put space in a commercial set up. There are not too many elements to play with when you're in space," Shakti told IANS.

The film's teaser was released earlier this week and it gave audiences a glimpse of the space adventure.

After successfully reinventing within the commercial set up with Tamil buddy cop actioner "Naaigal Jaakirathai", centered on a German shepherd and Zombie thriller "Miruthan", Shakti is introducing Tamil audiences to space genre.

Shakti clarifies it's not a desperate attempt to make another first-of-its-kind genre film.

"Everything happened organically. The film has been written in a way that it takes the story organically into space," he said and added that the title literally translates to ticking of the clock and will justify the race against time space the film falls into.

The film stars Jayam Ravi, with whom Shakti had previously worked in "Miruthan".

"Two weeks after the release of 'Miruthan', I met Ravi to discuss the idea. He was excited and was ready to come on board immediately," said Shakti, admitting the writing process was very challenging.

"The writing process, especially the exhaustive research work, took us nine months. That's the time that's usually spent on writing, shooting and making a regular commercial film," he said.

"Initially, we spoke to a retired scientist from ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) and got the basic facts right about everything related to space -- the space shuttle set up, the kind of work that goes on ground and in space during a mission and the important decisions that are taken," he added.

Once the research part was cleared, Shakti found the writing process to be relatively easier.

Talking about the film, which is slated for release later this year, Shakti said he drew inspiration for "Tik Tik Tik" from the Spaghetti western and films like "Apollo 13" and "Armageddon".

He calls it a "men on a mission" kind of film, and assures it's not a "dry science-fiction film".

"I'm a huge fan of Grindhouse movies by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino and I intentionally make my films look superficial. It's not that I aim high and it misses and goes low. I aim for a B-movie because it helps me connect with the masses easily," he explained.

The film also stars Nivetha Pethuraj, Ramesh Thilak and Singaporean actor Aaron Aziz.

IANS

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