'Rajathandhiram', a heist thriller localised for Tamil setting

Producer Senthil Veeraasamy describes Tamil film "Rajathandhiram", which releases in cinemas on Friday, as a quintessential heist thriller made keeping the local sensibilities intact to appeal to the audiences.

"Right from the scripting stage, we decided we'll make a low cost heist thriller, sans any cliches. But our aim was to make the film look big on screen. So we decided to make a typical heist film tropicalised for local audiences," Senthil told IANS.

"We made a list of things usually associated with this genre and duly avoided all that in our film. It's about three guys who decide to rob a jewellery store for a girl. How they do it is the suspense," he said.

Directed by A.G. Amid, the film features Veera, Regina Cassandra, Pattiyal Shekhar, Darbuka Siva, Naren and Ajai Prasath.

"Rajathandhiram" was started using equity partnership.

"I come from a corporate background. I left my job in 2009 and joined as an assistant to Gautham Menon. This project was initiated long back but we had trouble finding the initial investment. So to get us started, I raised about Rs.1.5 crore through my friends," Senthil said.

"Most of my corporate colleagues didn't know what to do with their bonus money. So I requested them to invest, say about Rs.10 lakh, and join my film as an equity partner. We decided that there'll be no monthly interest but I pay X percentage more on the investment based on the success of the film," he added.

Instead of taking the conventional route of reaching out to public through crowd-funding model, Senthil says he sought the help of his friends.

"This model helped us to get started. Otherwise, one usually has to go to a financier, narrate the script and then get the money. As a newcomer, it was extremely difficult to even approach a financier," he said.

"Through equity partnership, we made about half of the film and showed it to people to raise more funds to complete the project. People were ready to invest after they were impressed with what we made," he added.

The film, which has music by G.V. Prakash Kumar and background score by Sandeep Chowta, is being distributed by Fox Star Studios.