Recreating 1980s era was challenging for Jeeva Shankar

Director Jeeva Shankar says it wasn't easy to recreate the 1980s era for upcoming Tamil romantic-drama "Amara Kaaviyam", but he credits his producer and art director for taking up the challenge and successfully pulling it off.

"My film is predominantly set in Ooty. About 80 percent of the film takes place there and the rest happens in Coimbatore. I was under the assumption that Ooty would be a perfect setting for the story, but a lot has changed in that place," Jeeva told IANS.

"The serenity Ooty is popular for, can't be found there anymore because it has changed a lot. To narrate a love story that takes places in late 1980s against the backdrop of Ooty, that has changed so much today was challenging.

"To overcome it was only possible with the help of my producer Arya and art director Selvakumar," he added.

The movie's story is based on an incident that took place in 1982, and he wanted to ensure that the era was recreated to perfection.

"The time zone was important to my story. Since Ooty had changed so much, I had to look into a lot of details to make sure that the place resembled the era in which the story is set. We had to re-paint and reconstruct a few houses to shoot some important scenes," said the director.

"Amara Kaaviyam", which is releasing in cinemas Friday, features Sathya and Mia George in lead roles.