You have to respect home-invasion genre, add something new: 'Game Over' director

Director Ashwin Saravanan says he went through several films in the home-invasion genre before writing "Game Over", which features Taapsee Pannu as wheelchair-bound woman struggling to defend herself when attacked.

Ashwin said he did not want to make a film that had nothing to add to the genre so he watched films such as "Don't Breathe", "You Are Next", and parts of "Hush", which gave him the idea about tackling the story.

"I was intrigued by the idea that the woman was not able to speak or hear. That made the home invasion terrifying, because even if the killer sneaks behind, she won't be able to hear it. I thought what physical aspect in a home invasion thriller can be tapped into to make it edgier and terrifying," Ashwin told PTI.

"I thought what if she can't run and is trapped in a wheelchair. That's when I thought we had something. This can tap into the physicality of it. I thought something like this will be new to the genre," he added.

The starting image, for Ashwin, was of a woman with fractured legs on a wheelchair, who can't run or hide and someone is trying to break in.

"That was the starting image. What would you do if you cannot even run? That was a dramatic question. In our pursuit of an answer, we cracked the theme of the film."
"Don't stick to what has been done before, always find something to surprise. You should respect the genre, for what has been done before. Don't feel like 'I am better than this, I can make a better film.'
"Once you disrespect the genre, you are going nowhere. You have to respect it enough to add something to it. People have done better stuff before so you need to have an understanding about it."
"We wrote it together in four months. It was a short film to write, with no fluff, just plain old storytelling."