Most of us start our day logging into the virtual cocoon, lost between emoticons, status updates and webcams. The happy anonymity of the cyber jungle can sometimes tempt that not-so-nice part of you and Jayaprakash Radhakrishan’s Lens is a film built on this alarming premise. “‘Lens is basically a psycho-thriller set in the digital world. There is an incredible amount of private data stored online allowing you a peek at somebody’s personal life. The film zooms into online voyeurism and its consequences,” says the director.
Lens, a hostage drama set in the digital world, unravells at a video-chat room. Aravind gets a weird request from his online friend Nikki, asking him to watch while she commits suicide. Jayaprakash, a software professional-turned-director, says Lens is not inspired by a single story. “I was touched by a lot of incidents like the Amanda Todd suicide note. The Canadian teenager was cyberbullied and blackmailed by her chat friend, a total stranger to end her life. But Lens is more of a fictional take showing that we have a moral responsibility towards what we see and share on the digital world,” he explains.
Jayaprakash says not just gizmo freaks, but all age groups and generations can easily get connected to the theme of ‘Lens’. “We live in a world where people stay hooked to gadgets, interacting in the virtual world. They hardly engage in one-to-one personal chats and this is an aspect that equally appeals to older generation as well. It’s a situation they can relate to and something they despise,” he says.
Being a psychological thriller with a dash of suspense, the film doesn’t quite follow a conventional format. “Most of the shots are interior and the story unwinds inside a flat,” he says. An array of theatre artists along with the director himself complete the cast as Anandsami, Ashwathy Lal and Misha Ghoshal step into the shoes of key players. Lens has an excellent technical crew on board with S R Kathir cranking the camera and M R Rajakrishnan mixing the sound.
Lens made headlines when Laljose decided to distribute the film under his banner LJ films, and Jayaprakash says it was then people started noting it.
“Then Vineeth Sreenivasan watched it despite his busy schedule and made a post on his official facebook page. Later Nivin Pauly, Kavya Madhavan and Abrid Shine shared the trailer making it more and more visible,” he says. Lens, produced by Jayaprakash Radhakrishan, will hit the screens this Friday.