Director Arivazhagan’s Eeram (2009), with its unusual premise, broke the mould of conventional Tamil horror in its time. The film also catapulted Aadhi into the limelight. 16 years later, the actor and director have reunited for another horror film, Sabdham.
While Eeram had water as a central element, Sabdham revolves around sound. Arivazhagan says, “I had planned to work on this film five years back and I wrote this story with Aadhi in mind.” With their decade-long friendship, it was only a matter of time before Aadhi said yes to the film. The actor says, “When he narrated the story, It was way too engaging for me to say no.”
Since both Eeram and Sabdham are horror films headlined by Aadhi, Arivazhagan made sure that there were no traces of Eeram in the upcoming film.
Aadhi says, “Both of them are completely different films. He (Arivazhagan) designed my character Ruben Vaidyalingam, a tall and interesting geek, in a way that there’s no trace of Vasudevan (Eeram) in it.” Arivazhagan adds, “This is the first time we are bringing the concept of a paranormal investigator to Tamil cinema; it needs to be relatable as well. I took inspiration from real-life investigators.”
Even though Sabdham comes three years after the release of his SonyLIV web series Tamil Rockerz, Arivazhagan says he has three to four scripts in hand. “I am still on my toes, eager to keep pushing myself, but everything needs to fall in the right place.
Only when the right producer came on board for Sabdham, the project took off,” he says, with Aadhi adding, “He is a very quick filmmaker. There is absolutely no confusion with his direction. He doesn’t even reshoot a single scene.
He is like a sculptor. Some directors, after multiple successes, ask their associates to direct for them. But Arivazhagan is not like that, he is very possessive about his work.” Elaborating on his directorial style, Arivazhagan shares, “Whether it’s a horror film or an action thriller, I always strive for realism in my storytelling.
I decide the colour palette of the film before I begin writing the story. If you take any scene in Eeram, it would have either taken place before, after, or during a rain. So, It had a blue tone throughout.
In Vallinam, I wanted the colours to be based on sweat, sun, and sand. For Kuttram 23, which is based on white-collar crimes, I wanted it to be fully white with a touch of green. But even with all these technical aspects, the film’s success lies in its soul.” Echoing his sentiments, Aadhi emphasises that the audience would emotionally connect with the ghost in Sabdham just like how they did in Eeram.
Arivazhagan managed to build tension with just water droplets in Eeram. With Sabdham, the director points to the additional layer of challenges to create horror through an invisible element like sound.
“Eeram was visually striking. In Sabdham, if the sound quality isn’t right, the purpose of a theatrical release gets defeated. We had several doubts about the same, but I ensured that I received the same quality output in theatres. Every sound that comes after a silence will hold a meaning and impact.
Even for a beep sound, I had to listen to almost 20 layers and finalise. More than music, we focused on vocals for the ghost. You will feel the expansive nature of the project towards the climax and the orchestration for it has been brilliantly crafted by Thaman,” he says.
Despite being the lead, Aadhi is known to choose films that prioritise the story over his character. Ask him about the same and he says, “I prefer being part of a film than being the film. I won’t be able to do that if my character is larger-than-life. I always play it for the team, the movie, and the character, rather than trying to stand out.”
One of Aadhi’s upcoming films is the highly anticipated sequel to the 2017 hit Maragadha Naanayam. With director ARK Saravanan confirming the sequel, Aadhi reveals that the cast of the original film will be returning for its second part.
“We will begin filming towards the end of March. A few actors you would have seen in the original will come ‘alive’ in the sequel,” he hints, noting that the fun quotient in the film will be amplified in the second part. “I’m looking forward to it,” he signs off.