“What do you do when a stranger on Skype forces you to watch him commit suicide?” asks Jayaprakash, describing the plot of his thriller Lens . Jayaprakash, who played the role of Ajith’s friend in Yennai Arindhaal , has now become a director, while waiting for more acting opportunities. “It’s a film about how a digital interaction between two strangers turns into a hostage drama. Social media gives you the impression that you can always disconnect from it and be free of any consequences. But it’s actually an addiction… at times, you are forced to sit through things you do not want to see or hear. My film talks about one such situation.”
Lens has the distinction of being a multi-lingual film — its characters speak in as many as four languages. “Seventy per cent of the story is about the Skype interaction between two characters from different backgrounds. The characters switch between accented English, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam… just like we speak in real life,” adds the software engineer, who moved to India from the U.S. to pursue cinema. Despite the usual stress on the importance of sticking to a local language for commercial benefits, the director has chosen to feature as many languages in order to add to the film’s realism. “Most people who use social media speak in multiple languages and my film targets a cosmopolitan audience — not just audiences from one region. Its story affects people across different centres and goes beyond the multiplexes. The success of smaller, more serious films such as Kuttram Kadithal have proved that there is a space for films like mine,” he says.
The film’s cinematography is being handled by S. R. Kathir of Subramaniapuram fame with background music by Siddharth Vipin ( Idharkuthane Aasaipattai Balakumara ). Lens was certified U/A despite its bold theme, and awaits its release later this year. “My film doesn’t feature a single smoking or drinking scene. That should be a relief for the audiences, as they do not have to sit through the anti-smoking advertisement before the movie.”