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The trailer of the new Kamal Haasan-starrer Thoonga Vanam shows the actor assuming a slick avatar as a cop from the anti-narcotics department, taking on the drug baron Prakash Raj. And it is song-less.
Speaking about the film for the first time, Kamal says, "At our production house Raj Kamal, we have always tried to keep pace with the times.
"As early as 1988, we made a song-less action film. I was just the producer, the film starred Sathyaraj. Later, in collaboration, I helped make Pushpak and in 1994 remade Govind Nihalani’s Drohkaal in Tamil. Vishwaroopam 2 is by far the most complicated song-less action-packed film we have made," he says.
Kamal agrees his new film is game-changer in South Indian cinema.
"Thoonga Vanam in Tamil and Cheekati Raajyam in Telugu is an international-quality action thriller," he says. "The film is about two hours long. It has a brilliantly composed song by M Ghibran. It’s the only song in a film that takes place mostly in a nightclub."
This is Kamal's fourth consecutive film with Ghibran.
Thoonga Vanam has been directed by debutant Rajesh M Selva.
"Rajesh Selva has been my assistant director for seven and a half years. He joined as a fourth assistant and has seen a promotion almost every year," he says.
The action has been choreographed by French stunt director Jilles Consteil and his team.
Kamal is also excited about the cinematography.
"Cinematographer Sanu Verghese of Vishwaroopam has come back to join the team. His style is so unique. Very rarely did I see Sanu's camera in a tripod. He was constantly hand-holding the camera with the latest stabilizers, which gives one the feel that the camera moves with the protagonist with great speed. This adds to the nervous energy in the film," he explains.
Kamal has written the screenplay of Thoonga Vanam. The Tamil dialogues have been written by short story writer Suka while the Telugu dialogues are by Aboori Ravi. The Tamil lyrics are by Vairamutthu while the Telugu lyrics are by Ram Joghaiya Sashtri.