Gargi, the upcoming multilingual film led by Sai Pallavi is set to be an emotional courtroom drama thriller, the film’s director Gautham Ramachandran tells Silverscreen India.
The film’s first look was recently released on social media, along with a glimpse of its making. Gargi is produced by Gautham, along with Ravichandran Ramachandran, Aishwarya Lekshmi, and Thomas George.
“Aishwarya has been a friend of mine for a few years now. When she read the synopsis and came to know I was looking for producers, she was the first person to come forward. I would first extend my gratitude to her,” says Gautham.
Speaking about the film, Gautham says, “I think that Gargi will be a fresh idea, for audiences to see, and we have consciously stayed away from the regular elements of making a film in this genre. I wanted it to be as unique as possible. The film is a courtroom drama, drawing from my own experiences of having been a lawyer, at some point. We have tried to keep the narrative as authentic as possible, instead of following a template.”
The director, who has also written the script, mentions that he made the shift from being a lawyer to pursuing cinema, about 10 years ago. He had penned the film, along with Hariharan Raju, back in 2019-20, a little before the pandemic-induced lockdown. “We usually bounce off ideas with each other, and as there was a healthy space for doing so, we co-wrote the film.”
On casting Sai Pallavi, Gautham says, “Gargi is inspired by several real-life experiences and I wanted to cast somebody, who can be very organic and as real, while playing the character. I had always felt that the artist who takes on the lead, has to portray the character, naturally. So, I went ahead and sent her the script and she liked it.”
“Since I have a lot of friends, who are lawyers, I end up listening to how a lot of cases are broken down, to derive pivotal cues. I have incorporated all of them, and woven them together. At the same time, we have also taken the liberty to fit them into the medium of cinema,” he says. However, the filmmaker clarifies that Sai Pallavi does not play the role of a lawyer, but a “person next-door” like any average person. Aside from her, the film also features Kaali Venkat, Aishwarya Lekshmi in a cameo role, and Saravanan, known for his role in Paruthiveeran, among others.
Gargi was primarily shot in Chennai, with some portions filmed in Bengaluru and Hyderabad by cinematographer duo Sraiyanti and Premkrishna Akkattu. The film’s editing is done by Shafique Mohamed Ali. “We started to shoot last year and wrapped up at the end of the year. Post-production began this year and is nearing completion, now,” he adds.
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The music is composed by Govind Vasantha. Gautham notes that since the thriller will play with several emotions, the film has no dance sequences but will feature about 4-5 songs, which are expected to release, soon.
Gargi is primarily a Tamil film, but is also set to release in Telugu and Kannada. Sai Pallavi has dubbed for all three languages. The film is also expected to release in Malayalam and Bengali, but the decision is yet to be taken. “We might announce the film’s release date in the next 10-15 days. We are deciding on a theatrical release and you can expect it sometime in the mid or last quarter of 2022. As there is a lineup of many films, we will decide on the date, after taking all the languages into account,” he concludes.