Karthik Subbaraj’s film Mercury has a release date now – April 13, which falls on a Friday, making it all the more timely for a thrilling watch. The film stars Prabhudeva and, as the filmmaker says, is a silent thriller and a ‘no-language film’.
#MERCURY – A silent thriller, My 4th feature film as writer-director is all set to Rise & am so excited to show it to you all…
A No-Language film releasing in All languages on Friday the 13th April 2018… ?@PDdancing @Music_Santhosh @DOP_tirru@penmovies @stonebenchfilms pic.twitter.com/41jFamQEUF
— karthik subbaraj (@karthiksubbaraj) February 15, 2018
Kannada actor Shashank Purushotham, best known for his role in Shuddhi (2017), plays one of the protagonists along with Demonte Colony actor Sananth Reddy, Deepak Paramesh, and Anish Padman. Prabhudeva, on the other hand, plays the villain. Remya Nambeesan, who was part of Subbaraj’s first film Pizza, plays the female lead. The film, contrary to movies today, is a silent one solely relying on body language and expressions.
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The film’s shooting ended last year, soon after which the title was announced by filmmakers Mani Ratnam and P Bharathiraja. The cinematography will be handled by Tirru (Thirunavukarasu) and music composed by Santhosh Narayanan. The film is jointly bankrolled by Karthik Subbaraj’s banner, Stone Bench Talkies, and Pen Movies.
Incidentally, while this style of filmmaking is considered unique now, it isn’t the first time though. Silent movies in India dates back to the late 19th century. Films such as Netaji Palkar (1927), Rani Saheba (1930), and Satyajit Ray’s directorial Two (1964) are some of the popularly known silent Indian films. Kamal Haasan’s Pushpak Vimana (1987) is often called a ‘silent film in India after the silent era of cinema’, something which Haasan and filmmaker Singeetham Srinivas Rao deny, instead referring it as a film with ‘no dialogue’.