Ripupbury, the upcoming Tamil film starring Master Mahendran in the lead, will be a horror-comedy set in a rural backdrop, says director Arun Karthik. The film’s first-look poster was released on Twitter by filmmaker Lokesh Kanagaraj on the actor’s birthday on Sunday.
Ripupbury is written, directed, and produced by Arun Karthik, who is known for directing Super Duper (2019).
Speaking to Silverscreen India about the upcoming film, the director says, “It revolves around three carefree youngsters, who confront a ghost over a problem. How the conflict gets resolved forms the rest of the plot. Ripupbury is just a jolly word without any meaning. But when you split it up, into rip-up-bury, it has a connection to the story.”
“Mahendran was cast for his boy-next-door image and the idea was to explore his fun side, after people saw him play the serious role of young Bhavani in Master,” he adds.
Noble K James of Super Deluxe fame and YouTuber Maari from Put Chutney round out the central trio, alongside Mahendran, while actor Srini, small-screen actor Kaavya Arivumani, and debutante Aarathy are also part of the cast.
The filmmaker, who goes by AK, wrote the script during the lockdown in 2021.
He notes that the film will not “follow the usual template, where the story only revolves around the ghost” and will instead treat the ghost as just one of its characters.
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“Initially, I did not want to get into this genre since horror comedy has been explored enough in Tamil cinema. But, when I got the idea for this script which does not solely depend on the ghost, I found it interesting to work on. The ghost is treated as a mere character and the conflict in the film goes beyond jump scares and the horror element,” he adds.
The director has retained the technical crew from his previous film, Super Duper, including cinematographer Thalapathy Ratinam, editor Muganvel, and music director Diwacara Thiyagarajan, who has composed four songs for Ripupbury.
The film went on floors in September 2021 and has been filmed primarily in Erode. It is currently in the final stages of shooting, with the last schedule set to begin in February.
The filmmaker reveals that team is aiming for a Summer 2022 release in theatres.