“YOU CAN’T PREVENT A SUICIDE IN A SKYPE CALL”

Lens directed by Jayaprakash Radhakrishnan hit the screens yesterday, the 12th May and has been getting all positive feedback. The film, based on voyeurism has been distributed in Tamil by Vetri Maaran’s Grass Root Film Company. We talked to Jayaprakash to know his thoughts.

How do you feel now with the positive word of mouth for Lens all over?
It feels so surreal, especially for an independent filmmaker like me. It is a dream for me to get a mainstream release like this. It happened only because of Vetri Maaran and Mini Studio. They wanted to support the content than anything else; they have in fact taken a risk which needs a big heart. I am keeping my fingers crossed and want them to recover the money they had put on this. In cities, the film is doing good. I hope the good reviews spread to other places too.

How did this theme occur to you?
I am an actor and was trying for chances, but there was not much happening and I was a little depressed. I was sharing this with my acting teacher in Skype one day. The conversation had touched upon the helplessness of a person in preventing a suicide on a Skype call. This was the inspiration. This just remained an idea and I was continuing my struggle to become an actor.

But one day, I decided I will do a story for myself. And that’s how it began. I needed a strong theme. I researched a lot on this subject and I bumped upon this- most of the cyber crimes are associated with voyeurism. People have been affected by this in a very large scale. I watched the video of Amanda Todd Suicide Note. Amanda is from Canada and she became friends with this person in Facebook who had posted pictures and videos of her there, which led to her suicide. I saw her YouTube video and was so emotionally disturbed. This was the trigger for the theme of my story. Later on, without compromising, I had completed the film.

Now that the film has got a good response, will you continue acting or directing?
I am writing a few stories, if I get producers, I will begin directing. If someone tells me a story for acting and I like, I will act. I will be taking things in their flow.

What was Vetri Maaran’s response after the positive feedback?
He was very happy with the positive reviews. We would know the actual response only on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. If it stays the same manner, it would be good.

My thanks to behindwoods
I am thankful to behindwoods for a spoiler-free review. Most of the reviews spill the twists and spoil the movie watching experience. You are the only one who has not done it. My thanks are due to you for this.

We wish you the best Jayaprakash!

Jyothsna Bhavanishankar