'Consolidating a vast topic like terrorism into a fast-paced film was a challenge'

As he gets ready for the release of his film The Terrorist on Thursday, director PC Shekar, who has dealt with a sensitive issue in it, has his fingers crossed. The film, starring Ragini Dwivedi in the lead, the director tells us, revolves around terror and women, which is something that has not been dealt with by Kannada filmmakers before now.

Here, the director gives us a lowdown on why The Terrorist is a must watch.

'Beyond language and religion'

"As a director, I found structuring the story tough. Working on a vast topic like terrorism, which cannot be consolidated in two lines, was a quite a task. My film goes beyond language and religion."

'Fresh challenge for Ragini Dwivedi' 

"When I decided to cast Ragini in my film, I wanted to explore a different side to her. and bring out her acting skills. Her character was designed around her personality, which has been highlighted. She plays a Muslim character for which she learnt the art of offering prayers, and the right posture to be followed during Namaz. She worked on her body language and mannerisms to stay in line with the character. Apart from Ragini, most of the actors featured in The Terrorist have a theatre background."

'Women and terrorism'

"Most films that have been made on the subject focus on men. Here’s where my film is different. We’ve looked at the connection between terrorism and women. The Terrorist is a mix of genres. There is action, emotions, and love. The pace of the film will also be one of the highlights. Since the film’s storyline runs between 10 am and 5 pm, we have depicted that by keeping the editing tight and fast-paced. We have consolidated a vast topic like terrorism into one hour fifty minutes." 

'Music is like a character'

"With a thriller, you can’t create tension with just dialogues and only music could bring that intensity. In our film, the music scored by Pradeep Varma almost plays one more character and rerecording is the soul. Since I am cued in about music, I already knew what I was looking for. And getting that took time. The rerecording alone took 102 days, and mixing took 22 days of work."