Thappu Thanda comedy track inspired by Mumbai Express

Srikantan, a former student of Cinema Pattarai, Balu Mahendra's Film Institute, is making his directorial debut with Thappu Thanda, a dark comedy-crime thriller. He tells CE, "The film speaks about the cash-for-votes trend during elections."

It took nearly a year for him to complete the script. "I had to put in a lot of research to understand how this works," he says, adding that the film, whose first half will be a dark comedy, while the second half deals with crime, has been shot in Chennai. 

"The film focuses on three separate stories. For instance, one of the comedy tracks was inspired by Kamal Haasan's Mumbai Express. I am not saying mine will be the same as that film's. The similarity lies in the fact that, even though characters will be doing something serious on screen, the audience will laugh," he adds. 

Srikantan has directed a couple of short films in the past, and that has given him the confidence to work on a full-length feature film. About his mentor Balu Mahendra, he says, "I hold many memories of him close to my heart. I'll need a whole day to speak about him."

Thappu Thanda stars newbies Shweta Gai, Sathya and Udhay in the lead roles. Mime Gopi plays an important character in the film as well.