While we have reported about Video before, with its trailer now out, the makers finally give away a little more about the peculiar territory it is stepping into.
For a horror film, Video is taking an oddly stripped-down route. There is no conventional background score to tell the audience when to be nervous. Instead, director Srinidhi Bengaluru has built the film around the found-footage format, using 12 cameras to capture the story. The idea is to make the footage feel less like something staged for a film and more like something that was simply found.
That experiment is also the first production venture of actor Deekshith Shetty, who has launched his own banner, Dhe Cinemas. The Dia actor, who has also been working across languages, has chosen a horror thriller as the banner’s first outing. Video is scheduled to release on September 11.
The trailer was unveiled recently in a launch event that was itself slightly outside the usual template. Actors from the film joined Siddu Moolimani for a performance to horror-themed songs before the trailer was screened, turning what could have been a routine promotional event into something closer to a small stage act.
The screenplay, he says, is unconventional. Interestingly, the film was initially titled Blog, because its characters are bloggers and the story is tied to their lives. That detail gives the film a curious starting point: people who spend their lives recording and sharing things eventually find themselves trapped inside footage that may be better left unwatched.
Srinidhi Bengaluru also insists that the film does not begin by throwing the audience straight into horror. The first 20 minutes are designed to make them laugh before the mood changes and the film begins pushing them towards the edge of their seats.
The cast includes Bharath, Jeevan Shivakumar, Tejas SM, Priya J Achar and Nalme Nachiyar in key roles.
For Priya J Achar, Video is only her second film, but she says the project felt special because of the freedom given to newcomers. The film, she adds, carries the risk that comes with trying something different. That risk was apparent even while they were acting in it, she says, describing Video as an experience rather than simply another horror film.
Nalme Nachiyar puts that gamble in more personal terms. “To believe in a dream and chase it, you need courage,” she said, adding that the team had that conviction.
Jeevan Shivakumar, who comes from a theatre background, is also part of the cast. Bharath, meanwhile, became emotional while speaking about the shoot, recalling the loss of his father during the making of the film.
The technical team includes Prasanna Kumar, who has handled the music, and cinematographer Avinash Shastry. But the interesting technical choice remains the film’s refusal to lean on a conventional BGM. In a genre where sound is often used to prepare the audience for the scare, Video is choosing to let the images carry more of the burden.
That makes the trailer an interesting proposition. We have already been given enough hints about the film to know that it is not trying to be a routine horror story. What remains to be seen is whether the found-footage approach can sustain the tension beyond the novelty of its format.
For now, Video is placing its faith in an uncomplicated idea: if the camera is meant to be the witness, perhaps it can also become the thing we start fearing.
The answer arrives in theatres in the coming week.
