Dhoomam deals with emotional, physical and business aspects of nicotine consumption: Aparna Balamurali

Kannada filmmaker Pawan Kumar and KGF, Kantara makers Hombale Films’ Malayalam debut Dhoomam is also special for National Award-winning actress Aparna Balamurali, as it gave her a chance to team up with Fahadh Faasil again, seven years after her first film, Maheshinte Prathikaaram.

The actress, who plays Diya in the thriller, recently opened up about the movie that is set to hit theatres on June 23 and also about working with the Pachuvum Athbutha Vilakkum star again.

Also read: Dhoomam 2023: Release date, trailer, cast, budget, behind the scenes, OTT partner and more 

On Dhoomam, Aparna, in an interview with Money Control, said that the film is about a Malayali couple based in Bengaluru, Karnataka. “It’s about karma hitting back at you,” she said. “It also deals with the emotional, physical and business aspects of nicotine consumption.”

The actress explained that Pawan, who had initially planned to do the movie in Kannada under the title C10H14N2 (the chemical name for nicotine), wanted to explore the “politics of smoking” and the mood of the film “was exciting”.

In an earlier interview, Pawan, who had previously helmed Lucia and U-Turn, had said that he had gone around pitching the idea for the movie from 2008 in Kannada, but it never found any takers. He had even planned a crowdfunding initiative to get the movie on floors, but it didn’t work out. In fact, people were hesitant to back such a movie, especially after Anurag Kashyap’s John Abraham-starrer No Smoking also failed at the box office.

Also read: Pawan Kumar on why Dhoomam isn't a Kannada film: 'No producer was interested' 

It wasn’t until Hombale Films had come onboard that the movie was greenlit, in Malayalam with actors such as Fahadh, Aparna and Roshan Mathew as part of the cast. The movie will release first in Malayalam on June 23, and is expected to release in other languages the following week.

Fahadh’s previous release Pachuvum Athbutha Vilakkum was a superhit, with the film collecting close to Rs 15 crore at the box office. The makers of Dhoomam will be hoping that the actor repeats the feat with this thriller too.