Exclusive! Vishal Venkat: Balancing suspense and emotions in Zee5's Oru Kodai Murder Mystery was a challenge

Watch Oru Kodai Mystery on OTTPlay.

Young filmmaker Vishal Venkat, who made his debut with Sila Nerangalil Sila Manidhargal last year, is excited as he gears up for the release of his OTT debut Oru Kodai Murder Mystery, which is dropping on Zee5 tomorrow. The eight-episode series, which is touted as a whodunit, is completely in contrast with his maiden venture.

In a free-wheeling chat with OTTplay, the director talks about working on long-form content, approaching a genre which is different from his first project, narrating a story which is headlined by youngsters and more. 

According to Vishal, it was Zee5 who approached him with a story written by Anitha Nair and screenplay penned by M Padmakumar. What impressed him is the story which involves a spine-chilling murder and a group of teens setting out to solve it. "I found this one-line fresh and quite intriguing. It is different from the usual investigation procedures," he begins and adds that the Kodaikanal backdrop is the icing on the cake. 

"It also delves into mother-son relationships and bonding between siblings. Striking a balance between suspense and emotions was a huge challenge. My first movie had a hyperlink story which handled intense emotions and grounded characters. This time around, I had a different learning experience," he smiles.

Vishal has no qualms in accepting that it was his technical team who helped him achieve what he set out to do. He says, "The subject posed various threats and challenges and I loved dealing with them. I wholeheartedly thank my cinematographer Rajkumar and music director Sudharshan among others." 

Oru Kodai Murder Mystery, he notes, required a different aesthetic approach when compared to Sila Nerangalil Sila Manidhargal and he admits he could pull this off only with the support of a handful of experienced artists like Abirami. "It was such a pleasure to work with an established actor like her. She plays a school principal and a mother of two kids; she perfectly fits the bill," he avers. 

After having worked for a feature film of 150 minutes duration, Vishal says coming across a project which has a duration of four hours with eight episodes was something new and unimaginable. "We shot the series in 38 days. There weren't any compromises; we had to ensure that the content is fast-paced and effective," the director says. 

Of late, there is an influx of murder mysteries set in hill stations. The series is the latest to join the list. Quiz him on this trend and he opines that it could be the eeriness associated with the landscape which makes many filmmakers choose such locations in their scripts. 

"The silence and enigma in hill stations are tempting and mysterious. A filmmaker could come up with several interesting factors when he has such a backdrop to his story. In our case, Kodaikanal is the perfect place for this story. Forests, woods, nature...these aspects play certain roles in making some sequences intriguing. On the increase in the number of murder stories in such locations, I think it is a mere coincidence," he remarks.