Mercury | |
---|---|
![]() Promotional poster | |
Directed by | Karthik Subbaraj |
Written by | Karthik Subbaraj |
Produced by |
|
Starring |
|
Cinematography | S. Tirru |
Edited by | Vivek Harshan |
Music by | Santhosh Narayanan |
Production companies | |
Distributed by |
|
Release dates |
|
Running time | 109 minutes |
Country | India |
Mercury is a 2018 Indian horror thriller film written and directed by Karthik Subbaraj. It stars an ensemble cast including Prabhu Deva, Sananth Reddy, Remya Nambeesan, Indhuja Ravichandran, Deepak Paramesh, Shashank Purushotham, and Anish Padmanabhan, amongst others. [1] Subbaraj presented the film under his own production banner Stone Bench Creations, whilst Jayantilal Gada of Pen India Limited distributed and co-produced the film. It is about the story of five friends who were terrorised by the ghost of a victim, maimed from mercury poisoning.
Karthik Subbaraj insisted on doing a silent film after being inspired by Pushpaka Vimana (1987). He came up with a script of a film based on Kodaikanal mercury poisoning incident and planned up as a dialogue-less film. [2] It was announced in May 2017, with production began the same month and completed within July 2017. Filmed across Chennai, Pondicherry, Kodaikanal, and Kamuthi, the background music for the film is composed by Santhosh Narayanan, with cinematography handled by Tirru and edited by Vivek Harshan, whereas Kunal Rajan was the sound designer.
The film released on 13 April 2018 worldwide except Tamil Nadu, due to the Tamil Film Producers Council strike, and was released in the state on 20 April 2018, becoming their first Tamil release, after the strike. [3] Since the film has no dialogue, the makers found it easier to distribute and release the film under major territories across India. The film opened to mixed reviews, praising the major technical aspects and the cast performances, but the slow pace of the film met with criticism. The film was screened at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles on 12 April 2018, ahead of the worldwide release.
Maimed from mercury poisoning, five longtime friends come together for a high school reunion on a farm. Then, Michael plans to propose to Meera and calls her and his friends, and they go on a night drive at a place Michael proposes to Meera; she accepts. Afterwards, while driving the other four friends home, Meera nearly runs over a dog after the other four were messing with the headlights. Because of this, she was temporarily blinded. Somehow, the friends accidentally end up dragging a blind man to death when they swerved to avoid his dog. After dumping his body, the friends are terrorized by the man's ghost in mysterious ways. When the ghost had killed the guys in the group and tries to kill Meera as well, then she reveals that she is deaf and did not recognize the hitting of the car. The ghost, having realized he killed a bunch of innocents thinking they were the corporate factory owners who were responsible for the occurring mercury poisoning, shares his story of being blinded due to mercury poisoning and one night was walking his dog when the leash accidentally got stuck to the friends' car and got dragged until he hit a headstone and succumbs to his injury. Despite the mishaps that happened, the ghost forgives and spares her, not before possessing her to see his wife one last time and gives his hearing capacity to the Meera upon leaving her body as he burns down the factory.
Karthik Subbaraj wanted to work on a silent film after his debut short film Black and White, which featured no dialogue, was critically raved upon release. Inspired by the 1987 film Pushpaka Vimana , Subbaraj wanted to develop a full-length dialogue-less feature film, after making his directorial debut with Pizza , but he could not do so due to circumstances; instead, he chose to direct two more projects, including Jigarthanda and Iraivi . [5] When his speculated project with Dhanush, was postponed indefinitely, due to Dhanush prioritising his commitments on The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir , [6] Subbaraj had much time working on the proposed silent film, with a script being based on the Kodaikanal mercury poisoning in 2001, [7] served as an idea. [8] He found the core plot of the story as "gripping", while the proposed idea of making it as a silent film made more interesting. After finishing the first draft, it made possible to make the film as a silent thriller, with the core team too opined the same. [9] He felt that the mark of a good screenplay is it needs very few dialogues, so he wanted to take up the challenge of writing a good screenplay without any dialogues, which led him to develop the script, further expressing that filming the project as a silent film gave it more freedom to play up other aspects to amp up the film's "thrill factor". [9] [2]
Prabhu Deva, was reportedly playing the character of a blind person who fell victim to mercury poisoning. [10] He called his role as "unique" and "unusual" comparing with his previous films, where the script demanded a dance or comedy sequences. [11] Along with himself, the film featured five other young actors, Sananth Reddy, Deepak Paramesh, Indhuja Ravichandran, Anish Padmanabhan and Shashank Purushotham in pivotal roles. [12] Excluding Shashank, four of the pivotal members were known to Subbaraj as they earlier worked in the projects which he bankrolled, whilst Shashank, a theatre-actor whose debut feature film Shuddhi, received acclaim, was not related to Subbaraj. [12] Also being the only Kannada actor in the cast, he revealed that it took time to understand the Tamil language. The team begun rehearsals for their roles during April 2017, before production began, and was completed within 20–25 days. [12]
Subbaraj opined that in a silent film, visuals, music and sound deserved much importance in the script. So he decided to bring acclaimed technicians to work on the project in order to give a unique experience. Cinematographer Tirru, stated that "When Karthik Subbaraj narrated the story, he didn't tell me that it would be a silent film" but one of "four protagonists who are both hearing and speech impaired". Tirru initially wondered how such people could communicate, until Subbaraj told him the film would not have dialogues. [13] [14] Kunal Rajan was a part of the technical crew, whereas Subbaraj's norm composer Santhosh Narayanan, joined the film to score music for the background. The team also roped in twin stunt choreographers Anbariv, as Subbaraj demanded that the film has event-based stunt sequences which was considered to be both "realistic" and "artistic". [9]
The film was formally announced in May 2017 in Chennai. [10] Within a month, the makers have completed shooting 60% of the film by June 2017, with Chennai, Pondicherry and Kumbakonam served as the primary locations for the film. [15] In late June 2017, the makers headed to Kamuthi for the final schedule of the film, with Remya Nambeesan being a part of this schedule. [4] As most of the film being shot indoors, Tirru used not to keep the camera steady as not to trigger visual fatigue, where the camera is placed, either from the point of view of the character or as a third person. The team also filmed a scene within a single shot stating that "To shoot that scene, we had to keep moving the cameras, so Karthik, Anbariv (stunt directors) and I decided to have it as a single shot. The situation too warranted it as cutting it into different shots wouldn't convey the intensity of the scene. The idea was to make the audience understand the characters' stand and make them feel claustrophobic." [13] The entire shooting of the film was completed within July 2017. [16]
The film is based on the Kodaikanal mercury poisoning incident happened in 2001, where hundreds of workers were allegedly exposed to toxic mercury vapours at the Hindustan Lever factory in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, which is now defunct. [7] Subbaraj wanted to develop the script based on the incident, for the film which is found to be "gripping". He stated that the film talks about corporate exploitation in small towns, further adding that the incident in a way inspired him to make this film. [17] Karthik Subbaraj expressed its purpose of making it as a silent film, since the story and the script demanded it. [9] While Kaarthekeyen Santhanam of Stone Bench Films added that "the move is a reason why a content-driven concept, to fit both parameters. We found the idea of producing a film without dialogues very exciting as well as Karthik's story is much interesting". [18]
Santhosh Narayanan, Subbaraj's norm composer joined the technical team, by composing music for the film's background. Though the film does not feature any songs, a promotional song for the film "The Mercury Song" composed by Mithoon, lyrics penned by Sayeed Quadri and sung by Haricharan and Gajendra Verma was released on 15 March 2018, in order to promote the film's Hindi version. [19] Santhosh also composed a song "Oru Mara Nizhalil", recorded by Sathyaprakash Dharmar and lyrics written by Vivek. [20] Released on 1 May 2018, it is a montage song was picturised on the romance between the characters Michael (Sananth) and Meera (Indhuja) in the film. Though the instrumental version of this song had appeared in the film, as the background score, while the song was used only for promotional purposes. [21]
Karthik Subbaraj initially tweeted that the film will be scheduled for theatrical release on 13 April 2018, coinciding with the eve of Tamil New Year's Day and also the date matched with that of Friday the 13th. [22] [lower-alpha 1] The theatrical trailer of the film was launched on 7 March 2018 to positive response from viewers and audiences alike. [23] [24] Since the film has no dialogues, the team found it easier to distribute and release the film in different regions under the same title. [25] Rakshit Shetty's Paramvah Studios and Pushkar Films distributed the film in Karnataka, [26] with KFC Entertainment acquired the rights to release the film in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana territories. Pen India Limited acquired the global rights of the film. [18] The trailer of the film was scheduled to release on 5 April, but in order to show solidarity towards the statewide bandh due to Kaveri River water dispute, the makers postponed the trailer launch, [27] although it was launched on 10 April by prominent celebrities. [28]
The film released worldwide on 13 April 2018, excluding Tamil Nadu, [25] due to the strike organised by Tamil Film Producers Council against the digital service providers owing to the hike in Virtual Print Fee. [29] [30] A day, before the official release date in India, the film was screened at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles on 12 April 2018. [31] [32] The same day, the makers hosted a special screening in Mumbai, with the presence of actors Tamannaah and Anant Mahadevan among other celebrities joining the event. [33] [34] The film was leaked online through pirated sites, despite not having a scheduled release in Tamil Nadu, with Prabhu Deva and the film's cast urging fans not to watch pirated versions. [35] Mercury became the first Tamil release after the 48-day strike held by Producer's Council. [36] The film opened to a wide release in Tamil Nadu on 20 April 2018. [37] Celebrities such as Venkat Prabhu and Rajinikanth praised the film's team and the crew. [38] [39]
The film opened to mixed reviews praising the performances of the cast, cinematography and direction, whereas critics pointed out the film's slow pace despite its minimal runtime. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 67%, based on 12 reviews, and an average rating of 6/10. [40]
The Times of India , chief critic Reza Noorani gave three out of five stars saying "There are no big scares that 'Mercury' delivers. Instead, it unravels at its own pace which is not perfect at all times." [41] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV, stated that the film is no more than "a disjointed drama that uses conventions of the slasher flick and the horror film in order to spin a none-too-scary yarn that oftentimes borders on the unintentionally funny"; rather stated that "the film ventures into the territory that A Quiet Place occupies - the destructive force in Mercury turns out to be a figure that waits for the stimuli of sound to line up and pounce on its targets". [42] Behindwoods gave three out of five stars and stated "Mercury is technically sound and convincingly silent! It could have worked well with better engagement". [43] Y. Sunita Chowdary of The Hindu stated that the film has its fair share of "chills" and "thrills". [44] Udita Jhunjhunwala of Firstpost pointed the story as one of the major flaws of the film, stating that "the story just does not stitch together". [45] Indiaglitz rated two-and-a-half out of five and stated "if you fancy an experimental film with uniformly good performances and novelty in story telling, the film is a must watch". [46]
Anisha Javeri of IndieWire stated "Though the historical backdrop could have made for a compelling metaphor, the clichés and heavy-handedness of “Mercury” ultimately outweigh the novelty of its premise, while its sloppy social relevance angle does more to confound than clarify the disaster in question", further adding that "Mercury may be remembered as the first silent thriller in Indian cinema, but it’s far from the heart-stopper we’re looking for." [47] Manoj Kumar R. of The Indian Express gave three-and-a-half out of five stars "Karthik Subbaraj's plot has a few gaps and he also uses the regular narrative techniques of the horror genre to create the moments of shock. However, the overall impact of Mercury on a viewer is very effective, encouraging us to brush aside the shortcomings." [48] Sajin Srijith of The New Indian Express gave a rating of 4 out of 5 and added "Karthik Subbaraj's Mercury is audacious, technically-impressive, and an experiment filled with delightful surprises". [49]
Nandini Ramanath of Scroll.in had reviewed "Subbaraj tries to dress up a routine horror film with a social theme, but fortunately, the director has enough tricks up his sleeve to make the scary portions work." [50] Arnab Bannerjee of Deccan Chronicle gave one-and-a-half five stars and stated "Karthik Subbaraj tries to juggle a thriller horror story with a not-so-original twist." [51] Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South opined that Subbaraj ended up making not just a "thriller", but an "emotional horror-drama with a touch of eco-activism". [52] Sowmya Rajendran of The News Minute stated "The film breaks out of the formula horror film and attempts something new although the characters don't stand out." [53]
Venkat Kumar Gangai Amaren, better known by his stage name Venkat Prabhu, is an Indian Director, actor and playback singer in Tamil films. After completing his education, he began pursuing an acting career, with his first three ventures featuring him in a starring role, failing to release, following which he began appearing in character roles. He entered the spotlight for the first time when he turned director with the summer hit Chennai 600028 (2007). He achieved further commercial successes with his subsequent directorials Saroja (2008), Goa (2010), Mankatha (2011), Biriyani (2013), Masss (2015) and Maanaadu (2021). His father Gangai Amaren is a film director and music director.
Prabhu Deva is an Indian dance choreographer, film director, producer and actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada language films. In a career spanning 32 years, he has performed and designed dancing styles and has garnered two National Film Awards for Best Choreography. In 2019, he was awarded the Padma Shri for his contributions to dance.
Jai Sampath is an Indian actor and musician working in Tamil films. The nephew of noted composer Deva & the cousin of Srikanth Deva, Jai had made his acting debut in a supporting role in Bagavathi (2002). In 2007, he successfully auditioned for a leading role in Venkat Prabhu's sports film Chennai 600028. His movie Subramaniapuram (2008) was also a big success, and Jai was praised for his performance.
Karthik Subbaraj is an Indian film director, writer and producer working mainly in Tamil cinema.
Iraivi (transl. Goddess) is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language crime drama film written and directed by Karthik Subbaraj and produced by C. V. Kumar, K. E. Gnanavel Raja and Abinesh Elangovan under their banners Thirukumaran Entertainment, Studio Green and Abi & Abi Pictures, respectively. The film features an ensemble cast with S. J. Surya, Vijay Sethupathi, Bobby Simha, Kamalinee Mukherjee, Anjali, and Pooja Devariya playing leading roles. The plot revolves around three financially struggling men try to overcome their problems, by getting involved in criminal activities though not realising the impact their efforts are having on the women in their lives.
Sananth is an Indian actor who has worked in Tamil cinema. After initially appearing in several short films, Sananth made his feature film debut in Ajay Gnanamuthu's horror film Demonte Colony (2015).
Devi is a 2016 Indian trilingual comedy horror film co-written and directed by Vijay. It features Tamannaah in the title role with Prabhu Deva and Sonu Sood in the lead roles Whilst RJ Balaji, Saptagiri, Rajiv Thakur and Murali Sharma in supporting roles. In addition to Tamil, the film was also simultaneously shot in Telugu and Hindi titled Abhinetri (transl. Actress) and Tutak Tutak Tutiya, respectively.
Khamoshi (transl. Silence) is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language slasher film directed by Chakri Toleti and produced by Pyx Films. The film stars Tamannaah in the lead role as a deaf and mute girl with Prabhu Deva in the lead antagonistic role. This film is a remake of the 2016 American film, Hush and a remake of the delayed 2019 Tamil Hush remake Kolaiyuthir Kaalam which starred Nayanthara in the lead role, and was also directed by Toleti. The film was theatrically released in India after delays on 14 June 2019.
Meyaadha Maan is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Rathna Kumar in his directorial debut. Produced by Karthik Subbaraj's Stone Bench Creations. The film stars Vaibhav and Priya Bhavani Shankar in the lead, the latter in her film debut with Vivek Prasanna, Indhuja Ravichandran, Arun Prasath and Amrutha Srinivasan in supporting roles. It is an adaptation of Kumar's own short film Madhu, which he had directed for the Stone Bench Creation's anthology film Bench Talkies.
The 2018 Kaveri River water sharing protests are a series of ongoing protests on the issue of water sharing problems from the River Kaveri between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka which are two states in India. The Kaveri water dispute has been a major controversial issue between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over the years and the issue has been raised further with protests have been conducted across the state of Tamil Nadu by several groups including from the large pile of actors and directors who have temporarily stopped working on their projects, films over the Karnataka's sharing the Kaveri water to Tamil Nadu. The delay in establishing a Cauvery Management Board in order to share equal river share award has sparked off protests in Tamil Nadu against the Karnataka state government.
Kallachirippu is a 2018 Indian Tamil language streaming television series. It has a non-linear narrative structure provided and is hosted by Zee5, a video on demand platform. The web series was directed by Rohit Nandakumar and produced by popular film director Karthik Subbaraj under his own production company Stone Bench Productions. This was Karthik Subbaraj's first web series as a producer and it was the first web series for Stone Bench Productions company. The web series was released on the streaming platform Zee5 on 23 July 2018 and eventually ended up on 30 July 2018 with only 8 episodes. It starred Amrutha Srinivasan in the female lead role while Vikas, Vignesh Shanmugam, Rajalakshmi, Uma, Maheshwaran and Nandakumar played pivotal roles. This web series is also the second web series to be launched by Zee5 network after America Mappillai. The web series received positive reviews from critics and audience for portrayal of women in more prominent identical roles than the male counterparts. The theme of series consists of lust, sexuality, pornography, LGBT, abortion and extramarital affairs apart from love and arranged marriage.
Petta (transl. Hood) is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language action drama film written and directed by Karthik Subbaraj. The film was produced by Kalanithi Maran under the banner Sun Pictures. The film stars Rajinikanth alongside an ensemble cast featuring Vijay Sethupathi, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, M. Sasikumar, Simran, Trisha, Megha Akash, Malavika Mohanan, Mahendran, Bobby Simha, Guru Somasundaram, Aadukalam Naren, Munishkanth, and Sananth in supporting roles. The music was composed by Anirudh Ravichander with editing done by Vivek Harshan and cinematography by Tirru. The film revolves around Kaali, a hostel warden crosses paths with a group of criminals where things takes an interesting turn.
Charlie Chaplin 2 is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film directed by Shakthi Chidambaram. The film stars Prabhu Deva, Nikki Galrani and Prabhu. The film is a sequel to 2002 film Charlie Chaplin. The music for the film is scored by Amresh Ganesh. The film is produced by T. Siva under the production banner Amma Creations. The film released on 25 January 2019 to negative reviews.
Deepak Paramesh is an Indian actor, who has appeared in Tamil language films.
Jagame Thandhiram is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Karthik Subbaraj and produced by YNOT Studios and Reliance Entertainment. The film stars Dhanush, James Cosmo, Joju George, Aishwarya Lekshmi and Kalaiyarasan. It marks the Indian film debut of Cosmo and the Tamil debut of George. In the film, Suruli, a carefree gangster in Madurai, is recruited to help an overseas crime lord take down a rival, but later gets caught off guard by the moral dilemmas that follow.
Prabhu Deva is an Indian dance choreographer, film director, producer and actor, who has worked in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada films. In a career spanning 28 years, he has performed and designed a wide range of dancing styles and has predominantly acted in Tamil films. He made his debut as a boy playing a flute in the song "Panivizhum Iravu", from the Tamil film Mouna Ragam (1986). After several appearances as a dancer, he made his debut as a lead actor in Pavithran's Indhu. He made his career breakthrough in his second film Kadhalan (1994) directed by S. Shankar. Prabhu Deva acted as a college student who loves the daughter of state governor, who has ties with a terrorist. The film was a commercial success and critics lauded Prabhu Deva's choreography and his dance sequences in the songs "Mukkabla" and "Urvasi Urvasi", became very popular.
Chakravarthy Ramachandra is an Indian film producer who has worked on Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam-language films. After beginning his career as an independent producer, he joined YNOT Studios as its CEO.
Triples is an Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy television series for Hotstar Specials produced by Karthik Subbaraj under his Stone Bench Creations, with the script being written by Balaji Jayaraman and directed by Charukesh Sekar. The series stars Jai and Vani Bhojan in the lead role. while Rajkumar, Vivek Prasanna, Madhuri Jain and Namita Krishnamurthy in the supporting role. It was released through Disney+ Hotstar on 11 December 2020.
Poikkal Kuthirai is an 2022 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Santhosh P. Jayakumar. It stars Prabhu Deva in the title role with Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Raiza Wilson, Prakash Raj, Baby Aazhiya, and John Kokken in other roles with Shaam in a cameo appearance. The film has its music composed by D. Imman, while the cinematography and editing of the film is handled by Ballu and Preethi Mohan respectively. The title of the film was announced on 4 August 2021.
Ashwin Saravanan is an Indian film director, who has directed predominantly Tamil language films. Directorial debut from Maya and film making style is neo-noir horror film. Second film was Game over and it is a psychological thriller film. Third movie is Connect and it is a supernatural horror movie.