Mercury’s subtextual theme is universal and relevant today

Director Karthik Subbaraj’s Mercury, produced by Stone Bench films and Pen Studios, does not need much to catch a person’s attention. The fact that the film, which releases today, has no dialogues at all is enough to set it apart from hundreds of films that release every year.
One of the advantages of making a silent film is that it has a universal appeal and is not restricted to a region because of the language, something that enticed Pushkara Mallikarjunaiah’s Pushkar Films and Rakshit Shetty’s Paramvah Studios to present the film, and Jayanna Films to distribute it in the state.Speaking about the decision, Rakshit says, “Karthik (Subbaraj) and I first met when I was in Chennai to receive an award for Ulidavaru Kandante and he for Jigarthanda. We’ve hung out whenever he has come to Bengaluru and often spoke about collaborating. But with our busy schedules, we never got the time to do so. We took up the distributing rights of Mercury because I believe that for south film industries, and especially Sandalwood, to grow and mature, there must be a lot of inter-state collaboration. That not only opens up the audience to films from neighbouring states, but the makers can also benefit from the talent pool. That’s the intention behind distributing a film like Mercury, which is not restricted by any language. And we don’t want this to be just between Tamil and Kannada industries, but with Malayalam and Telugu as well.”
Telling us what makes Mercury a must-watch, Pushkara says, “Primarily, the uniqueness of the idea. It will be nothing like anything you have seen before. Then, there’s the fact that this is silent film. Third, would be the impeccable performances by Prabhudheva and the rest of the cast. It’s simple, but effective. Then comes the technical excellence displayed by the entire crew. And, finally, the subtextual theme of the film is one that is universal. It is also very relevant and can be easily understood by anyone who watches it.”