Mountain and Rain form the backdrop of Simha’s thriller

Simha is playing the lead in

Vasantha Mullai

, a psychological action thriller, which marks the feature film debut of short filmmaker Ramanan Purushothama. Rajesh Murugesan, the composer of films like Neram and Premam, is the music director of this film. We landed up at the shoot of the film, which was happening at an upscale hospital in the city. Simha, sporting a bandaged

arm

, was deep in conversation with the director and veteran actor Sarath Babu, who plays a key role. The film’s female lead, Kashmira Pardeshi (of Sivappu Manjal Pachai fame), was also present on the set.

“This is Kashmira’s last day of shoot. We will be wrapping up soon. We only have a couple of days' patchwork of a major action sequence," Simha tells us, during a break. The two play Rudra and Nila, a young couple in love. "It is a great story... Very interesting. Once you get into the story, you will be lost in the film," Kashmira chips in and adds, "Nila is Rudra's girlfriend. She is very caring, very nurturing and balanced."

Both actors admit that it was a challenging shoot. "Shooting for this film was a very different experience. I have just started my career, but this has been my most challenging shoot so far," states Kashmira, while Simha elaborates, "From the 20th minute of the film till the end, rain forms the backdrop. So, we ended up getting drenched a lot. And most of the shoot happened at night, so it was tough."

Simha, who is also producing the film, reveals that he is planning to release this film in four languages — Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. And right now, he is confident of a theatrical release. "We are all hopeful that we will get back to normal life. I feel we have already started moving towards that, returning to our jobs, and I hope we will be back on track in the next three to four months. Not just the film industry, every other industry will be back and buzzing. 2021 will be a good year for us all," he signs off and gets back to the shot.

From the 20th minute of the film till the end, rain forms the backdrop. So, we ended up getting drenched a lot. And most of the shoot happened at night, so it was tough
– Simha, lead actor

The director has written the script very beautifully, and it is backed up by a brilliant actor like Simha, and a brilliant composer like Rajesh Murugesan
– Kashmira Pardeshi, lead actress

There are two reasons why I said ‘yes’ to this film. One is the director and the other is my colleague, Simha. I was awestruck when Ramanan narrated the story. I was surprised that a new director could narrate so very well
– Sarath Babu, actor

We have five types of lands, as per Tamil literature — Kurunji, Mullai, Marudham, Neidhal and Paalai. Mullai refers to the mountainous region. Since that forms the backdrop of this action thriller, we have titled it Vasantha Mullai
– Ramanan Purushothama, director

This action thriller will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat. I’d worked with Simha previously in Pizza, so this is our second project together
– Gopi Amarnath, cinematographer