'Sattham' decodes the mystery behind sounds

After directing a couple of shorts and a featurette that won awards at international film festivals, Mani Shankar Iyer is ready with his debut feature film. Titled Sattham, the film is a psychological thriller.

“I’ve already screened it to celebrities in the industry, including directors Bhagyaraj, Vasanthabalan, Vasanth, who is also my mentor, and Anu Mohan, cinematographer GP Krishna, and actresses Shylaja Chetlur and Kalairani. We will be sending it to a couple of film festivals before releasing it commercially,” begins Mani. Talking about the film, he says, “This is the story of a man who hears unusual sounds, which others can’t. Can a sound haunt a person? Are these sounds trying to tell him something? That’s what we’ve explored in this film.”

Mani, who is also a lecturer at Bharathirajaa and GP Krishna’s film institutes, adds, “Kamaal, who acted in my featurette Magizhvan that dealt with love between two men — which went to went to 32 film festivals, including Seattle South Asian Film Festival and screened at the Bellevue Arts Museum in Washington, and won 19 international awards — is playing the lead in this. Rohit Muralidharan, Santosh, TVV Ramanujam (of Radiopetti fame), Rajan Iyer (of Thegidi fame), late Kovai Senthil (this is his last film), Poornima and Preetha form the rest of the cast.”