Vishal Venkat always wanted to be a cricketer. But life had other plans for him. After he finished his Engineering degree, he was smitten by the world of filmmaking. Stints in television and ad commercials helped him, as he puts it, “discover that he had a passion for filmmaking”.
Also Read | Get ‘First Day First Show’, our weekly newsletter from the world of cinema, in your inbox. You can subscribe for free here
Today, 29-year-old Vishal is all excited about his debut Tamil feature, Sila Nerangalil Sila Manidhargal (SNSM), featuring Ashok Selvan, Reyaa, Nasser and Manikandan among others.
Releasing in theatres this Friday, the film revolves around how one incident changes the life of many people. “The protagonists are from different walks of life but one incident changes them completely,” says Vishal. The script was initially a short film idea, which he later fleshed out into a full-fledged feature. “Shooting was a hard task, especially given the challenges that came post the pandemic, but we were able to pull it off,” says the filmmaker. Despite many big films opting to take the OTT route, the makers of SNSM have decided to go ahead with a theatrical release. “It is a hard decision to take in today’s times. But if the content is good, audiences will support the film. We are confident that that will happen with SNSM.”
