People behave differently on social media: Dhayanidhi
Dhayanidhi Alagiri, who has produced some of the blockbusters in Tamil cinema, has now ventured into direction. He has made his directorial debut with a short film titled Mask. “I’m an avid reader and I spent a lot of time this lockdown reading some of the best books. That is how the idea of writing a story began,” he starts off. Mask is a short film that deals with social media. “One thing I observed is the toxic nature of social media and the negativity it is surrounded with. We titled it Mask because people in social media aren’t what they are in real life. They wear a mental and an emotional mask, don’t they?” he tells us. Divulging more about it, Dhayanidhi says that there are two different perspectives in which Mask has been narrated. “One is from the perspective of people who need to get out of their houses for their survival. The other is that of the frontline warriors, who have been asking them to stay at home. So, I had to strike a fine balance when I wrote it which was pretty challenging. We haven’t hurt anyone’s sentiment in the course of the narration,” he clears the air.
Talking about the shoot, he says, “It is a film, I would say made by a group of likeminded friends and was shot in Chennai and Madurai. My long-time friend Devesh, who has worked in projects like Meesaya Murukku has worked with me in project. A prominent actor-director has played the lead in Mask and we will be revealing his name soon. Mahat Raghavendra has played an important role. Apart from them, Lallu and Alex are also a part of the film. The music has been composed by Ramesh Tamilmani of Periyar Kutthu fame,” he concludes.