Singapore Tamil film gets 150-screen release in India

Singapore: A Singapore-made Tamil film will be screened for the first time in Chennai, Mysore and Kerala today.

Titled "Unakkenna Venum Sollu" (Tell Me What You Want) is a horror film on the father-daughter relationship by a Singaporean executive producer N Shanmuga Sundaram.

The film, which is getting a 150-screen commercial release in the Indian market, will also be dubbed in Telugu for its release in Andhra Pradesh.

It will be released in Singapore tomorrow. Sundaram, 34, said the film is directed by his Sri Lankan partner, Srinath Ramalingam, whom he met in a film school in California.

The film was shot in Chennai between July and September last year on about SGD 400,000 budget with actors Deepak Paramesh and Jaqlene Prakash of India and Gunalan Morgan from Singapore.

"Horror films are the only way to break in without a star. It's the only genre that you don't need a star. If you do romantic comedies, action films or anything else, you need a recognisable name," The Straits Times today quoted Sundram as saying.

"In India, there are a thousand films fighting for a hundred screens, so we're considered the dark horse, having come out of nowhere," said Sundram, who is optimistic about the prospect in the Indian market which has an audience of a billion.

"I think we are good. At least a few shows will be packed," he said, pointing out the promising support for the film on the Internet. Singapore's Media Development Authority has given a SGD 39,000 grant for making the film.