Srushti Dange and Shubra Aiyappa lead crime thriller Aaghnya

Composers crossing over to the director’s chair is a well-worn path in Tamil cinema, and Jawahar Paramasivam is the latest to take it. The Thalakaonam composer makes his directorial debut with Aaghnya, a title that translates to born from fire, and he has built it as a woman-centric crime action thriller with two heroines splitting the film’s arsenal between them.

Shubra Aiyappa gets the muscle. She fronts the film as a full action heroine, carrying its fight sequences herself. Srushti Dange, who also has the jungle thriller Mahasenha arriving in December, plays the other lead, a clever, quick-thinking character who fights her battles with her head. The director puts it plainly: Shubra impresses in the intense fight stretches, while Srushti shines as the sharp one. Srushti also gets to cut loose in one of the film’s two kuthu numbers, and Pa. Vijay has penned the love song.

Produced by Thirumalai Sivam, Aaghnya has been shot on a lavish scale across high-end shopping malls and a prominent IT company campus, giving the thriller a glossy corporate backdrop rather than the usual grimy underbelly.

The interesting wrinkle is what Jawahar chose not to do. An established composer directing his own film would usually score it too; he has instead handed the music to US-based Subhash Chandran and kept himself strictly to writing and direction. Kathiravan handles cinematography and Vignesh Kumar PG edits.

Aaghnya is gearing up for its theatrical release, with the date yet to be announced.