Shivathmika joins Prabhu as Franklin Jacob's film rolls

When Prabhu walked into Franklin Jacob’s dark comedy at its launch last week, the team kept one name deliberately under wraps: a well-known actress whose announcement was being held back. That name is now out. Shivathmika Rajashekar, daughter of Telugu star Rajasekhar, plays the female lead, and cameras started rolling on Monday.

The shoot-start announcement came with its own piece of art: a sketched revolver in the foreground, its barrel unspooling into a long red trail that winds toward a man standing with a spear. It is a pulpy, playful image for a film built on dark humour, an unusual premise told through comedy with a thriller running underneath.

Day one brought visitors too. Vikram Prabhu came to the set to wish the unit well, which doubles as a son seeing his father start a new film, and director Adhik Ravichandran dropped in alongside him.

The essentials hold from the launch. Prabhu and Vijay Varma play the lead roles in Franklin Jacob’s second directorial after Writer; he wrote DC in between. Rahul of Romeo Pictures produces with Gokul Srinivasan of Aviate Pictures, and stays in front of the camera as well, in a key role. The supporting bench pairs character actors like Ramesh Thilak, Deena, Muthukumar, Dileep Subbarayan, Kavitha Bharathi and Avinash Raghudevan with one name that still jumps out: Arun Matheswaran, the Captain Miller director, acting in this one.

Yuvan Shankar Raja composes the music, which gives the film one of the surest hands in the business for exactly this kind of tonal balancing act. Pratheep Kaliraja, who shot both Writer and DC, handles cinematography, Prasanna G.K edits, Yugabharathi writes the lyrics, and PC Stunts choreographs the action. Naushad Ahmed designs the costumes and Sakthi Venkatraj M is the art director.

The film still does not have a title. That reveal, the team says, is what comes next.