Andhadhun director Sriram Raghavan's next won't be a trademark thriller

During an interaction at the ongoing 17th Pune International Film Festival, filmmaker Sriram Raghavan spoke about being hailed as a genre in himself when it came to thrillers.

His brand of thrillers are defined by an inherent quirkiness, dark humour, homages, layered story telling and twisted plotlines.

There is no doubt that Sriram has redefined the thriller genre in Indian cinema with films like Ek Hasina Thi (2004), Johnny Gaddaar (2007), Badlapur (2015) and Andhadhun (2018) in the last decade.  

"Don't call me a master or anything because every next film is mountain to climb. It's not that I only like thrillers. I accept I am a little partial towards this genre, and these kind of stories attract me more," said Sriram.

But to the disappointment (or excitement?) of his ardent fans, Sriram has decided to delve into a different genre with his next film. The filmmaker is currently working on the script, but refused to divulge the details.

"The next one I am trying to do... I am trying to shift a little to something where I don't want to worry about where to hide the dead body," he said.

Tabu, who was also present at the discussion on their hit thriller, Andhadhun said that she was dying to work with him.

"I met him at the Badlapur preview and that was the first time I was meeting him. I went up to him and said I want to work with you, Tabu said.

In Andhadhun (2018), Tabu plays the role of a woman who covers up the murder of her husband and is willing to go to any length to bury the truth.

Tabu's character was tricky and unpredictable, and the actress feels it was "one of the most challenging roles of her career."

"One day he called me with this story and I loved it. Not that I read the bound script, but I was hugely excited. I never see anything as a risk. I do it if I find it exciting. I was convinced that I want to do this film. Of course we had a lot of discussions about how we want to do it and all that. Finally it is Sriram's plot and we in our best way tried to fit in," she said.