Exclusive! Ashwin Saravanan: Connect doesn't have a midpoint where crucial dramatic turns happen

Ashwin Saravanan's Connect, starring Nayanthara in the lead, which hit the screens last Friday, garnered attention from cinephiles even before its release when makers announced that the horror flick will not have an interval. The movie's run time is around 100 minutes. Is it the shorter duration which made the team decide to do away with the interval?

The filmmaker, in a chat with OTTplay, said, "The shorter run time was indeed one reason. We also thought that not having an interval would provide a wholesome experience to the audience. Moreover, the film doesn't inherently have a midpoint where crucial dramatic turns happen. Today, people are ready to accept such new experiments."

When asked why he was keen on coming up with a story of such a shorter run time, he pointed out that these days, audiences often complain about long duration for movies, which led him to make a crisp screenplay.    

He explained, "Unlike many horror films, we did not come up with a backstory for the evil spirit. We were more focused on providing an arresting audio-visual experience than relying on the done-to-death format of storytelling. So, we felt the movie shouldn't exceed a certain limit in terms of duration. We wanted the audience to leave the theatre with an adrenaline high."

After scoring back-to-back hits with Maya and Game Over, was Ashwin under pressure to deliver a bigger hit? "I never felt the pressure to deliver another hit," he made it clear, adding, "I was only concerned about delivering what Connect required me to. I want the audience to come to watch the film unmindful of my previous outings."