My film, 100, is a commentary on the disastrous consequences of social media: Ramesh Aravind

Ramesh Aravind’s directorial that releases in theatres on November 19, is based on an adapted screenplay, no doubt, but the actor-director has made pivotal changes to it to suit his sensibilities and made social media the focal point. This is not surprising, considering that Ramesh himself is an avid user of social media platforms to put forth his views on various subjects. “What I have set out to show with this film, though, is the ugly side of social media. Very often, most of us use any free time to log in and check what others have posted, we like and comment on it. The trouble with that is that very often something as simple as a comment to a social media post can have disastrous consequences. 100 is a comment on social media addiction and the need to be validated with ‘n’ number of likes, comments, etc. I play a cybercrime official, Inspector Vishnu in this film, which is my 102nd film,” says Ramesh.

He adds, “This is a film in which I have tried to say that social media is actually a boon, but we should not turn it into a curse. It’s a commentary on how social media should be seen as a responsibility in a commercial film, which has drama, song and dance, action, etc. But the basic thread of the film is social media.”

Although 100 is being marketed as a film about cybercrime, Ramesh is categoric when he says that he has not touched upon hardcore crimes like ATM and identity thefts. “What we have explored is how social media affects you emotionally. To study this, I had gone to the cybercrime office in Bengaluru, which was like a corporate office. I was astounded by the technology and gadgets used to solve crimes, some of which I have recreated in the film,” says Ramesh, adding that the officials were very helpful in giving him the inputs he was looking for.

As for the original story, Ramesh says that he was initially signed up to play the lead in a Kannada remake, but when he was also asked to direct, he wanted to make changes. “The basic storyline is from Susi Ganeshan’s Thiruttu Payale 2, the remake rights of which were taken by the producer of 100. When the idea of having me direct the Kannada version was floated, I told him that although I liked the story, there were elements that I wanted to change and that it could not be a scene-to-scene remake. For starters, the original film had elements that would not suit my image as an actor and others that I thought could be presented differently. With Susi Ganeshan’s permission, I changed the script around, added a character (that of Rachita Ram), a flashback sequence and the climax, apart from other smaller changes. I think I have retained about 60% of the original, but the narration is very different. It is total re-imagination of a story,” explains Ramesh.

The film, produced by M Ramesh Reddy, has music by Ravi Basrur, cinematography by Sathya Hegde and action by Jolly Bastian and Ravi Verma. The cast also includes Purnaa, Rachita Ram, and Prakash Belawadi, among others.