When and where to watch Ramesh Aravind’s directorial 100: Thriller is set to release on November 19

In early 2020, actor-filmmaker Ramesh Aravind was celebrating the success of his detective film Shivaji Surathkal: Ranagiri Rahasya and planning the release of his directorial, 100, when the pandemic struck. “The plan was to release 100 on the 50thday of Shivaji Surathkal, but that was not to be owing to the pandemic. In the time since, we have been waiting for a window to release the film, with 100% theatre occupancy, and the calendar right now is jam-packed with films. Right now, we have zeroed in on November 19, which gives us about a month’s time for publicity. We have been waiting for almost two years and the scenario right now is that if we don’t release in November, our next slot will only be in February 2020. For the foreseeable future, every week will have multiple releases, which cannot be avoided,” reasons Ramesh.

By choosing to hit theatres on November 19, the film will be in competition with Raj B Shetty’s Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana and Manu Ravichandran’s Mugilpete. It is also only a week after Ganesh’s Sakath and Prem’s Premam Poojyam. Ramesh, though, is very confident that his film will get its due because of its content, which is different from that of the other films hitting theatres around the same time. “100 is a family drama, and revolves around a husband, wife and their kid, with a cybercrime angle, which makes it a niche subject. This is a film about how technology is messing our lives. There’s a saying that ‘a knife in the wrong hand can cause a river of blood, while power in the wrong hands can distort history’. Similarly, technology in the wrong hands can be an absolute killer and that is what this film explores. I’d call it a family thriller and am quite happy with how the film has turned out,” says the actor-director.

As part of his research for the film, Ramesh had visited the Cybercrime division in Bengaluru, as he wanted to understand how the office looks, so as to be able to recreate it in the film. “It’s not like your regular police station. The cybercrime division is more like a corporate office, even the officials are all in pin-stripes and well turned out. It was quite fascinating and we have tried to recreate all of that, especially the commissioner’s office, with the eloquent sofas and pictures, etc. In the film, Prakash Belawadi plays that role. I am also a cybercrime police officer, Inspector Vishnu, in the film, with Prakash playing my boss,” says Ramesh, adding, “100 was censored in September with U/A. The producer had suggested that a Telugu version would be good, so we dubbed it and called it 100#cybercrime. The film has Rachita Ram and Poorna along with me. Music of the film has been done by KGF-fame Ravi Basrur,” Ramesh signs off.